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Right-Wing Media Deny Climate Change Despite Extreme Heat Waves

Right-Wing Media Deny Climate Change Despite Extreme Heat Waves

As the climate crisis becomes more evident and destructive, even exceeding climate scientists’ earlier predictions, Fox News and other influential right-wing outlets and figures are downplaying the severity of climate-fueled events and pushing dangerous climate denial.

This summer has been marked by a series of record-breaking extreme weather events, illustrative of the rapidly intensifying effects of global warming. Unprecedented heat waves, wildfires, and floods have wreaked havoc across North America. Meanwhile, global sea surface temperatures have reached alarming levels, and the world just experienced its hottest day on record — four days in a row. These events align with scientists' warnings, but the acceleration of warming and the intensity of this summer’s extreme heat suggest that the climate crisis is unfolding faster than expected.

Last month, when smoke from hundreds of wildfires raging across Canada polluted the air over major population centers in the U.S., Fox News dismissed the link between the fires and climate change; meanwhile conspiracy theories seeking alternative explanations for Canada’s record-breaking wildfire season flourished online. In response to news that Earth had reached its hottest temperatures ever recorded, bad actors attempted to distract from the unsettling milestone by focusing on CNN’s use of the phrase “hottest day ever.” As deadly heat continues to scorch parts of the U.S., Asia, and Europe with no end in sight, and with a 1,000-year flood event having left parts of Vermont and New York state underwater, right-wing media cling to talking points that deny climate science.

By flooding the zone with climate denial right when the climate crisis is most evident, right-wing media run cover for Republican decision-makers who are actively obstructing climate action, ward off accountability for the fossil fuel industry, and pollute information systems for those attempting to understand the link between extreme weather and our dependence on fossil fuels. This tactic, like the extreme heat, has no end in sight.

Right-wing media responded to deadly climate change-fueled heat and flooding with denial and delay

  • Fox Business host Stuart Varney indulged climate change denier Marc Morano and said climate change is “a good debate.” When discussing extreme heat in Phoenix, Arizona, Morano said, “This is not outside the normal bounds of hot summer weather,” and claimed that CNN, The New York Times, and others are “weaponizing hot summer heat waves to turn it into some kind of climate action.” Varney asked Morano whether “that is not the result of CO2 emissions'' and said, “It's a good debate. This is a very good debate.” [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 7/19/23]
  • Far-right radio host Steven Crowder hosted climate contrarian Bjorn Lomborg, who downplayed the climate crisis by arguing that more people die from cold than heat: “We are not talking about a world where most people die from heat. No, most people die from cold. Cold is fantastically more dangerous for a lot of different reasons.” [Rumble, Louder with Crowder, 7/19/23]
  • The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh suggests that the extreme heat is normal for summer: “Well it’s summertime and that means it's hot outside … This is when the media, as it does every year, claims that the hot weather is a sign of our impending planetary doom.” [The Daily Wire, The Matt Walsh Show, 7/18/23]
  • Far-right pundit James Lindsay: “Climate struggle sessions ramping up. They're going to try and fail to make that transition again. The propaganda isn't going to work this time either, though.” [Twitter, 7/18/23]
  • Fox News host Laura Ingraham, in response to an Axios article about extreme weather: “I'm not taking@Axios seriously until they start crusading against coal burning in China — anyone who claims to worry about carbon emissions should start there or button it. Even the ‘best states for climate change’ get hit with extreme weather” [Twitter, 7/18/23]
  • COVID-19 conspiracy theorist Dr. Naomi Wolf: “Oh! Conclusions: this will happen more and more often because climate change so: stay indoors, do remote work, ‘mask’. Back where we were again.” [Twitter, 7/18/23]
  • Right-wing Irish political activist and conspiracy theorist Ben Gilroy: “Today media continue to propagandise weather showing high temperatures in Death Valley USA — yet the park rangers wear jackets and gloves? The elites UN climate scam is really about securing a world government plutocracy, depopulation, and severely cutting your quality of life.” [Twitter, 7/18/23]
  • Fox host Jesse Watters downplayed the extreme heat as simply “summer”: “It's been a hot July. Some call it ‘global warming,’ some call it ‘summer.’ But what's the best way to beat the heat? Ice cream.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 7/17/23]
  • Lindsay mocked conditions in the southern U.S. that were so humid they had the potential to interfere with humans’ ability to sweat, pushing the limits of survivability. [Twitter, 7/17/23]
  • Longtime fossil fuel shill Steve Milloy: “@AP: 'Around the world, millions feel the heat of an unrelenting summer.' Two points: 1. It is summer. It gets hot. 2. There 8 billion in the world. If only 'millions' are experiencing extreme heat, that doesn't sound much like 'climate change.'” [Twitter, 7/17/23]
  • Misogynist influencer and alleged sex trafficker Tristan Tate: “They’re naming heatwaves like they used to name new ‘Covid variants’. Can somebody in the government give me the job of whoever makes the names up? I’ll do it for free. Watch out! The ‘lovely warm summer’ heatwave has just hit Europe.” [Twitter, 7/15/23]
  • COVID-19 conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine influencer Dr. Eli David: “When the weather is a bit warmer than usual: Experts™: IT'S PROOF OF GLOBAL WARMING!!!!! When the weather is colder than usual: Experts™: WEATHER AND CLIMATE ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS YOU MORONS!!!!!” [Twitter, 7/17/23]
  • Newsmax host Chris Salcedo mocked concern over the record heat: “Newsflash folks, it gets hot in the summer.” He continued, “After a few particularly hot days on the Fourth of July weekend, the left — they went into full fearmongering mode.” Salcedo then interviewed Milloy, who warned that climate activists would call for climate lockdowns. [Newsmax, The Chris Salcedo Show, 7/17/23]
  • On The Five, Jesse Watters attacked “the left” for connecting climate change to heat waves across the globe and mocked climate activists: “The left rushing to blame global warming for that dangerous heat wave gripping the nation and the world right now. But I think the heat's getting to their heads. Climate change-obsessed liberals are actually acting crazier than usual, with eco-extremists in Germany literally gluing their hands to airport runways as a way to sound the alarm on how the planet's cooked.” [Fox News, The Five, 7/17/23]
  • Fox host Greg Gutfeld also attempted to downplay the record-breaking heat with bizarre logic: “The problem with using weather — like saying, ‘This place broke records’ — how many states, how many countries didn't break records? Nobody ever provides you the context. They’re going, ‘Three countries had record breaking heat waves.’ It’s like, well, ‘How many countries are there?’” [Fox News, The Five, 7/17/23]
  • On America’s Newsroom, Lomborg suggested that more air conditioning is the way to address extreme heat: “The way to fix this, of course, is to make sure that people get lots of air conditioning and that they can actually afford the energy that they will run their air conditioning on. That’s one. The second one is to remember that, yes, there are many people dying from heat, but many, many more people dying from cold.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 7/17/23]
  • Climate change denier and former University of Alabama professor Matthew Wielicki: “We used to call this summer. Now we call this a climate crisis.” [Twitter, 7/15/23]
  • Milloy: “India's monsoon season is not affected by emissions. Indians have died in monsoon flooding since there have been Indians and monsoons. It is really dishonest and disgusting to surf tragic deaths for climate.” [Twitter, 7/14/23]
  • Right-wing British pundit Brendan O’Neill, who has been praised by anti-renewable energy activist Michael Shellenberger, wrote that “global warming could be good for humankind.” Citing Lomborg, O’Neill wrote that “the truth is that global warming could be good for humankind” because more people die from the cold than heat. “It’s pissing down in Britain,” he continued, “Where’s our global warming? Even the name of the heatwave is designed to conjure up visions of hellfire and torment.” [Spiked, 7/14/23]
  • On Fox News at Night, Carl Demaio, a political operative and conservative radio host, called a California campaign to warn residents about climate-driven extreme heat “wasteful spending” and “fear porn.” [Fox News, Fox News at Night, 7/12/23]
  • Newsmax host Eric Bolling, in response to calls for climate action after flooding in the Northeast, denied that human activity is responsible for warming: “It's raining, so we all must change our behavior. Unprecedented weather events — look flooding’s terrible, loss of property is a disaster, and our hearts go out to those affected. But just imagine, for one moment, the ridiculousness and the pompousness to think that: one, our behavior has any real impact on weather and the Earth, and two, even if that were true — which it’s not — that we could do anything about it without making things worse.” [Newsmax, Eric Bolling The Balance, 7/11/23]
  • Fox host Laura Ingraham also mocked the extreme heat and calls to action, suggesting that climate change is a made-up crisis: “It's hot, hot, hot all right. After all, we're in the middle of a season called ‘summer.’” Ingraham later played a clip from a previous show, arguing that “COVID lockdowns set the predicate for more to come.” She said, “Their so-called public health experts were wrong on everything from lockdowns to masks to social distancing. And yet now we see the usual suspects lining up to exploit another hyped crisis: of course, I’m talking about climate change.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 7/11/23]
  • Right-wing journalist and author Alex Berenson: As climate change hysteria reaches a new level of screeching (1-in-1000 this, world's hottest that), remember that weather-related deaths have PLUNGED since 1970. The wealthier the world becomes, the easier managing climate change will be. And wealth requires energy. Period. [Twitter, 7/10/23]
  • On Jesse Watters Primetime, guest host Pete Hegseth mocked reports of record-breaking heat and blamed media for “hyping climate insanity”: If there is one thing the mindless left loves to magically discover every year, it’s that summer is hot. Hegseth continued, “It was hotter in New York in April. And it’s not even the hottest June we’ve ever had. The data shows that the 80s and 90s … were a lot hotter.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 7/7/23]

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Cable Downplays Trump's Rail Deregulation In Coverage Of Ohio Visit

Cable Downplays Trump's Rail Deregulation In Coverage Of Ohio Visit

Coverage of former President Donald Trump’s visit to East Palestine by the major cable news networks – CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC – largely failed to contextualize the stunt with key details including Trump’s role in weakening safety regulations of the rail industry and his notoriously poor leadership in handling disasters that happened during his term.

  • Major TV news networks on cable (CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC) aired over an hour of coverage across 33 segments on Trump’s visit to East Palestine.
  • Only 10 segments, the vast majority appearing on MSNBC, included discussion of Trump’s role in weakening regulations that govern the transport of hazardous materials by rail.
  • Only one program alluded to Trump’s response to federal disasters during his term.

Most Coverage Of Trump's East Palestine Visit Omitted Rail Deregulation

On February 22, Trump visited the small Ohio town, where three weeks ago a train operated by Norfolk Southern containing hazardous material derailed, creating a toxic fire and prompting a state of emergency declaration and the evacuation of the surrounding community.The incident came after a decade-long campaign by the rail industry to weaken federal regulations governing the transportation of toxic and dangerous materials. Under the Trump administration, several regulations were weakened at the behest of the rail industry. According to The Guardian:

This salient and glaring information made its way into only 10 of the 33 cable segments that aired — on February 22 through 23 — on Trump’s visit to the disaster site. MSNBC mentioned Trump’s role in weakening rail safeguards in 7 of its 12 segments. Fox News mentioned it in 2 of its 16 segments — though one of the mentions was intended to push back on links between Trump and deregulation — and CNN mentioned it 1 time across its 5 segments.

He [Trump] withdrew an Obama-era plan to require faster brakes on trains carrying highly flammable materials, shelved a rule that demanded at least two crew members on freight trains and dropped a ban on transporting liquified natural gas by rail, despite fears this could cause explosions.

MSNBC provided the vast majority of mentions, and of the seven mentions, three appeared on The ReidOut. During her monologue on the February 23 edition of The ReidOut, host Joy Reid noted:

"It was Donald Trump and his administration who gave the rail industry and Norfolk Southern exactly what they wanted, fewer and looser rules around rail safety. Trump conveniently forgot to tell his most loyal supporters how Norfolk Southern lobbied heavily for laxer safety rules and how receptive the regulators in the Trump administration were to their arguments on rolling back the rules. There's also the litany of Obama-era regulations to advance safety that Trump's administration rescinded and that the Biden administration has or is trying to reinstate."

Cable Ignores Trump’s Questionable Responses To Federal Disasters

Trump’s visit was seemingly meant to position him as a leader in a time of crisis as he competes for his party’s 2024 presidential nomination, giving him a chance to criticize the current administration's response to the disaster.

The stunt, which included handing out “Trump Water,” buying McDonalds burgers for first responders and handing out MAGA hats to them, and suggesting that FEMA started to act only after the Biden administration learned of his visit, could have been an opportunity for cable outlets to revisit how Trump responded to high-profile disasters during his own term.

For example, in the wake of one of the most destructive hurricanes to hit Puerto Rico and the deadliest natural disaster on U.S. territory in 100 years, Trump held up nearly $20 billion in disaster relief. An image of the president throwing paper towels to survivors of Hurricane Maria weeks after the storm was widely criticized and viewed as emblematic of the Trump administration response to the catastrophe that left over 3,000 dead.

Trump also initially rejected aid to California to help the state recover from a historic year of wildfires in 2020 after criticizing the state’s wildfire management and telling officials to rake the forest, and he bizarrely used a Sharpie to alter a map of Hurricane Dorian’s path to support a false claim he made that the storm would hit Alabama.

Only one program, the February 23 edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, alluded to Trump’s failed response to Hurricane Maria in discussing his visit to East Palestine. After host Joe Scarborough called out Trump for failing to visit the site of train disasters during his presidency, co-host Mika Brzezinski quipped, “He did go throw paper towels at people at one point.”

The Morning Joe segment also discussed key details aired the night before on Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier. In response to the ongoing drumbeat, led by Fox News and repeated by Trump, of chastising Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for not visiting the site of the disaster, anchor Bret Baier quoted from a Politico article to note that “it is exceedingly rare for a transportation secretary to visit the site of a train derailment, especially one that resulted in no fatalities.’”

Baier further noted: “There were train derailments in the Trump administration that actually had fatalities that didn’t have a visit by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. But this seems to have some momentum about the administration and its reaction to this derailment in particular.”

The network’s chief political analyst Brit Hume seemingly agreed with this assessment, noting that such visits are “political gestures” and commenting: “I don't think the administration's policy and actions toward East Palestine would be any different if more officials had gone there.”

This rare fact check in Fox News’ divisive coverage of the disaster aside, Trump’s visit was a theatrical stunt that should have been presented within the context of his past actions — if covered at all. But at the end of the day, the question of who is on the ground is less pressing than what is being done to aid the victims, clean up the environment, and prevent future so-called accidents by polluting industries.

Methodology

Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC for any of the terms “Ohio,” “train,” “East Palestine,” or “Norfolk Southern” within close proximity of either of the terms “Trump” or “president” from February 22, 2023, when Trump visited the East Palestine derailment, through February 23, 2023.

We timed segments, which we defined as instances when Trump’s visit to East Palestine was the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of the visit. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed the visit with one another.

We did not count passing mentions, which we defined as instances when a speaker in a segment on another topic mentioned the train derailment without another speaker engaging with the comment, or teasers, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host promoted a segment about the train derailment scheduled to air later in the broadcast.

We then reviewed all segments for whether they included context on Trump’s role in weakening regulations governing the transport of hazardous materials by rail and mentioned Trump’s response to federal disasters during his term.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Phony Fox News Narrative Blames

False Fox News Narrative Claims Biden Is Raising Energy Costs

In recent months, Fox News has pushed a series of unrelenting narratives blaming the current energy crisis solely on the Biden administration, while absolving the fossil fuel industry from any wrongdoing, despite the industry’s anti-consumerist practices. As gas prices continue to break records, reaching $5 per gallon nationally for the first time on June 11, Fox has been escalating its cynical and disingenuous attacks on the Biden administration.

One of the most pervasive narratives that Fox hosts and guests have been increasingly advancing is the idea that the Biden administration is deliberately harming the American energy sector to usher in a transition to renewable energy. Although this line of attack was floated as early as April, it is being deployed by Fox at an increasing pace on both its so-called “news” side and opinion side.

The narrative seems to serve a nefarious purpose. It allows Fox to continue running cover for the fossil fuel industry by pretending the conversation about energy prices has been settled. Instead of recognizing the complex economic factors that determine the price at the pump, Fox has repeatedly accused the Biden administration of intentionally harming energy producers and consumers, which allows the network to leapfrog over causation directly to intent. In Fox’s telling, Biden is no longer incompetent; he’s an evil mastermind unleashing the power of the federal government against the noble fossil fuel industry and working-class Americans to crash the economy and unilaterally enact the Green New Deal.

Despite Fox’s claims to the contrary, Biden has pivoted away from aggressive actions to reduce carbon emissions and toward the fossil fuel industry’s demands for a regulatory environment that favors increased production of oil and gas. But rather than presenting this reality to its viewers, the network is content to repeat and amplify harmful narratives. From hearings about fossil fuel industry price gouging, to Biden’s “incredible transition” comment, to Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s (D-MI) remarks about electric vehicles and gas prices, Fox finds a way to blame the Biden administration and claim that the economic pain millions of Americans are experiencing is deliberate.


Below is a nonexhaustive catalog of Fox News personalities and guests advancing this false and cynical narrative.

  • Host Tucker Carlson: “How would you go about taking full control over an economy built on fossil fuels? Well you'd first have to break the existing economy.”

    Host Tucker Carlson outlined an elaborate conspiracy theory in which the Biden administration worked to deliberately “make fossil fuels unaffordable for the average person” in order to push his green agenda. Carlson said: “You wouldn’t want to think that your government would intentionally exacerbate the suffering of millions of Ukrainian civilians in order to take over America's energy grid, but that seems to be exactly what is happening right now. And we know this because the administration essentially told us so.” [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 4/1/22]

  • Guest host Tammy Bruce: “It’s almost as though they’re moving us deliberately into, like, a Venezuela kind of thing.”

    Hannity guest host Tammy Bruce questioned whether the Biden administration was deliberately harming the fossil fuel industry. Her guest, fossil fuel shill Daniel Turner, said that even before Russia invaded Ukraine, the Biden administration had a “deliberate” strategy to “make fossil fuels unattractive” in order to sell its green agenda. He continued, “They purposefully made fossil fuels expensive, and we’re feeling the consequence of that right now.” [Hannity, 4/15/22]

  • Guest Quill Robinson: “This is the result of deliberate policy on the part of the Democrats.”

    Quill Robinson, vice president of governmental affairs for a right-wing think tank with Koch network connections, appeared on Fox News Live and claimed that the Democratic Party was “more focused on shutting down the fossil fuel industry than keeping gas affordable for everyday Americans.” [Fox News Live, 4/24/22]

  • Host Will Cain: “When it comes to gas prices, … what we’re seeing is the effect of an intentional policy.”

    During a segment about gas prices on The Faulkner Focus, anchor Harris Faulkner read from a Daily Caller op-ed that accused the Biden administration of harming the fossil fuel industry to force consumers toward renewable energy. Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Will Cain agreed, saying, “Rising prices is the goal of the policy. … The problems are by design.” [The Faulkner Focus, 4/28/22]

  • Contributor Sean Duffy: “They get to accomplish their agenda of the Green New Deal.”

    Fox contributor Sean Duffy appeared on The Faulkner Focus and claimed that he overheard Democratic lawmakers “talk about the desire to have the cost of gas go up so people would make a transition to green energy.” He then asserted, “So this is all part of the plan. And yes, the politics are tough. But they see a light at the end of the tunnel that they get to accomplish their agenda of the Green New Deal.” [The Faulkner Focus, 5/17/22]

  • Contributor Marc Thiessen: “It seems to a lot of Americans like this is intentional."

  • Washington Post columnist, fossil fuel shill, and Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen appeared on The Faulkner Focus during a segment about record gas prices and the Biden administration and stated, “It seems to a lot of Americans like this is intentional.” He continued, “They want the gas prices to go up so that we can stop using fossil fuels … . Their goal is to transform this economy and they care more about climate change than the climate in our personal economy.” [The Faulkner Focus, 5/20/22]

  • Host Rachel Campos-Duffy: “Well, those prices are intentional.”

    During a news rundown about record gas prices on Fox & Friends Saturday, host Rachel Campos-Duffy asserted that high gas prices are “intentional” and “are meant to have us make different choices like not have a truck.” [Fox and Friends Saturday, 5/21/22]

  • Host Laura Ingraham: “The greeniacs pulling Biden’s strings want [oil and gas] shut down."

    Fox host Laura Ingraham said Biden is being controlled by “greeniacs” who want to destroy American oil and gas production, and she mocked his “incredible transition” comment. [The Ingraham Angle, 5/23/22]

  • Host Ainsley Earhardt: “He doesn't care because we’re heading in the right direction.”

    After playing a clip of Biden’s “incredible transition” comment, Fox host Ainsley Earhardt asserted that the administration doesn’t care about record gas prices. Fox personality Stuart Varney responded that Biden is “being driven by the climate crowd. The climate crowd wants high gas prices so we drive less, emit less, and we all go into electric cars.” [Fox & Friends, 5/24/22]

  • Host Sean Hannity: “The suffering is intentional? Is that what you're telling us?”

    After Biden’s “incredible transition” comment, Fox host Sean Hannity went on an extended rant accusing the administration of inflicting deliberate suffering on the American people for the purpose of ushering in “a socialist eco-state hellhole, which would not be possible with low energy costs.” [Hannity, 5/23/22]

  • Guest Rep. Byron Donalds: “They want gas prices higher. They want the Green New Deal accomplished.”

    Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) appeared on Sunday Morning Futures and accused the Biden administration of advancing a “crazy agenda when it comes to oil and natural gas and gasoline.” He continued, “Joe Biden and the Democrats want gas prices higher. Let's stop playing games. They want gas prices higher. They want the Green New Deal accomplished.” When he was finished, guest host Sean Duffy added, “Congressman, I think you’re 100% right, and this is absolutely intentional.” [Sunday Morning Futures, 5/29/22]

  • Campos-Duffy: “We have to remember that all of this is intentional. The gas prices and the inflation is intentional.”

    Campos-Duffy claimed that “all of this is intentional. The gas prices and inflation is intentional.” She later reiterated, “And, again, intentional. This government is trying — this government is willing to make you poor in order to accomplish their green energy fetishes, really.” [Fox & Friends, 5/30/22]

  • Guest Monica Crowley: “They want to torpedo the U.S. economy. They want to bring Americans to their knees.”

    Conservative commentator Monica Crowley appeared on Jesse Waters Primetime and claimed that the Biden administration was waging a war on domestic energy, and “if he just turned that policy around literally tomorrow, you would start to see progress in terms of bringing down inflation and gas prices. But he won't do it … and what it tells us, Jesse, is that all of this is deliberate.” After she and host Jesse Watters mocked the idea of climate action to stave off global warming and sea-level rise, she added that Biden’s energy policies were a “lever” to move the economy toward “a more collectivist, Marxist kind of model where they’re in total control.” [Jesse Watters Primetime, 6/2/22]

  • Carlson: “Why is this happening? Well, because Joe Biden made it happen. ”

    During a monologue on record gas prices, Carlson accused Biden of deliberately slowing down domestic energy production. [Tucker Carlson Tonight, 6/3/22]

  • Guest Sen. Tom Cotton: “For Democrats, $5-a-gallon gas … the intended consequence.”

    Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) appeared on Special Report and accused the Democratic Party of enacting policies to deliberately spike gas prices because of “Green New Deal fantasies.” He continued, “They want gas to be high. Because they want you out of your pickup truck or your minivan and want you to get into electric vehicles or scooters or mass transit or whatever it is that they ride around town in Washington.” [Special Report, 6/6/22]

  • Kilmeade: “So, the question is, is this intentional? … a slow roll of a New Green Deal?”

    During a segment on record gas prices, Fox host Brian Kilmeade questioned whether the Biden administration was intentionally spiking energy prices, before stating, “The president hates fossil fuels, or he at least said that. Is he getting what he wants now as people are feeling repulsed by the price of gas and oil?” [Fox & Friends, 6/7/22]

  • Crowley: “This is like a modern version of Marie Antoinette. … and it is all intentional.”

    Conservative commentator Monica Crowley appeared on Hannity and claimed that the Biden administration was deliberately increasing gas prices. She compared Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who touted the cost savings of electric vehicles during a hearing, to Marie Antoinette, stating, “Instead of let them eat cake, let them buy a Tesla. And all of this indicates that it is all intentional.” Crowley concluded by reiterating, “So what that tells you is this is all intentional as part of the fundamental transformation of the nation.” [Hannity, 6/7/22]

  • Campos-Duffy: “I definitely believe that these gas prices are directly related to the Green New Deal, and that couldn't be passed legislatively.”

    Campos-Duffy accused the Biden administration of purposefully harming the domestic energy industry because the Green New Deal could not be passed through Congress. She asserted, “They’ve done it through regulation, through, you know, cutting down American energy, making sure we’re not energy independent, making us dependent on dirty oil from Venezuela and so forth. … This is intentional, and that’s what it is about.” [Fox & Friends Saturday, 6/11/22]

  • Anchor Bret Baier: “Is pain at the pump part of that transition to a greener economy?”

    Hosting a debate between Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), anchor Bret Baier referenced Biden’s “incredible transition” comment before asking Sanders if high gas prices are part of a transition to renewable energy. [Special Report, 6/13/22]

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.