It’s not either, it’s both. Brandon is not in charge. Take for example the statements he made in 60mins about sending US troops to Taiwan & the pandemic ending, both of these are walked back by “the whitehouse” (handlers). Brandon is not even allowed to talk to the press outside of carefully controlled, scripted scenarios and even those he screws up.

They’re desperate to maintain power across all branches of government and this being an obvious political move to taper gas prices, as that was hurting polling stats. That’s the only thing that prompts action.