OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A senior staffer a the Department of State appears to have proven once again that the Washingtonian elite lives in a bubble that completely separates them from average Americans now struggling under Biden-era energy inflation.
“I prefer high gas prices = less driving, less CO2,” Senior State Department Foreign Service Officer Alan Eyre said in a tweet on Friday that has since been deleted, Fox News reported.
The tweet was in response to one from President Joe Biden who claimed that American families are currently paying less per month for gasoline than they were during recent “peak prices,” though a gallon of gas, on average, is still around $4.36, or more than two dollars per gallon higher than it was in 2020, the last year of Donald Trump’s presidency (roughly $2.17).
Eyre describes himself as a “gov’t bureaucrat” in his Twitter bio along with the phrase “kindness, always kindness,” Fox News noted.
Needless to say, the tweet was blasted as immensely tone deaf on social media. Former California GOP state Senate candidate Ron Bassilian called Eyre a “ghoul” while pointing out that demand for gas is “inelastic.” He also accused Eyre of “being full of [poop emoji].”
“Perhaps, but I don’t think it is inelastic and I remember in the 1970s the oil embargo led to a massive increase in renewables,” Eyre responded along with the hashtag #BeKind. That tweet, too, has been deleted.
“Be kind?” Basslian responded. “Perhaps be kind to the billions of people left high and dry in this situation you praise. Saying a famine is a good way to start a diet is not kind.”
You don’t think. Period.
Be kind? Perhaps be kind to the billions of people left high and dry in this situation you praise. Saying a famine is a good way to start a diet is not kind.— Ron Bassilian (@Ron4California) July 23, 2022
Fox News reported that following the exchange, Eyre’s Twitter account may have been deactivated or deleted altogether. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment from the network.
Fox News noted further:
Eyre’s comment comes shortly after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg faced criticism for suggesting that higher prices at the pump were actually beneficial for transitioning to electric vehicles.
During an interview on a radio program earlier this month, Buttigieg said the Biden administration was trying to cut the cost of electric vehicles “because when you have an electric vehicle, then you’re also gonna be able to save on gas, but you’ve got to be able to afford it in the first place.”
“The more pain we are all experiencing from the high price of gas, the more benefit there is for those who can access electric vehicles,” the former presidential candidate added while testifying before Congress recently.
Average gas prices have fallen off around 20 cents over the past month, but they are still around a dollar per gallon higher now than this time a year ago. Prices began rising steadily after Biden was inaugurated due to — according to Republicans and some economists — his anti-fossil fuel policies that include canceling the Keystone XL pipeline and refusing to renew thousands of oil and gas drilling leases. Biden has also closed off drilling on vast swaths of federal land.
As for the transition to a ‘green’ economy, Larry Kudlow, a top economist under President Trump, warned recently that shedding fossil fuels will impose devastating economic costs on the country as well as massive job losses.
Kudlow — during an interview with Fox News’ Sandra Smith early last month — was addressing remarks from Biden over the weekend during his trip to Asia in which he used the term “transition” often to signal his plans for the U.S. economy.
“Yeah, quiet part out loud. Defending essentially high gasoline prices. As you know, oil is at $120 a barrel today. I just want to tell you, any so-called transition to a green economy that ends fossil fuels would be an economic catastrophe,” Kudlow began.
“It would be a permanent recession. We couldn’t possibly do that or afford that. The job losses would be in the tens of millions. I am not exaggerating. A lot of first-rate economists have made the same point of view. So I’m leery of this transition,” Kudlow continued.
