OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Fox News host Harris Faulkner laid into left-wing actor Mark Ruffalo during a segment of the midday panel show “Outnumbered” on Wednesday after he called the Russia-Ukraine war “a gift” for President Joe Biden and the world.
During a previous interview with MSNBC’s Katy Tur, Ruffalo made his remark in reference to climate change, noting that he believed the war could hasten the U.S. move to green energy.
“Actor and environmental justice warrior, should I put that in quotes, because they all fly,” Faulkner noted before bringing in a video clip of the exchange.
“Mark Ruffalo says the war in Ukraine that has resulted in the thousands of deaths and unspeakable war crimes we see daily has actually been a ‘gift’ for President Biden’s clean energy effort,” she added.
Ruffalo said of the conflict: “This is a moment for President Biden to take this, our momentum, people’s fear, their disgust of the war, their disgust with energy prices and–and use that to solidify a message to the American people that now is the time to transition.
“This where the jobs are, this is where national security is, and we’re going to keep pushing him to do it and this is a gift to the president as we see it and we see him accepting it in such terms,” he added.
“See, I have no doubt why people hate Hollywood,” Faulkner said to begin the panel’s discussion. “That is it right there, just do your job, just play your role! Whatever it is.”
“War is not something to be used. War is not something that is a gift, this is something you learn when you are five or maybe ten and it is elementary,” former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany added, arguing that Ruffalo was making the war in Ukraine about the climate agenda, adding that he was without empathy for those who were going through it.
“How disgusting that the climate agenda means so much to this man that he is delusional to the point of not having the empathy,” she said, making reference to the many disturbing images and stories emanating from Ukraine in the months since Russia invaded Feb. 24.
“Do you remember, Harris, and Emily, I know that we were on air together when the pregnant woman was bombed in that maternity hospital. And you pointed out just the blanket over her, it was so sad to watch, unfortunately, she did not make it and neither did her child, those are the images of war and that’s what we must bring to light as to what is happening in Ukraine. It is certainly not a gift,” McEnany added.
WATCH:
“I have no doubt why people hate Hollywood.” @HARRISFAULKNER minces no words in response to Mark Ruffalo’s claim that war in Ukraine is a “gift” because it will force the world to pivot to green energy. pic.twitter.com/7qW2jAuSyQ
— Virginia Kruta (@VAKruta) April 27, 2022
While there has been general agreement that the Earth’s climate is changing, which has been occurring since the birth of the planet, there is disagreement over whether human activities are causing the changes, and in particular, whether the use of fossil fuels is contributing.
For instance, a climate scientist who served during the Obama administration is pushing back on current claims that there is a climate “emergency” requiring immediate policy and legislative action, adding that modern heatwaves are “no more common than they were in 1900.”
“Both research literature and government reports state clearly that heat waves in the US are now no more common than they were in 1900, and that the warmest temperatures in the US have not risen in the past fifty years,” Steven Koonin, the undersecretary for science at the Department of Energy during the Obama administration, wrote in an op-ed for the New York Post published roughly a year ago.
“The results from many different climate models disagree with, or even contradict, each other and many kinds of observations,” he wrote. “In short, the science is insufficient to make useful predictions about how the climate will change over the coming decades, much less what effect our actions will have on it.”
