Daily Caller Piece: John Kerry's Private Jet Hypocrisy Really Does Matter

[Note: This story is also published at The Daily Caller.]

Much media attention has focused on a remarks made by Climate Czar John Kerry last week about his alleged private jet usage. Many of Kerry’s defenders have responded by saying none of it matters, but it really does matter, and quite a bit. Here’s why.

Czar Kerry controls a reported $16.7 million budget allowing for up to 45 subordinates in an unconfirmed, unofficial assignment which has him jet-setting across the globe to discuss climate and energy issues with top officials of other governments. As this story was written, in fact, Mr. Kerry is in China meeting with Chinese communist premier Li Qiang in what he and the White House say is an effort to “stabilize the relationship” between the two countries. 

Why does this relationship between the world’s two largest energy consumers require stabilizing in this particular realm? That’s because previously-ongoing bilateral talks were broken off by the Chinese after former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in 2022 upset the Xi Jinping government. Kerry says he hopes to revive those discussions in part by lecturing Li about the danger of China’s ongoing massive expansion of its coal-fired electric generation fleet, among other things. Good luck with that. (RELATED: DAVID BLACKMON: Biden Is Spreading Around Green Subsidies Like A Vegas Gambler)

While it is questionable how much credibility Czar Kerry has in China, there is also the problem of his lack of credibility back home, where his already-shaky reputation caused by decades of political dissembling took another hit during a congressional committee hearing on July 12. During that hearing, Kerry exploded in anger when confronted by Cory Mills, R-FL, over his well-documented usage of a private jet to make his global travels more luxurious.