How does this self sufficiency keep oil prices from skyrocketing if the ME blows up?
1) Natural Gas. Oil is used for many more uses than auto fuel and energy generation, including feed stocks for pharmaceuticals, plastics, chemicals, fertilizers, lubricating oils , ect. The boom in fracking has created large supplies of natural gas and many US refiners and producers shifted from oil based naphtha feed stocks to natural gas feed stocks. This petrochemical stream is comparatively independent of the oil markets and more insulated from price shocks so it will tend to stabilize prices and prevent supply dislocations. Lots of room for relatively rapid ramp up of production
2) US has not been an oil exporting nation so domestic production is not currently well set up for large scale export. US domestic oil prices float with world prices in an equilibrium market, but in a market driven by Middle East oil shortages the US will be limited in it's ability to export. So while there may be shortages abroad, it is far from a given that there will be shortages here.
3) Ability to rapidly ramp up US and North American production allow rapid increase in supply to meet demand. At price points above $100/ bbl there is a lot of excess capacity. When the Saudis tried to destroy the US fracking industry by dumping oil, the frackers capped existing wells but continued drilling wells in anticipation of future demand. These drilled but otherwise undeveloped wells can be brought on line comparatively quickly to meet demand surges
Interim supply demand can be supplemented by Strategic Petroleum reserves to stabilize US economy if necessary.
4) Lack of elasticity of demand has shown that demand rolls off substantially after fuel, our primary use of oil, hits a certain price of pain - likely about 5-6 dollars a gallon which
5) Our current President seems more than willing to intervene as he sees fit in any circumstance that may endanger our economy. Trump would probably use oil supply security and stability to help recruit manufactures of petrochemical dependent industries to increase their commitment to US production.
We would, of course, see a steep short term price increase in the short term, but medium to long term our domestic oil prices are insulated from astronomical and economically ruinous oil supply disruptions and price increases