As the White House continues to blame high gas prices on Russia and has recruited TikTok stars to sell the storey, Joe Biden Climate Task Force argues that switching to renewable energy is the best way to fight back against President Vladimir Putin’s ‘weaponization of fossil fuels.’
It comes as Republicans accuse Trump of ‘gaslighting’ Americans by attempting to blame the big price increase on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rather than a flawed climate strategy that concentrates on alternative energy while refusing to tap into domestic supplies.
‘The president is literally gaslighting the American people,’ Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst said at the Capitol on Tuesday, putting air quotes around the word ‘gaslighting.’
‘He feels that if he says it enough, people are going to believe that fuel prices were Putin’s fault. We know that’s not true,’ she continued. ‘So folks, let’s all step up. Let’s push this administration to get over their deranged climate policy and let’s unleash American energy.’
During a press conference with a group of Republicans on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said: ‘I think it’s perfectly clear that Vladimir Putin is not the cause of this rampant inflation that began at the beginning of the year.’
‘Nobody buys Democrats’ efforts to blame 14 months of failed policies on three weeks of crisis in Europe,’ the Kentucky Republican tweeted. ‘Inflation and gas prices were skyrocketing and hurting families long before late last month. The White House needs to stop trying to deny their mistakes and start fixing them.’
Even though increasing inflation had been a severe concern for months before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Joe Biden has recruited and deployed TikTokers to blame it on Putin.
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, attacked Joe Biden strategy in a Monday tweet, writing: ‘The White House thinks the voters are stupid.’
The Climate Task Force meeting on Monday was targeted at lowering gas prices as the Joe Biden administration battles to portray the price hikes as Russia’s fault, and the average cost per gallon in the United States remains in the mid $4.00 region, with some locations exceeding $6.00.
‘The Task Force focused on how agencies can continue supporting the President’s commitment to addressing Putin’s Price Hike from his unprovoked war against Ukraine, minimizing pain at the pump here at home, continue rapidly deploying clean energy, and keep reducing emissions that cause climate change,’ a Tuesday readout of the meeting states.
The conference, which was hosted by National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy and attended by 23 other administration officials, was also intended to strategize on how to secure the United States’ energy independence.
Conservatives say that previous President Donald Trump put the country on the path to full energy independence by pushing forward with programmes to use more natural resources from within the United States rather than relying on supplies from other countries.
On the first day of Biden’s presidency, he halted the Keystone XL pipeline project, which Trump had pushed as a strategy to cut gas prices by more efficiently moving oil from Canada.
Biden’s task force, on the other hand, is pushing for a faster transition to clean energy in the United States, which is a no-no for Republicans, who have blocked domestic agenda proposals because they contain too many provisions disincentivizing the use of fossil fuels and incentivizing the use of green energy such as wind and solar.
‘The Task Force echoed the President’s belief that this moment underscores the need to accelerate – not slow down – our transition to a clean energy future that will strengthen U.S. energy independence,’ the White House noted of the meeting. ‘They noted when electric cars are powered by clean energy, homes run on clean electricity, and our grid is more resilient and reliable, autocrats like Putin won’t be able to weaponize fossil fuels against other nations.’
The White House convened a zoom briefing for roughly 30 well-known online personalities, who immediately took to social media to discuss what they had learned from the White House.
Ellie Zeiler, an 18-year-old with more than 10 million Instagram followers, was among those invited to the meeting and later posted a pro-Joe Biden video blaming the gas price situation on Putin and defending the administration.
She posted a video on her profile entitled: ‘Why is gas so expensive?’ It is unclear if any of the influencers were paid for their services, although they were approached because of their work with a nonprofit called Gen Z for Change.
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During the production of the video, Zeiler did not hide the fact that she had communicated with the Joe Biden Administration.
‘Why is gas so expensive, and why is the United States inflation rate at a four-time decade high?’ the video starts.
‘I had the opportunity to ask the White House why gas down the street is $7 and here’s what they said.’
‘The first obvious reason is that we’re getting out of a two-year pandemic. When use goes up, the price goes up….
‘But the call was predominantly about Ukraine and Russia, so how does that relate?’ she asked.
‘Russia is one of the top three producers of oil and it is actually their No. 1 revenue source. Now, with Putin starting this horrific fight between Ukraine and Russia, nobody wants to work with him and do international trade.’
The Washington Post stated that Zeller, who posted her one-minute video on Sunday, was one of 30 TikTok stars who attended a Zoom meeting with White House officials and National Security Council workers last Thursday.
They shared the Joe Biden message after last week’s announcement that inflation had jumped by 7.9% year over year, the largest increase in 40 years. The cost of living has been rising for months, with the most recent reporting period ending just four days after Putin invaded Ukraine, indicating that Americans should expect even higher rises in April.
The president is desperate to deflect blame for the economy’s decline as his approval ratings plummet, and his Democratic Party’s midterm elections in November are expected to be a disaster.
According to the Washington Post, the White House briefing was led by Matt Miller, a special adviser for communications at the White House National Security Council, and Psaki.
The TikTokers’ reach and potential effect, according to White House director of digital strategy Rob Flaherty, is “a critically important avenue” to the American public.
During the conversation, Zeiler could be heard inquiring about inflation and what it meant for the country and young people, according to recordings obtained by the Post.
Psaki blamed a variety of factors, including supply chain challenges, the pandemic, and the rising cost of electricity even before the Russian invasion.
But, when it came to petrol costs, she laid the finger directly at President Putin.
‘It’s his actions, President Putin, that is prompting the rising gas prices,’ Psaki said. ‘That is what is happening.’
Later, Zeiler told the Washington Post that she was honoured to be given the responsibility of explaining complex circumstances to young people.
‘I’m here to relay the information in a more digestible manner to my followers,’ she told the Post. ‘I would consider myself a White House correspondent for Gen-Z.’
Other videos on her TikTok profile show her dancing in her residence, providing makeup advice, going on vacation, and executing family pranks.
A nonprofit advocacy group called Gen Z For Change assisted in identifying the content creators who were invited to participate.
The information was aimed for a younger audience.
‘We joined the White House for a briefing on the U.S. strategic goals in Ukraine so we’re better able to debunk misinformation.
‘As a coalition that reaches half a billion people, we are grateful that the White House chooses to work with us to keep people informed,’ the group continued.
‘TikTok is the media app that many young people check first after unlocking their phones,’ tweeted Jules Terpak, an influencer who was on the briefing call.
Aaron Parnas, the son of Rudy Giuliani’s accused former associate Lev Parnas, was also on the call, with 1.2 million followers.
‘I just got off of a zoom call with the White House about the situation in Ukraine,’ Kahlil Greene, who describes himself as a “Gen Z historian” and has 540,000 followers on social media, submitted a video to his accounts.
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The move comes as the government fights a torrent of misinformation coming from Moscow, where Vladimir Putin is attempting to justify the invasion by making misleading claims about Ukraine.
The administration was highlighting its work with allies, the help it was sending Ukraine, and how it was attempting to avoid a larger war, according to all of the ‘digital creators’ on the White House briefing.
Marcus J. DiPaola tweeted about his White House briefing experience.
‘The number one message the White House has is U.S. unity with partners & allies. The number two message is to prevent a more expansive war,’ he noted.
According to the Washington Post, the briefing was conducted by National Security Council employees and White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
Aaron Parnas, who claims to have family in Ukraine and whose father Lev aided Trump’s plot to pressure Ukraine to investigate Trump’s competitors, addressed the White House talking points on the conversation in a video he shared on social media.
https://www.tiktok.com/@aaronparnas6/video/7073610924497702186
‘The United States has provided a significant amount of militaristic as well as humanitarian aid to Ukraine,’ he said, citing White House officials.
‘Next, we’ll see how the US sanctions against Russia are working.’ Russia’s economy is in freefall, the ruble is at an all-time low, and the country is on the verge of defaulting. Finally, the US is making public a large amount of previously classified information that has subsequently been declassified in order to dispel Russian propaganda and keep the public and Ukraine informed about what is going on.
VICE News discovered a coordinated attempt to pay Russian TikTok influencers to publish videos selling pro-Kremlin narratives about the Ukraine war, even after TikTok barred fresh uploads from Russian users.
Parnas noted on Twitter that ‘Russia is literally paying people to make content on TikTok and elsewhere. Beware of the propaganda out there, and know that Russia is desperate because they are losing this war.’
Social media has been used by both sides to propagate their messages.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has defied Russia’s claims that he has left Kyiv by posting defiant videos on Facebook. Journalists and others in the country have shared photographs and video of the Russian forces’ devastation.
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