Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz mocked Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry for defending billionaires who fly private jets to climate change summits.
“Look, I gotta say, John Kerry embodies the rich out-of-touch contempt that today’s left has for working men and women,” Cruz said in the Monday episode of his podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz.” (RELATED: ‘Disgraceful’: Ted Cruz Rips Into Biden’s DHS Secretary For Refusing To Say There’s A Border Crisis)
“So if John Kerry believes what he’s saying, it means when John Kerry puts his privileged derriere on a private jet, he is destroying planet Earth and simply buying an indulgence of, ‘well, I sent a check to somebody else.’ It fixes it. And his comment, ‘These gazillionaires are doing more than most people I know.’ And I’ve said, ‘Really, you need to know.’ Like, like, it’s such dripping contempt,” Cruz continued.
Kerry discussed the Biden administration’s climate initiatives in an interview with Yahoo News Climate Editor Ben Adler on Friday. At one point, Adler asked Kerry about his private jet usage and his switch to commercial flights.
“It’s just a misnomer. I’ve had one, maybe two private flights, which are US military flights in order to get to China during COVID, where we were forced into that. But I fly commercially,” Kerry said.
Adler followed up with a question about elites using private jets to fly into Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum.
“Well, they actually — I’ve talked to them about it. They offset,” Kerry responded. “They buy offsets, they offset. And they are working harder than most people I know to be able to try to effect this transition,” he continued.
“They’re paying the green premium in order to accelerate the transition. So I think it’s important to note. Do they need to be part of the transition? Yes. Do they need to make good on their word about net zero? Of course, they do. But — but we have to be thoughtful about, you know, you’re not going to suddenly wipe out every aircraft in the world and not fly.”