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CNN anchor Jake Tapper noted declining carbon emissions in the U.S. were due to market forces rather than government policies in a Twitter spat Tuesday with White House adviser Ivanka Trump.
The feud began when the top White House adviser posted a recent finding from the Environmental Protection Agency: "FACT: Greenhouse gases generated by the U.S. will slide 9.2% this year, tumbling to the lowest level in at least three decades."
However, Tapper noted such a decline is due to the coronavirus pandemic that has stunted travel for much of the year.
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"This is largely because of the pandemic and the economic catastrophe it wrought. 'The biggest drop in emissions this year came from the transportation sector, where emissions fell 14 percent, dragged down by a steep drop in air travel and automobile trips,'" Tapper tweeted.
He added, "Kind of an important detail," sharing a link to a Washington Post report.
Ivanka Trump fired back by pointing to carbon dioxide emissions in 2019 "were the lowest they have been since 1992" and that per capita emissions were lower "than they’ve been at any time since at least 1950."
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In other words, carbon dioxide emissions were on the decline before the pandemic plagued the nation.
Tapper appeared to concede to her fact-check but also moved the goalpost.
"Ah so now we’re talking about last year? Ok cool yes that’s true. So why was that?" Tapper asked before quoting Inside Climate News. “'The story of the emissions decline has largely been one of market forces — rather than policies — that have made utilities close coal plants in favor of cheaper natural gas and renewable energy.'”
Critics piled on the CNN anchor for inadvertently crediting a free market for lowering carbon emissions rather than government intervention.
"That’s...awesome, actually," Daily Wire senior editor Emily Zanotti reacted.
"Capitalism wins again!" Tablet Magazine associate editor Noam Blum exclaimed.
"It’s almost as if letting the private sector deal with the problem is better than giant globalist accords..." The Federalist correspondent David Marcus said.
"Mostly natural gas, Jake, which the left wants to ban the drilling for with their push to end fracking. But hey, you do you," radio host Derek Hunter told the anchor.
"A solid argument for free-market solutions rather than government ones," RedState senior editor Joe Cunningham concluded.
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