Republicans pretend Joe Biden wants to ban hamburgers

Republicans are angrily denouncing a nonexistent plan by President Joe Biden to get rid of hamburgers and other meat products.

Over the weekend, several prominent GOP politicians and operatives strongly denounced what they asserted was a provision in Biden’s plan to combat climate change that would somehow limit meat consumption to just four pounds per person per year.

Larry Kudlow, who served as Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, appeared on Fox Business on Friday and made the false argument that Biden would soon force Americans to give up beef, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy.

“No burger on July 4. No steaks on the barbecue. I’m sure Middle America is just going to love that. Can you grill those Brussels sprouts? So get ready. You can throw back a plant-based beer with your grilled Brussels sprouts and wave your American flag. Call it July 4th Green,” he said, apparently not aware that beer is already plant-based.

“Not gonna happen in Texas!” vowed the state’s Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday.

“Joe Biden’s climate plan includes cutting 90% of red meat from our diets by 2030. They want to limit us to about four pounds a year. Why doesn’t Joe stay out of my kitchen?” asked Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert.

“Not only does Emperor Biden not want us to celebrate the 4th of July, now he doesn’t want us to have a burger on that day either,” tweeted North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn. “Retweet if you’re still doing both because this is America!”

“Mmm… burgers,” tweeted Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson along with a photo of a diner and emojis of the Statue of Liberty and the U.S. flag.

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene accused Biden of hypocrisy for having eaten hamburgers. She tweeted a photo of the president eating a burger with the caption, “No burgers for thee, but just for me,” and retweeted a meme portraying Biden as the McDonald’s Hamburglar character.

Donald Trump Jr. boasted that he had eaten four pounds of red meat on Friday alone.

Biden has said absolutely nothing about banning or reducing meat consumption. Campaigning in 2019, he made a visit to a Dearborn, Michigan, restaurant that served a beef burger named after him.

On Friday, Biden spoke at a virtual climate summit of the need to address climate change, stressing not just the threat it poses but also the economic opportunity taking measures against it could provide. “It’s an opportunity to create millions of good-paying jobs around the world and innovate — in innovative sectors — you know, jobs that bring greater quality of life, greater dignity to the people performing those jobs in every nation,” he said.

He made no mention of burgers.

Fact-checkers say the GOP’s bogus claims come after the Daily Mail tabloid published an article connecting Biden’s climate change proposals with a University of Michigan study on the effect of lower meat consumption on climate change. That study, however, does not examine the president’s plan at all; one of its authors told CNN on Sunday that he has “no idea what Biden’s plan has to say about our diets.”

Boebert, Cawthorn, and other Republican lawmakers have for months tried to convince Americans that Biden is scheming to cancel the Fourth of July on the basis of a March address in which the president said that if Americans took steps to curb the spread of coronavirus, he hoped it would be safe for people to hold small Independence Day gatherings with family and friends.

Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) proposed a law on April 13 that would ban federal agencies from observing “meatless Mondays” in their cafeterias, serving only vegetarian foods once a week — despite the fact that this has never actually happened and no one in the administration has proposed doing so.

On Sunday night, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer mocked Kudlow and the GOP over their conspiracy theories.

“Excited to be watching the Oscars with an ice cold plant-based beer,” the New York Democrat tweeted. “Thanks Joe Biden.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.