Fact Check: Pete Buttigieg Didn’t Say ‘High Gas Prices Are Forcing People to Electric Vehicles’
A viral tweet provides a misleading summary of the transportation secretary’s comments during an interview.
RNC Research, a Twitter account managed by the Republican National Committee, claimed that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg bragged in a recent interview that “high gas prices are forcing people to electric vehicles”:
The clip in question comes from Buttigieg’s July 14 interview (you can watch the whole thing here) with radio host Big Boy. At no point in the clip or in the interview it comes from did Buttigieg say high gas prices are “forcing people to buy electric cars.”
In the clip the RNC tweeted, Buttigieg says: “We’re for cutting the cost of electric vehicles, because when you have an electric vehicle then you’re also going to be able to save on gas. But you got to be able to afford it in the first place. Now we’re actually starting to see on some models the cost come to where, even if your car payment is a little higher, your gas payment will be a little lower and you come out ahead. But the prices still need to come down for most Americans to be able to get an EV.”
The quote comes within broader comments Buttigieg was making about inflation and what the government would like to do in response, bringing up President Joe Biden’s call for a gas tax holiday, “things we could do to cut the cost of childcare,” and “cutting the cost of electric vehicles.”
“We could do that with legislation in Congress, so there’s a number of things that you could do that would help lower inflation, lower costs on those things,” said Buttigieg.
Importantly, these are prescriptive comments, not descriptive; Buttigieg is not saying that Americans are being driven to buy electric cars because of high gas prices, but that if the government took action to lower the price of electric cars he believes it would help alleviate the financial stress of inflation.
If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.
The right has developed a weird antipathy towards electric vehicles, probably due to their association with left-wing environmental activism and overly zealous proposals to cut carbon emissions. Bashing anything related to electric cars has now become a cheap and fast way to deliver red meat outrage to the conservative base. The problem is that they've boxed themselves into an increasingly stupid position that'll eventually collapse under its own contradictions. Electric cars *are* eventually going to be cheaper than ICE-powered vehicles; they already have better performance and lower maintenance costs. The same guys who're suffering from high gas prices with the pick-up trucks they need to haul their tools to job sites are going to be some of the first to discover that new electric trucks like the Ford Lightning saves them money, has better towing capacity, and can make their lives easier by powering their tools. But sure, go ahead and "roll coal" with your diesel pick-up and park in electric vehicle charging spaces to be a jerk - that'll solve everything...
Thanks for the Fact Check! I have seen deceptively edited videos from that Twitter account before, but this one really is a doozy.
Also, if the TD bosses are reading these comments: Considering the apparent success of the TMD Youngling Editor Edition of Dispatch Live (apparent as I didn't have a chance to participate, I was busy watching the ASG with my family) ...
... I would certainly appreciate a TDFC Youngling Edition of Dispatch Live as well. I recall a FC focused podcast in Late 2020, but that was really focused on debunking "stop the steal" conspiracy theories.
It really would be interesting to hear from Alec and Khaya about their work, especially in a time when many on the Right are just dismissing the whole "fact check industry" as basically just another way for the "lamestream media" to attack Republicans while letting Democrats off the hook for similar flights from reality.
Unfortunately, however when the WaPo factchecker recently tried to throw cold water on a viral pro-choice talking point about the "10 year old rape victim forced to cross state lines for an abortion", he wound up being completely wrong. The story almost instantly turned into "more proof that those wascally Republicans are too quick to dismiss anything that makes them look bad as a hoax!"
So, being a conservative fact checker almost seems to be an oxymoron these days. Having the fact checkers engage with reader Qs on this topic, and others, would really be interesting.