DANIEL TURNER: GOP Debaters Knocked This Topic Out Of The Park

DANIEL TURNER: GOP Debaters Knocked This Topic Out Of The Park

Daniel Turner on August 24, 2023

As someone who spends a lot of time in town hall meetings, debates, and question and answer sessions all across America, I enjoyed watching the fireworks at the first GOP Debate. No, I am not referring to the back and forth on abortion or Ukraine, but the question of climate change.

Climate change is the gateway to energy cowardice. Political candidates are petrified to appear as “climate deniers” since all the cool kids, Hollywood elites, the media, all believe in climate change.  The fiery debate which followed, chaotic as it was, is crucial.

Joe Biden is an ardent climate change activist, and his record of punishing the fossil fuel industry follows that prescription. From his very first day in office when he issued executive orders canceling pipelines to the hours before the debate when his administration quietly cut 6.4 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico available for oil and gas development.

Yes, it would be difficult for a Republican president to be any worse than Biden. But should a Republican climate change “believer” gain the power of the Oval Office, how will he or she act? Voters need to know. The past few years have driven inflation, raised the cost of goods and service, and made our enemies richer.  It is hard, nearly impossible, to “believe” in climate change as currently understood, without a war on energy.

There were some terrific lines last night on energy that offer hope for the future.

Ron Desantis: “Open up all energy production  We will be energy dominant again in this country.”

Nikki Haley: “[The Biden agenda is] putting money in China’s pocket; India and China need to stop polluting.”

Vivek Ramaswamy: “This isn’t that complicated, guys. Drill, frack, burn coal, embrace nuclear. [Climate change is a] wet blanket on our economy.”

Tim Scott: “The best thing we can do [to help the climate] is to bring our jobs home from China.”

Doug Burgum: “The economy, energy, and national security are all tied together… if we’re going to stop buying oil from the middle east and start buying batteries from China we’re just trading OPEC for SINOpec.”

None of the above would ever be uttered by Biden or his band of climate alarmists.

Energy ungirds the economy.  Everything in your life is either manufactured, grown, irrigated, transported with energy, so expensive energy is expensive life.  President Biden is eager to talk about “Bidenomics.” A good place to start is his energy agenda, if you can call it that, that he has been implementing for more than two and half years. We are all experiencing the result: expensive life. Last night at the first GOP presidential debate, I was hoping for a serious discussion about energy.  The debate delivered.

Energy matters.  Energy policy matters.  And the next American president will only grow the economy, provide for our national security, and strengthen our foreign policy if he or she is strong on protecting, encouraging, expanding, our domestic energy.

Daniel Turner is the founder and executive director of Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs. Twitter: @DanielTurnerPTF

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.