WATCH: Fox News Spends Entire Day Trashing Jill Biden For Using Gas Stove Because Of Made-Up Gas Stove Ban Panic
Fox News hosts and anchors devoted several segments and a good portion of the day trashing First Lady Dr. Jill Biden for the crime of being photographed cooking over a gas stove because there is a panic about a ban on gas stoves sweeping over the conservosphere — based on nothing.
The first lady has become embroiled (see what I did there?) in a controversy over what Fox News describes as a debate about banning gas stoves by virtue of the fact that she was photographed apparently sautéing spinach over a gas stove in 2020, and that resurfaced photo is being circulated to implicate her in a hypocrisy about, you guessed it, banning gas stoves.
Dr. Biden, like any decent American, nay any decent human being, obviously knows that electric stoves are of the devil.
The outrage is being fueled (see what I did there?) by people like Senator Ted Cruz, who tweeted the photo with the caption “Rules for thee but not for me.”
Fox News hosts and anchors like Jesse Watters, Harris Faulkner, Carley Shimkus, and the people at Fox & Friends First gave the photo the “YIKES” treatment, called it an example of “hypocrisy,” and built several segments around the controversy.
The problem is that First Lady Dr. Jill Biden has never tried to ban gas stoves. President Joe Biden is not trying to ban gas stoves either. Neither is the federal government.
This panic was massaged into existence by Bloomberg, which overreached with a headline — “US Safety Agency to Consider Ban on Gas Stoves Amid Health Fears” — that exaggerated an answer to a direct question about pollution concerns:
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission plans to take action to address the pollution, which can cause health and respiratory problems.
“This is a hidden hazard,” Richard Trumka Jr., an agency commissioner, said in an interview. “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”
Even the declaration that “Products that can’t be made safe can be banned” does not equal “LET’S BAN ALL GAS STOVES! LEROY JENKINS!!!”
Even so, the agency removed all possible doubt when they told Snopes they definitely aren’t proposing any regulatory action on gas stoves:
However, a CPSC spokesperson told us that Trumka’s views do not reflect the views of the entire organization. While the agency was not considering new regulatory measures, nor a ban, the spokesperson said they were planning to gather information from the public “on hazards from gas stoves and potential solutions to hazardous gas [emissions].”
Elaborating further, the CPSC said in a statement:
CPSC has not proposed any regulatory action on gas stoves at this time. Any regulatory action by the Commission would involve a lengthy process. Agency staff plans to start gathering data and perspectives from the public on potential hazards associated with gas stoves, and proposed solutions to those hazards later this year. Commission staff also continues to work with voluntary standards organizations to examine gas stove emissions and address potential hazards.
There are reasons for gas users in general to be concerned about the long-term move away from fossil fuels, but there’s no effort underway for the federal government to ban gas stoves, and Jill Biden has nothing to do with doing or not doing that.
Watch a sampling above via Fox News.
