The GOP is so desperate to keep tossing red meat to its base of supporters who eat up its platform of Perpetual Outrage, Republicans are now literally conjuring up imaginary scenarios about…red meat.
Over the weekend, a story spread across the right-wing outlets that President Biden’s climate plan was going to target the meat-eating habits of American families. It claimed that to meet the reduced emissions goals of Biden’s plan by 2030, Americans would be limited to eat only four pounds of meat each year. Here’s the thing, though.
It’s not true. Not a single bit. The story, which originated in The Daily Mail, is completely false.
If you need more proof that there is no meat on this bone the GOP is gnawing on, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack affirmed on Monday that Biden has no plans to curtail meat consumption in the U.S., according to Politico.
“There’s no desire, no effort, no press release, no policy paper — none of that — that would support the notion that the Biden administration is going to suggest that people eat less meat.”
But as you can see in some of the tweets CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale highlighted, the truth didn’t matter to some republican lawmakers and talking heads. They ran with it anyway, with the eager assistance of Fox News, because the idea of Biden preparing to ration our beloved steaks and hamburgers was too tasty a dish to not shove onto the plates of GOP supporters.
The inaccurate story from the British tabloid basically took a wild hypothetical leap from a University of Michigan study that looked at the White House’s emission goals, and studied what reducing meat consumption would do to meet those benchmarks. Researchers found that cutting American meat eating by half could prevent 1.6 billion tons of climate pollution. Again, the researchers said this. It has nothing to do with Biden’s plan, which has yet to release full details on its emissions plan of action.
That didn’t stop the writer of that Daily Mail story from making some wild assumptions.
In children’s terms, the study found that if people reduce meat eating by a lot, emissions would fall a lot.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 25, 2021
Daily Mail was like…Biden wants to cut emissions by a lot. Therefore, he’ll force people to reduce meat eating by the same amount this random study looked at.
??? pic.twitter.com/XjOjhGoOLz
GOP supporters and even lawmakers were too eager to jump on the topic as a way to stir yet another culture war. Texas Governor Greg Abbott was happy to share the non-existent story on twitter.
Idaho Governor Brad Little also had beef with Biden’s non-existent beef policy.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the GOP’s most notorious supporters of factually-challenged narratives, couldn’t resist weighing in, either.
Former Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow, who is as famous for being wrong about things as he is for anything else, took it one step further during an appearance on Fox Business. He said Biden’s New Green New Deal would not only stop people from enjoying the meat and eggs all true Americans love, it would also force us to start guzzling “plant-based beer.”
Who wants to tell Mr. Kudlow that grains, yeast and hops are not meat products? Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made a point of ridiculing Kudlow’s remark during a tweet sent while watching the Oscars.
It’s important to reiterate this. Yes, agriculture reforms may be part of some recommendations from the White House to hit its emissions goals, but Biden’s proposal does not call for any limits to the amount of red meat, or any other food, Americans can eat.
Someone please let the GOP know, so they can stop having a cow over nothing.
