🧵 on the Fox News-fueled hysteria about Biden purportedly spending taxpayer money on "crack pipes"
First, the facts
As Snopes details (snopes.com/fact-check/bid), at issue is $30m in grant funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, part of HHS
Conversation
One of 20 things the grant funds can be used for is "safe smoking kits/supplies." These kits often include glass stems, rubber mouthpieces, cleaning supplies, etc, to reduce risk of infection among drug users. They don't typically include actual pipes. (web.archive.org/web/2022020819)
47
107
513
But Fox News misleadingly reduced the situation to BIDEN SPENDS TAX DOLLARS ON CRACK PIPES. A host on Tuesday morning went as far as to say HHS was "considering spending $30m on crack pipes," which was a lie.
"We're a country of drugs all of the sudden," another host chimed in.
21
122
534
Fox News brought up "crack pipes" more than 30 times yesterday across almost all of its shows. Meanwhile, Marco Rubio used an even more hyperbolic version of this same attack on Twitter. (The "free meth" bit appears to be totally made up.)
Quote Tweet
Biden is sending free meth & crack pipes to minority communities in the name of ‘racial equity’
There is no end in sight for this lunacy
mol.im/a/10487091
0:35
34
139
604
The BIDEN HANDS OUT CRACK PIPES thing was the dominant story across Fox News's primetime programming on Tuesday, and spun as a sign of America's moral decay.
Quote Tweet
But here's the thing -- it's total BS! The HHS made clear the funds will not be used "directly or through subsequent reimbursement of grantees to put pipes in safe smoking kids." Indeed, the word "pipe" appears nowhere in the 75-page grant document (web.archive.org/web/2022020722)
12
208
665
Jen Psaki clarified today that this was the policy all along -- in other words, at no time where public funds earmarked for crack pipes
Quote Tweet
Jen Psaki describes Fox News's hysteria over crack pipes as "inaccurate reporting" and says they were never part of a kit that's being distributed to addicts
1:28
17
174
737
But it doesn't matter the talking point is false -- Republicans & the right-wing media ecosystem will just keep running with it anyway. And Fox News viewers will head into voting booths falsely believing Biden used taxpayer $$$ for crack pipes. (end 🧵)
46
171
693
If you appreciate this thread, please subscribe to my newsletter, Public Notice. I'll have more on the Fox News-fueled fake crack pipe controversy in tomorrow's edition.
11
48
318
A telling moment: Fox News host Charles Payne invoked the misleading "Biden is offering free crack pipes" talking point even after HHS and Jen Psaki debunked it, but then corrected himself a minute later, presumably after a producer corrected him
41
156
582
"Here's your crack pipe" -- multiple government agencies deny that the Biden administration is buying crack pipes, an assertion that was never supported by government documents, but Fox News continues to run with the story anyway. Get a load of these comments from Jesse Watters.
62
141
472
Show more replies