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Dressed in a sharp suit and dark color, former President Ronald Reagan makes a good impression. But his outfit is not what makes him great. He rides a velociraptor, which carries a ragged American flag. With a rocket launcher attached to his back, Reagan fires a machine gun at an invisible enemy.
The fantastic portrayal of the 40th President of the United States may seem like a hallucination, but it is not. Tuesday, thanks to Senator Mike Lee (Utah), the artwork debuted in the Senate, as part of the debates on the Green New Deal.
[Senate defeats Green New Deal, as Democrats call vote a ‘sham’]
"I am getting up today to look at the Green New Deal with the seriousness it deserves," said Lee, a few hours before the proposal from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.) and the Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) failed in the Senate, with all the Republicans and four Democrats blocking the measure, reported Dino Grandoni and Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post.
Enter Reagan and the dinosaur.
"This picture has as much to do with the passing of communism in the 20th century as the Green New Deal with the passing of climate change of the 21st century," Lee said, presenting the picture on a large poster. "The aspirations of the proposal have been described as radical. They were called extreme. But above all, they are ridiculous. There is not a single serious idea here, not one.
But Lee's use of eye-catching visual aids in his denunciation of the general climate change measure did not stop there. Like CNN's Anderson Cooper it is noted Lee, on his Tuesday show, may not be the first politician to bring "giant, novelty-sized posters" to the Senate, but has taken a "whole new" approach.
Throughout his speech, which lasted about 14 minutes, Lee quoted images of Luke Skywalker from "Star Wars" on a tauntaun, a fictional species of snow lizard; Aquaman on a purple 20 foot sea horse; and Utah's Governor Gary R. Herbert's (D) cameo fighting sharks with a tennis racket in "Sharknado: The 4th Awakens". Lee's tactics quickly ignited social media. the reactions ranging from confusion to derision, and even prompted a scathing reply from Ocasio-Cortez.
While reprimanding the Green New Deal, Lee chose to highlight what he described as "two of the most important goals" of the proposal: the elimination of air transport and cows. As the Fact Checker Fact Facter blog reports, the current resolution does not mention the need to get rid of planes and cows. Aircraft and methane producing animals were referenced in documents published by the Ocasio-Cortez office, which were subsequently retracted. Congress spokesman Corbin Trent also told The Post that the statements were "literally – clearly – ironic".
[What’s actually in the ‘Green New Deal’ from Democrats?]
This does not stop Lee from making fun of the measure by trying to find out what life would be like without flying.
"How are we supposed to get around the vast expanses of, say, Alaska during the winter?" Lee asked, but he already had a solution in mind.
"I'll tell you how: tauntauns," he said. The woman who was handing her the picture of the "Star Wars" scene smothered a smile.
Lee continued with a serious simulacrum. "While they may not be as effective as airplanes or snowmobiles, these hairy bipedal lizard species offer unique benefits," he said. "Not only are the tauntauns carbon neutral, but according to a report published a long time ago and published very far away, they could even be fully recyclable and usable for their heat, especially on a cold night."
Although Lee acknowledged that he would probably be criticized for "not taking climate change seriously," the rest of his argument against the Green New Deal continued in the same vein – filled with sarcasm and posters.
Let's be clear. . . Climate change is not a joke, but the Green New Deal is a joke, "said Lee, before proposing another solution to tackle the environmental problems: having more babies.
[Sen. Mike Lee says we can solve climate change with more babies. Science says otherwise.]
Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter fight back Lee on his remarks. She accused the Republican of Utah of not taking his job seriously and slammed him for using his congressional allowance to "print Aquaman posters".
"If this guy can be a senator, you can do anything," she said. tweeted.
In a statement to the Post on Wednesday, Conn Carroll, spokesman for Lee, wrote: "Regarding the criticism of Senator Lee's speech, if the authors of the Green New Deal want to denigrate love, the marriage and the children, we wish them the best of luck. "
Lee's unconventional presentation also caught the attention of CNN's Cooper, who could not resist making fun of the senator.
"Okay, yowzer," Cooper said Tuesday after airing a video of Lee discussing Reagan on the velociraptor. "I am a little concerned that, in Senator Lee's mind, President Reagan needs a machine gun and a rocket launcher. Even though I've never seen President Reagan ride a dinosaur, I remember hearing him say that, like Franklin Roosevelt, Air Force One was only a few years old. a pterodactyl. "
Among social media users, many, including the Star Wars actor Mark Hamill, could not believe that the pictures circulating Lee in the Senate were not photoshopped.
"Please tell me it's photoshopped," Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, tweeted, share a picture of Lee next to the Star Wars tauntaun poster. A few hours later, Hamill appeared to learn that the photo was very real.
But others have defended Lee and rented his arguments.
several people called Lee and Ocasio-Cortez must face each other in a debate.
While the two men have not yet clashed in person, Ocasio-Cortez addressed climate change at a committee hearing on Tuesday and his passionate comments quickly became viral. A clip sharing on Twitter had already been seen over 3 million times on Wednesday.
"People are dying," she said. "It's serious, it should not be a partisan issue."
Ocasio-Cortez said the issue was no longer knowing whether to spend money on climate change issues.
"As cities go under water and forest fires ravage our communities, we will pay," she said. "We will either decide whether we will pay to react or whether we will pay to be proactive."
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