RFK Jr. he would do even more green damage than Joe Biden

Six months before Election Day, speculation about the impact of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Polling 12% nationally and in the critical battleground vote of Michigan, the Democrat-turned-independent has built a unique coalition that extends beyond those drawn to his famous last name.

Kennedy's tough talk on the southern border, willingness to stand up to the medical-industrial state and focus on fitness and personal health have won him unlikely admirers on the right.

Data from recent surveys shows that nearly half, 48 percent, of all Republicans view Kennedy favorably, compared with 43 percent of independents and 35 percent of Democrats.

But make no mistake: On energy, one of the core issues that has defined the Biden presidency since its inception, Kennedy is an extremist.

His policies would go further than Joe Biden's, even though the president's policies have weakened our security, hit the budgets of middle-class families, and set our nation back.

A quick check of the tape reveals striking similarities between the two.

Biden declared climate change, the “single existential threat facing humanity.” Kennedy calls global warming “the greatest crisis we face globally.”

Biden promised to “end fossil fuels.” Kennedy lamented “our deadly addiction to coal and oil.”

Kennedy would ban exports of liquefied natural gas. He has praised the Green New Deal, a creation of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He once denigrated those who doubted some climate warnings as “traitors”.

After the September 11 attacks, RFK Jr. denounced the environmental impact of pig producers as a “greater threat to the United States and US democracy than Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network.”

Such egregious comments would have shattered most politicians, but American politics in the pre-social media era were very different from today.

Kennedy rose to prominence as a lawyer for the National Resources Defense Council, one of the nation's best-funded environmental activist groups, which has faced criticism for its coziness with the Chinese Communist Party.

These facts matter. Biden has used the power of the presidency to wage war on the energy industry.

In his first days in office, with the stroke of a pen, he canceled the Keystone XL pipeline and halted oil and gas leasing on federal lands.

His signature legislative “accomplishment” during the first half of his first term was the broad climate-oriented Build Back Better plan that eventually morphed into the “skinny” Inflation Reduction Act, which included $369 billion in green gifts while doing little to tame inflation. .

His administration has focused on gas cars, gas stoves and even dishwashers in pursuit of the green agenda.

Biden's Environmental Protection Agency recently issued a rule that will effectively force coal plans to shut down.

The results haven't been pretty: The national average price of a gallon of gas this week is $3.65, compared to $1.84 at this time in May 2020.

That's a 98% increase, and we're still weeks away from Memorial Day and the peak summer driving season that brings even higher prices.

Of course, four years ago, the nation was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, whose stay-at-home mandates drove demand down.

Kennedy touted the environmental benefits of the lockdown orders that destroyed our economy to reduce “lethal air pollution + #relateddeath.”

He may oppose mandatory vaccines, but Kennedy would gladly shut down the nation if he thought it would fix the climate.

Without a doubt, Kennedy's charisma, authenticity and personality ensure that he will remain at the center of the conversation.

His ubiquitous media presence and willingness to speak to different audiences have served him well.

Voters are free to cast their ballots for whoever they want, but they should do so with all the facts: undoing the damage of Biden's presidency starts with reversing his misguided war on energy, which has made the world be unsafe and life in America very expensive.

On this most critical issue, Kennedy would take America even further in the wrong direction, away from energy dominance and more dependent on China, compromising our economic and national security.

The green agenda that Biden embraced would become a permanent stifle under Kennedy. Those on the left i the right should fear this.

Daniel Turner is the founder and executive director of Power The Future, which advocates for energy jobs in America.