Thank heavens for Neera Tanden’s Twitter trolling.
If you’ve forgotten that minor scandal, let me take you back to the heady days of early 2021 — back when inflation was transitory, the border crisis was just a seasonal variation in migratory patterns and Hunter Biden’s laptop was still being billed by some as a Russian disinformation operation. Tanden, former president of the left-wing Center for American Progress, was put forth by the newly minted president as his nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget.
Then, people starting looking at her old tweets. She called Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell “Voldemort” in one of them. When Rupert Murdoch’s house caught fire in 2017, she tweeted, “There’s a God. And she’s unhappy.” She also wrote that “a vampire has more heart than Ted Cruz.” You know, fun stuff like that.
Senator Bernie Sanders confronts Biden’s OMB nominee Neera Tanden for her “vicious attacks” against Democrats and Republicanshttps://t.co/XU9MDcJwrV pic.twitter.com/OBnKWxKqQz
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 10, 2021
Tanden was forced to withdraw after it became clear she didn’t have the support necessary to clear the nomination process. However, she never really went away, working as an adviser and staff secretary in the Biden administration until she was appointed director of the of the United States Domestic Policy Council in May, replacing the outgoing Susan Rice.
On Wednesday, Tanden appeared at a White House media briefing and managed to provide an object lesson in how we dodged a bullet thanks to her mean tweets — as well as providing a salient argument that director of the United States Domestic Policy Council should also require Senate approval.
Tanden was there to talk about the benefits of the inaptly named Inflation Reduction Act, which was basically an environmentalist giveaway with a profoundly misleading name.
In between the green energy subsidies it helped pay for, however, there were a few crumbs of the largesse, which could technically be construed as inflation-fighting, particularly in healthcare subsidies — which Tanden was trotted out to talk up on Wednesday.
“From day one, President Biden and the Biden-Harris administration have been focused on lowering healthcare costs for all Americans because we know healthcare costs can be a huge economic stress for families,” she claimed, according to a White House transcript.
“That’s why the Inflation Reduction Act lowers these costs — these care costs for millions of Americans. It’s already doing so. Fifteen million people are continuing to save $800 a year on their health insurance premiums. Seniors are already seeing lifesaving benefits of this law: $35 out-of — $35 out-of-pocket cap on insulin; free recommended vaccines, like shingles and tetanus; lower out-of-pocket coinsurance for certain drugs that raised prices faster than inflation.”
Well, that’s just dandy — but it’s not as if Americans can fill their gas tanks with insulin or put tetanus shots on the dinner table, something a reporter confronted her about.
“You talk about the — the insulin costs being reduced and the caps for seniors. And all that’s great for people who do this regularly,” the reporter said.
“But for most people, you know, it’s grocery stores and gas stations. Those are the places where they’re spending money out of pocket most regularly. What do you say to them? I mean, other than just ‘Hang tight, it’s getting better.’ Because there doesn’t seem to be anything in — in the bill — in the legislation that addresses that specifically. Is that right?
Here’s a preemptory TL;DR recap of Tanden’s answer: “Um, insulin. And stuff.”
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“I will say that of the — of the stresses on families every day, healthcare costs are one of their paramount concerns. And we know that pharmaceutical costs, drug costs are driving healthcare costs — driving healthcare costs up,” Tanden said.
“And I’d say prescription drug costs are very resonant with the American people, and that is why prescription drug costs a — addressing prescri- — addressing prescription drugs and lowering prescription drug costs is a key part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
“The president has fought very hard for these provisions. Many have tried and failed, and he succeeded in getting the Congress, for the first time, to ensure that we have Medicare drug negotiation,” she continued.
“These prices are a big component of what people are experiencing every day in terms of high costs. And — and we can see from public polling why there is such a great demand. And despite pharma’s attacks over the course of a year, this kind — the past Congress actually passed this legislation.”
Perfect answer. Ten out of 10. Great work. Now, excuse me as I drive my insulin-powered Honda to the local Walgreens, so I can pick up the ingredients to make tonight’s dinner, MMR vaccine au gratin.
It’s interesting that somebody who is at no loss for words when she’s engaging in incendiary troll-posting after Rupert Murdoch’s house catches on fire somehow turns into a deer in rhetorical headlights after being asked about something that, you know, is part of her job.
But then, it’s almost hard to blame her. This is how incompetent the White House she works for is. All Tanden did was give the media a front-row seat to the madness.
After all, the Biden administration has never been able to come up a reasonable spin on the upward spiral in the cost of living. First it was transitory. Then it was Putin’s fault. The current line is that, even though inflation is still well above healthy levels, it’s not like the nearly double-digit numbers we were putting up in 2022 — so Bidenomics is winning! Hooray!
However, at least these excuses were actual excuses. Tanden didn’t even bother providing that. A reporter noted that, while insulin-price caps may alleviate pressure for certain Americans, gas and grocery prices affect every American. He then asked if she could speak to that. Her response, distilled: “Um, uh, aren’t those insulin-price caps grand?”
Nice try, Neera. Can’t wait to see what you end up calling the reporter who dared ask you a difficult question when you post about it on your Twitter account.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
