U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) responded to MSNBC’s criticism of her June 10 comments where she noted that Democrats have pushed higher gas prices in pursuit of the Green New Deal and transition away from fossil fuels.
Blackburn tweeted on Tuesday in response to their article, “Joe Biden’s policies have caused gas to reach over $5 a gallon. Now Biden is using his energy crisis as an excuse to implement his radical Green New Deal. This is not a coincidence. It’s intentional.”
Joe Biden's policies have caused gas to reach over $5 a gallon.
Now Biden is using his energy crisis as an excuse to implement his radical Green New Deal.
This is not a coincidence.
It’s intentional. @MSNBC @MaddowBlog @maddow https://t.co/cDsBMMoQco
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) June 14, 2022
MSNBC published an article on Monday criticizing a video that Blackburn posted where she said, “Well, the Democrats have been trying to get $5-a-gallon gas for well over a decade – and it looks like they have now hit their target. They feel like this helps them, moving to all electric vehicles, forcing you out of a gas-powered vehicle and into an electric vehicle.”
The article is titled “Marsha Blackburn’s latest conspiracy theory focuses on gas prices.”
The article says in part, “Last summer, Sen. Marsha Blackburn came up with an amazing conspiracy theory. As the Tennessee Republican saw it, it may have looked like Democrats were trying to end the pandemic, but it was really just a ruse.”
“What Democrats secretly wanted, according to the far-right senator, was ‘a permanent pandemic’ in which the government would maintain control over a dependent populace,” it continued.
“As this summer prepares to get underway, Blackburn has a new conspiracy theory in mind, and this one focuses on gas prices,” the MSNBC article added.
Author Steve Benen goes on to argue that if “if the Biden administration wanted high gas prices, it would be doing pretty much the opposite of what it’s been doing.”
“Third, there would certainly be benefits for consumers to shift to electric vehicles, but the idea that officials have deliberately pushed gas prices higher to force Americans’ hands is bizarre, not only because officials haven’t done any such thing, but also because there aren’t currently enough electric vehicles to meet such demand, even if it existed,” he adds.
Benen then repeats the Democrat and leftist talking point that higher gas prices are really Putin’s fault, due to his invasion of Ukraine.
“Reality offers an explanation that happens to make more sense. As the editorial board of the Washington Post explained yesterday, ‘This is largely Vladimir Putin’s fault. Gas prices are up nearly $2 in the past year, and 75 percent of that increase came since Putin’s Russian troops invaded Ukraine. The United States and many other countries rightly responded to this unjustified war by imposing heavy sanctions and halting purchases of Russian oil and grain. But that means supplies are down, and energy and food prices have soared to record highs around the world. Putin wants – and expects – the world to cave and lift the sanctions and cede parts of Ukraine to Russia in the face of these high prices. As hard as it is, we cannot let Putin win.’
Benen’s bio on MSNBC’s website says, “Steve Benen is a producer for The Rachel Maddow Show, the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor.”
He also wrote a book entitled The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, Truth Social, and Parler.
Photo “Marsha Blackburn” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Background Photo “Highest Gas Price I’ve Seen” by James Marvin Phelps. CC BY-NC 2.0.
