President Trump’s energy secretary Rick Perry is by and large yet regarded as primarily a laughingstock, known more for his idiotic gaffes and his role on Dancing with the Stars more than his accomplishments (few) and competence (none).
His slavish devotion to advancing the climate-destroying agenda of the fossil fuel industry was put on shocking display this morning when he somehow drew a parallel between the use of fossil fuels as a way to curb sexual assault in poor communities.
Full Perry quote on fossil fuels/sexual assault pic.twitter.com/KH6pyApIYU
— Timothy Cama (@Timothy_Cama) November 2, 2017
According to Rick Perry, who is definitely not a man of science, sexual predators will flee from the righteous illumination of fossil-fuel powered light as the corruption in their heart is exposed and their sin magnified for all the world to see!
It is beyond appalling for him to try to use the recent exposure of an epidemic of sexual harassment and decades of assault in Hollywood – where there are many, many lights – as a vehicle to push the narrative of his corporate masters.
To add tremendous insult to injury, he also tries to invoke the “white man’s burden” and begs you to think of the “poor” Africans who are “dying” due to “lack of energy.”
The burning of fossil fuels and the climate change that carbon pollution produces is accelerating desertification and the creeping, inexorable growth of the Sahara desert, which provoke widespread food and water shortages while the profits from fossil fuel sales are concentrated in the political elite and do nothing for poor people except fuel conflicts and cultivate the growth of terror groups like the murderous Boko Haram in Nigeria.
African communities, especially those in remote areas, would be much better served investing in renewable energy – but I digress, because it’s obvious Rick Perry cares as little about the people of Africa than he does the sexual assault victims he just used as a prop to defend the profits of wealthy oligarchs.
This is one of the most offensive things to come out of the mouth of Trump administration official this week, and that’s really saying something.
