Networks Ignore Anti-Energy President, Blame Middle East for High Gas Prices, Inflation

April 16th, 2024 4:29 PM

ABC News Live and CBS Mornings absurdly ignored the impact of President Joe Biden’s anti-energy policies. At the same time, they blamed turmoil in the Middle East for present and even future energy prices.

The hosts of the April 15 editions of ABC News Live and CBS Mornings tiptoed around the elephant in the room, pointing to the fallout of the Israel-Hamas war and the recent Iranian attack on Israel as the alleged culprit for current and future gas prices. Yet, these shows entirely failed to mention Biden’s major role in the fueling of such a major increase.

ABC News Correspondent Alexis Christoforous cited a source claiming that gas prices have been rising just at the chance of turmoil in the Middle East. “Analysts say the risk of escalating warfare in the Middle East has already been factored into this year's roughly 20% rise in crude oil prices,” she claimed. ABC News went on to tie future gas prices to a potential Israeli response to Iran’s recent attack. Christoforous said, “Now, what happens next with oil and the stock market largely on Israel's response to the attack.”

On CBS Mornings, CBS News Business Analyst Jill Schlesinger blamed not only high gas prices but also inflation generally on conflicts in the Middle East. “That is a lot to do with what has been going on in the Middle East since October 7th,” Schlesinger said of high oil prices. She went on to make the same argument as Christoforous that an Israeli response to Iran’s attack could make things worse for the American consumer. 

Neither ABC nor CBS explored any other reasons why the gas price has skyrocketed from $2.42 a gallon in Jan. 2021 (when Biden took office) to $3.54 in March (before Iran’s recent attack). 

If ABC and Christoforous want to consider things that have been “factored into” this year’s high gas prices, they might consider Biden’s Jan. 26 “pause” on liquified natural gas projects. During a CNBC interview following this decision, American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers pointed out that Biden had consistently reduced drilling on public lands even before this decision. Sommers said the Biden administration was “sowing the seeds for an energy crisis in the future because we're not making those investments here in the United States.”

Biden infamously revealed the limitations of his energy agenda during the 2023 agenda. Despite hampering new drilling at every step, the president had the chutzpah to criticize the oil industry for insufficient investment in future production. Biden mentioned industry fears that the left would ultimately shut down any production they invested in, before uttered a statement that did nothing to assuage such fears. “We’re going to need oil for at least another decade,” Biden said, before looking about in apparent confusion, as Congress laughed at him. 

This president looks squarely at the problem before persisting with his destructive policies that discourage investment and harm American energy production. Viewers won’t hear this on CBS or ABC. 

Conservatives are under attack! Contact ABC News at 818-460-7477, CBS News at 212-975-3247 and NBC News at 212-664-6192 and demand they hold Biden and his cronies accountable for attempting to restrict fossil fuel production and Americans’ choices.