President Joe Biden is facing criticism for the logistics of his trip to Massachusetts to deliver a speech where he labeled Climate Change an emergency.
On Wednesday, the president traveled to the site of a former coal-powered plant in Massachusetts to speak about Climate Change.
He also signaled that he may take executive action to fight Climate Change as any sort of legislation on the matter appears unlikely at the moment.
āMy message today is this ā since Congress is not acting as it should ⦠this is an emergency,ā Biden said.
He added, āAnd I will look at it that way. I said last week, and Iāll say it again loud and clear. As president, Iāll use my executive powers to combat the climate crisis in the absence of congressional action.ā
While some conservatives blasted what Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) dubbed āexecutive beast modeā ā potentially declaring a climate emergency ā others highlighted what they thought was the hypocrisy of the president flying to Massachusetts, then being driven in a massive motorcade to speak.
The Republican National Committeeās Twitter account shared a video of Bidenās motorcade arriving at the location and wrote, āJoe Bidenās massive motorcade of gas-guzzling SUVs arrives ahead of his speech on Climate Change.ā
Check out some of the other reactions below:
Biden obviously canāt just hop on a commercial airline in coach for his flight. And itās not likely that the Secret Service is going to switch over their vehicles to tiny compact cars to be more fuel efficient.
These days, some companies are making electric SUVs, such as GMC, which is taking reservations for an electric Hummer.
However, itās unclear if the available electric SUVs would be able to meet the demands of a presidential motorcade while carrying all the armor to keep the president safe.
The U.S. Army has reportedly placed an order for one electric hummer for evaluation, so if it passes the Armyās test, perhaps that could be the start of the beginning of a transition to electric presidential vehicles. For now, though, any potential shift to a presidential electric fleet seems a ways off.
Still, the optics of massive C-17 jets flying the vehicles in the presidential motorcade to the destination airport, followed by Biden on Air Force One, followed by the motorcadeās drive to the location where he spoke about climate as an emergency, and then a quick turn around and flight back to Washington, D.C., for a speech he could have given at the White House do not seem to convey that there is an emergency.
