As the White House continues to shroud crippling fuel prices, inflation, and other worrying economic trends within a feel-good narrative with abstract explanations, it appears a growing number of Americans are growing tired of being told to make daily sacrifices.
A screenshot (3/7/22 | 22:40 Eastern Time) shows Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' viral response to US President Joe Biden's call for gas companies to lower prices at the pump amid economic instability.
© Twitter/@JeffBezos
Nevertheless, White House and National Security Council (NSC) officials defended the president’s Saturday post, asserting that Bezos’ binary approach is not that of the Biden administration.
“Anybody that knows President Biden knows he’s plain-spoken and he tells exactly what he’s thinking in terms that everybody can understand,” NSC coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby told “Fox News Sunday” guest host Mike Emanuel.
“So, I think, we obviously take great exception of the idea that this is somehow misdirection,” Kirby added.
While Kirby tackled the cable television front, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre directly addressed Bezos and quipped that it was unsurprising that a man of Bezos’ wealth and workplace reputation would speak out in favor of gas companies being able to “reap record profit.”
“Oil prices have dropped by about $15 over the past month, but prices at the pump have barely come down,” the press secretary tweeted. “That’s not “basic market dynamics.” It’s a market that is failing the American consumer.”
Diplomatic actions taken over the past several months have had a lasting impact on several economies across the world.
“It’s time for the United States to continue to support Ukraine, and that’s what we are doing,” Kirby said on Sunday, dismissing the idea that the US may play a role in urging Kiev to draft a settlement agreement with Moscow.
The NSC official emphasized that the US intends to continue arming Ukraine to ensure its forces “can succeed on the battlefield so that [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky] can succeed at the table.”