Anti-fossil-fuel Democrats tried to discredit my Congressional testimony on energy security this week using 100% false personal attacks. They failed, and all such future attempts will fail.
Democrats’ attempts to discredit Congressional testimony on energy security with false, personal attacks were a failure. [emphasis, links added]
When you last heard from me, I was preparing to deliver Congressional testimony on the Biden Administration’s abuse of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
I was eager, not only to testify but also to answer any and all questions and counterarguments.
What I was not eager for was for Rep. Cori Bush, the lead Democrat of the Oversight subcommittee holding the hearing, to attempt to ambush me with 100% false allegations of “White Supremacist views” expressed in my college years.
This was clearly inspired by the Washington Post’s failed attempt to do the same thing prior to the launch of Fossil Future.
Rep. Bush’s attack on me was not a sideline in the hearing; it was how she began the hearing. She actually had two posters made of quotes from me!
I suspect that Cori Bush and/or the staffers who prepared a race-based ambush expected things would go as follows: I would be flustered by the accusations and make some embarrassed half-apology.
This would make it easy for other antagonistic Representatives to invoke my “White Supremacist views” to discredit any comments I made.
They expected wrong.
Watch what actually happened, in a Tweet that currently has over four million views.
When I agreed to testify about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, I didn’t expect the hearing’s lead Democrat, @CoriBush, to make a prepared statement falsely accusing me of having “espoused White Supremacist views”!
Fortunately, I got the chance to respond.
Here’s how it went. pic.twitter.com/lgS4RNlbyz
— Alex Epstein (@AlexEpstein) March 9, 2023
My response to Cori Bush’s attack quickly got national attention, including from Tucker Carlson, who said last night during my appearance on his show (watch it below): “Would you be able to respond as cogently as Alex Epstein? I couldn’t.”
“An actual energy expert called Alex Epstein testified that we should keep our SPR and increase domestic oil production….@CoriBush, you know what she did? She called him a racist.”
“Would you be able to respond as cogently as Alex Epstein? I couldn’t.”@TuckerCarlson pic.twitter.com/DcVFq8InMb
— Alex Epstein (@AlexEpstein) March 11, 2023
I am grateful to the hearing’s Chairman, Rep. Pat Fallon, who gave me an extra minute to respond to Rep. Bush’s attack before I gave my testimony.
After my testimony, Rep. Bush had the opportunity to address anything I said, including asking me questions directly. But instead, she went mute on the subject, and then quickly exited the hearing.
But even though I had thoroughly refuted, beyond any reasonable doubt, Rep. Bush’s accusation of “White Supremacist views,” her colleague Rep. Melanie Stansbury had the gall to accuse me of claiming the “racial superiority of Western Cultures” in direct contradiction to my explanation that race and culture/ideas have nothing to do with one another.
Stansbury also attempted in her questioning of me to ask loaded yes/no questions to get me to “admit” that I spoke “on behalf of the fossil fuel industry” and “really lack just basic credibility.”
And once again, my attacker didn’t get the result they expected—see the (widely-viewed) video below.
Instead of addressing my detailed argument against @JoeBiden depleting the SPR, @Rep_Stansbury tried to discredit me as a White Supremacist and industry stooge.
Thankfully, @laurenboebert and @realannapaulina gave me the opportunity to respond.
Make sure to watch the end! pic.twitter.com/7QLhrDU8TS
— Alex Epstein (@AlexEpstein) March 9, 2023
Of the many deservedly savage comments that Rep. Stansbury got, one of my favorites was from Jordan Peterson who said:
“Your disgraceful behaviour @Rep_Stansbury was entirely emblematic of the appalling cancel/culture innuendo-spreading gossipy radical elect. A pathetic display of accusation and reputation savaging.”
Fortunately, in addition to being given time to demolish the various personal attacks levied against me, I was also able to spend a lot of time actually educating the committee about energy security.
See the video below for all my testimony and Q&A.
At yesterday’s Congressional hearing on the SPR,
1) I made the case that @JoeBiden endangered our security by depleting the SPR
2) Nobody even attempted to challenge my case
3) Dem leaders instead tried, and failed, to portray me as a White SupremacistHere’s every moment. pic.twitter.com/futHu2SYUS
— Alex Epstein (@AlexEpstein) March 9, 2023
I was gratified by the incredible amount of support and interest I got following the hearing. (One example: I got 16,000 new Twitter followers in just a couple of days.)
However, I was very disappointed that the official Democrat portion of the Congressional Oversight Committee 1) failed to censure Rep. Bush and 2) actually promoted her allegations, accusing me of “white nationalist ideology.”
Unconscionable
Instead of censuring @CoriBush for falsely accusing me of “White Supremacist views” at a hearing, the OFFICIAL DEMOCRATIC OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE issued a Press Release accusing me of “white nationalist ideology.”
I demand an immediate public apology. https://t.co/d0IJ4xaKjg pic.twitter.com/nIx3LiBd6u
— Alex Epstein (@AlexEpstein) March 10, 2023
The Oversight Democrats owe me a public apology—as I explained this morning on Fox and Friends.
I am sad that the attacks on me and any defenses of me have so far been divided along party lines.
As I explained in this interview on The Ingraham Angle, “I know there are many people in Congress who are Democrats who don’t approve of this kind of thing, but one thing they really need to do is stand up… I think it would be really great if some Democrats stood up and said ‘This is unacceptable,’ and censured [Rep. Bush] in some form or another.”
As I have said many times, I am not an advocate for any political party. I am an advocate for human flourishing in general and for energy freedom in particular.
I will continue to make myself available to any political office that wants my help promoting energy freedom policies.
I expect to testify in Congress many times this year. I am now genuinely curious to see if others will pursue the tried-and-failed strategy of trying to embarrass and discredit me with false personal attacks.
I am curious, but in the end, I don’t really care.
If my opponents want to keep attacking me using falsehoods and corrupt tactics, I will keep embarrassing them with the truth and with proper thinking methods. And this will continue to attract new minds to my ideas. For example, Fossil Future just hit the Top 100 on Amazon!
If my opponents want to try to silence me by ignoring me—e.g., by asking me no questions during a hearing—it’s not going to work. I have too big a platform now to be ignored, and the pro-human arguments for fossil fuels and for energy freedom are too powerful to be ignored.
I won’t be stopped. And that’s ultimately good for everyone who cares about human life, because as I explain in Fossil Future, energy freedom—including the freedom to use fossil fuels—is good for everyone, everywhere.
Read more at Energy Talking Points
Alex, history and what’s coming will prove you to be right.
Today, anyone who thinks fossil fuels will not be a part of human activity for the next 100+ years is an idiot and needs to read “How the world really works”
written by Professor Vaclav Smil.
I’ll sum it up this way. Without fossil fuels, more than 50% of the world’s human population would be dead, simply because we would not be able to feed ourselves. If you don’t know how FF is responsible for the vast amount of food produced around the world, you will after you read Profesor Smil’s book.
Noting that the KKK was founded by the Democrats and the late Robert Byrd was a member and Bull Conner was Democrat to
It is a long standing practice of liberals to use race as a smoke screen when the facts don’t support their point of view. In one interview when a reporter blame access to guns as the reason American has a higher crime rate than Europe, the president of the National Rifle Association pointed out that the difference was more accurately explained by the differences in demographics. At that point the reporter accused the National Rifle Association president of being racist and the rest of the interview was about that issue. The reporter successfully used race to hide the fact demographics is a big factor.