"Bakari Sellers SNAPS on Ben Ferguson's MAGA Excuses — Full Meltdown"

[0:00] He's been the one saying the Green Deal is a scam and we should be working on the infrastructure. [0:03] He's been saying that for decades. [0:05] That's my point. [0:06] You just made my point. [0:08] He's advocating for it. [0:09] He's been saying we need to do it. [0:11] He's been advocating and voting in favor of that. [0:13] We are tired of people talking. [0:14] You have no idea Ted's record on voting and advocating for an infrastructure that's American. [0:20] What I just said is why didn't he file a bill today? [0:23] Why don't he call Chuck Schumer, the senator from New York? [0:26] This is what the American people want to see. [0:28] I'm sure that he would love to work together with him. [0:29] Oh, listen, listen, let's make it happen then. [0:31] In this video, Bakery Sellers puts Ben Ferguson on the spot during CNN's Newsnight. [0:37] Sellers challenges the backlash over New York's request for residents to cut back on energy use, [0:42] while Ferguson frames it as yet another sign of poor government policy. [0:46] But urging people to conserve power during a heat wave is hardly a new or extreme concept. [0:51] It's a step cities and states nationwide have taken repeatedly to prevent blackouts. [0:55] So let's get into it and see how Bakery Sellers takes down Ben Ferguson on CNN's Newsnight. [1:01] Tonight, New York City's mayor, Zoran Mamdani, is asking New Yorkers to set their air conditioning to 78 degrees during this triple-digit heat wave. [1:10] And the right is pretty hot over it. [1:13] Of course, the move is intended to alleviate the strain on the city's power grid. [1:17] Senator Ted Cruz says this. [1:19] In a first-world country, you could turn on the A.C. [1:22] Senator Rand Paul said it was proof communism is alive and well. [1:25] Nikki Haley said, welcome to socialism. [1:28] But as the weather is unbearable, so is the hypocrisy. [1:32] Mamdani's energy conservation plea is nothing new for New York City. [1:36] Eric Adams made the same plea. [1:37] So did Mayors de Blasio, Bloomberg, Rudy Giuliani himself. [1:41] As Governor Nikki Haley urged South Carolinians to conserve energy during extreme weather. [1:47] And in Texas, where Ted Cruz lives, energy-saving guidance is standard both in the summer and in the winter. [1:53] In fact, up until today, on a web page dedicated to keeping cool, Donald Trump's own Department of Energy recommended that Americans keep their homes between 75 and 78 degrees during the day. [2:05] That web page is now no longer available. [2:07] As of this afternoon, CNN has reached out to the Department of Energy to ask for comment. [2:13] A bizarre hill to die on, Ben. [2:16] I don't understand this. [2:18] Do you support it? [2:20] Ask Nikki Haley. [2:21] No, I'm asking you. [2:22] Do you think, like, when you saw that, you're like, hell yeah. [2:24] Let me walk over there and knock that number up to 78. [2:26] Let me ask you a question. [2:28] Is Nikki the Republic of South Carolina on this state? [2:33] It's 78 there a lot. [2:36] It's 78 there a lot. [2:37] What am I doing? [2:39] But it's bad. [2:39] Do you support it? [2:40] And Ben, don't you live in Texas? [2:41] I live in Texas. [2:42] Okay, so are you on a second? [2:42] And there's no way in hell we're putting it on 78 degrees. [2:46] That's why your grid falls apart. [2:47] It's not 78 degrees in here right now either. [2:50] Like, no one's going to abide by this. [2:52] Like, it's absurd. [2:53] But Ben, I'm just saying, this is a weird hill to die on. [2:56] When Nikki Haley says, hold on, when Nikki Haley says, we ask that you set your thermostat to 68 or lower. [3:05] 68 or 78? [3:06] In the winter. [3:07] This is for the winter energy conservation. [3:09] So in the winter, they're telling people to set their thermostat to 68. [3:17] And also, this doesn't come from the politicians. [3:20] This is also coming from, as I pointed out, the Department of Energy. [3:23] It's coming from the power companies. [3:26] Con Edison says, Con Edison, which is running the power in New York. [3:30] So let me translate the Republican talking points for you. [3:34] Set thermostats no late lower than 78 degrees. [3:36] So let me, this is real simple. [3:38] I'm just asking. [3:38] We believe in better power grids. [3:40] We believe in reinvestment in power grids. [3:42] We believe that you should build enough so that I don't have to walk up and go to 78 degrees. [3:45] You can let this one go if you want. [3:47] Well, we can turn it up to 78 in here right now, and in solidarity, we stand with Mandani. [3:52] You don't have to jump off the partisan cliff. [3:54] You can let it go. [3:55] I agree with Gabby on this one. [3:57] Listen. [3:57] Just let it go. [3:58] I do not agree with many of the mayor's policies, but this one, I don't think he was like, I [4:04] think we're doing a really big reach on this. [4:06] He didn't go into this. [4:07] He wasn't trying to control our lives. [4:09] He was giving a suggestion. [4:11] Zora Mondani is, there's a lot to be critical of, right? [4:13] Totally. [4:13] But he didn't go into the book of socialism to figure this out. [4:18] Like, and the crazy thing is, it's literally not, because in Texas, where your grid falls [4:25] apart, right, and Ted Cruz is in Cancun while the, anyway, so you have, that actually did [4:31] happen. [4:31] You're getting partisan, too. [4:33] We're saying this is not a personal issue. [4:33] But that's all I'm saying. [4:34] Like, I'm not going to do this, because I grew up in South Carolina, and my grandmother, [4:38] I don't know if y'all had a grandmother that had the couch with the plastic on it. [4:41] Oh, yeah. [4:42] And when it was on 78, and your butt sticks to the plastic. [4:45] So I have PTSD from thinking about that. [4:48] However, I will say that this is not some grand socialism gesture. [4:53] This is absurdity. [4:54] From the grand socials. [4:55] This is absurdity from Nikki and Ted and the other. [4:57] I'm actually surprised of Nikki, because, you know, I'm a huge fan. [5:00] I'm surprised she jumped into this fight. [5:02] Arguably, she may have started it, because she may have made one of the first comments about [5:07] this, and everybody else just jumped on the bandwagon. [5:09] But it's like, everybody has such short memory about this stuff, because, you know, it's [5:16] just so easy to be like, oh, it's just a socialist thing. [5:19] But the entire country has guidance from the Department of Energy that says, when there's [5:25] a major heat wave, we have to take pressure off the energy grid. [5:28] That's just common sense. [5:30] Something as ordinary as asking people to conserve electricity during a heat wave suddenly turns [5:35] into a debate about socialism. [5:36] Instead of staying a simple conversation about keeping the lights on. [5:40] The truth is, utilities across the country have been asking customers to cut back on electricity [5:45] use during peak demand periods for decades. [5:48] It's basic grid management, not some radical political agenda. [5:52] What's interesting is that these requests happen in both red and blue states alike. [5:56] California has done it. [5:57] Texas has done it. [5:58] New York has done it. [5:59] And it's often power companies, not politicians, who issue these recommendations, because electricity [6:05] demand surges when everyone runs their AC at once. [6:08] When demand outpaces supply, the result can be rolling blackouts, which are far more disruptive [6:13] than nudging your thermostat up a couple of degrees for a short stretch. [6:17] The real problem is that America's power grid badly needs upgrading. [6:20] The American Society of Civil Engineers has repeatedly flagged that aging transmission infrastructure [6:26] can't keep pace with rising electricity demand, especially as summers grow hotter and more [6:31] homes depend on air conditioning. [6:33] Rather than fighting over thermostat settings, policymakers should probably focus more on modernizing [6:38] the grid so these emergency conservation requests become less frequent. [6:42] Ultimately, this shouldn't be framed as a left versus right issue. [6:45] Nobody enjoys a warmer house during a heat wave, but asking people to voluntarily conserve [6:50] energy for a brief period to help prevent outages is simply common sense. [6:54] We've seen governors, mayors, utilities, and even federal agencies make similar calls [7:00] for years. [7:01] Turning a routine public safety request into a partisan culture war might grab headlines, [7:06] but it does little to fix the actual problem. [7:08] Time for a bipartisan conversation on our grid infrastructure, because New York City is supposed to be one of the [7:13] greatest cities in the world, and I agree, I'm not turning anything up to 78. [7:18] Thank you. [7:18] If Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey down in Madison Square Garden are not at 78, the people in [7:23] the Bronx and Brooklyn don't need to be either. [7:25] And neither is the mayor's house, and by the way, if you really want to get technical, he could have said, [7:28] hey, the grid sucks and we've got to work on it, can you guys raise the temperature? [7:31] I'd actually get behind that. [7:32] The other mayor said so, to be fair. [7:34] But it's because of who Mondani is, is why people look at it this way. [7:38] It's because he's a guy that's like, hey, you can own a house, but you can't raise the rent. [7:43] That's why you look at it this way. [7:43] Because he's a communist. [7:44] Let's be clear. [7:45] It's a communist. [7:45] It's not why people look at it this way. [7:47] It's why you look at it this way. [7:49] Yeah, yeah, yeah. [7:49] Because there is this, like, you know, partisan. [7:53] He's a socialist, communist, dictator wannabe. [7:56] Look, you can, I'm not telling you how to feel about Mondani. [7:59] I'm just saying, he proved it. [8:01] He said, you can own property, but we tell you what you can rent. [8:04] I did not know the thermostat could do this. [8:06] That's communism. [8:06] Exactly. [8:07] I'm not telling you how to feel about Mondani. [8:09] I'm just suggesting that maybe the thermostat is not the reason. [8:13] In solidarity, let's raise it in here. [8:14] 78 will be sweating by the end. [8:16] No one's going to do this. [8:18] I'm always sorry about that. [8:18] I would actually ask Ted Cruz to put forth a bill, right, to actually invest in our grids. [8:27] Let's actually, if you want to talk about it. [8:28] Oh, he's been a huge advocate. [8:29] That's not what I said. [8:29] The grid. [8:30] That's not what I said. [8:31] I said, if you want to. [8:32] You've done that in Texas. [8:32] That's not what I said. [8:33] Put forth the bill. [8:34] Go to Treasury. [8:35] Let's have a conversation. [8:37] Grab your partners on the left. [8:38] Grab your senators from New York. [8:40] And let's actually put forth the bill. [8:41] I think it's a great idea. [8:42] Let's stop. [8:42] Let's stop talking about things that, when we get on TV, you say he's a socialist, fascist, [8:48] you know, dictator, whatever it is. [8:51] But let's, whatever it is, set that aside. [8:53] Set that aside. [8:54] Set that aside, Ted Cruz and Nikki Haley. [8:55] Why don't you do the work? [8:57] Like, be honest about it. [8:58] Why don't you, why don't you call. [8:59] He's been the one saying the Green Deal is a scam and we should be working on the infrastructure. [9:02] He's been saying that for decades. [9:04] That's my point. [9:05] That, you just made my point. [9:07] We're tired. [9:07] He's advocating for it. [9:08] He's been saying we need to do it. [9:10] He's been advocating and voting in favor of it. [9:11] We are tired of people talking. [9:13] You have no idea Ted's record. [9:16] What I just said. [9:16] Voting and advocating for an infrastructure. [9:18] What I just said. [9:19] What I just said is, why didn't he file a bill today? [9:22] Why don't he call Chuck Schumer, the senator from New York? [9:25] This is what the American people want to see. [9:27] I'm sure that he would love to work together. [9:28] Oh listen, listen, let's make it happen then. [9:30] I think instead of arguing over whether someone asked people to bump their thermostat up a few degrees during a heat emergency, we should be asking why the grid is under so much strain in the first place. [9:41] America's electricity demand is climbing because of population growth, AI data centers, electric vehicles and hotter summers. [9:48] Yet grid upgrades haven't kept up. [9:50] That's a genuine policy problem that deserves bipartisan attention. [9:54] Energy experts have warned for years that the U.S. needs serious investment in transmission lines and grid reliability. [10:00] In fact, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation has repeatedly cautioned that several regions face heightened risks of electricity shortages during extreme weather events. [10:10] Those warnings didn't begin with this mayor or this administration. [10:14] They've been piling up for years. [10:16] Another thing that's easy to overlook is that emergency conservation requests aren't mandates. [10:21] Utilities issue them because cutting demand during peak hours can prevent rolling blackouts that hit hospitals, nursing homes, businesses and millions of households. [10:30] It's a short-term measure that power companies nationwide have relied on regardless of which party holds office. [10:36] If politicians really want to compete, a better use of their energy would be debating who has the strongest plan to modernize America's aging infrastructure, rather than turning every public safety recommendation into another culture war headline. [10:48] Whether you lean conservative or liberal, nobody enjoys losing power during a heat wave. [10:53] Reliable electricity shouldn't be a partisan issue. [10:57] It should be a national priority. [10:59] That's the conversation that would actually help people, instead of fueling another viral political argument. [11:04] I feel the same way about immigration. [11:07] Let's fix the problem. [11:08] We had it, and y'all ran them out. [11:09] We had the Gang of Eight. [11:10] And now you can't do this. [11:11] Oh, stop it. [11:12] It also just so happens that, also today, the Department of Education says, or Education Energy, says that they're ending wind and solar subsidies, [11:24] taking more energy out of the system, not putting it into the system. [11:30] So, yeah, I mean, I'm not sure there's any problem solving. [11:33] But which infrastructure is better, though, is the question. [11:34] If you look at windmills and you look at them in Texas and other states, they have been a disaster compared to what they were supposed to produce. [11:40] They're not producing. [11:41] So why would you invest in a bad investment? [11:43] By the way, they're doing this in Europe as well. [11:45] The data is now there. [11:46] The solar and wind is not going to fix our grid. [11:48] And if you're saying any more solar panels or wind turbines, we're totally screwed. [11:53] We will have to go to 70 degrees. [11:54] Here's the thing. [11:55] I think that there is an argument to be made for all of the above energy, right? [11:59] But if it's ineffective and it doesn't work, why do it? [12:01] But I think what's interesting about this administration's approach is that they've literally paid these companies billions of dollars not to produce energy. [12:11] So I don't understand how that works. [12:14] You think Solyndra and the money in Obama and the Green New Deal that was a total scam was good for the country? [12:18] It did not help. [12:19] It did not help the grid. [12:20] But a bunch of their friends got really rich and we said, hey, we're all going to be, we're all going to die in 20 years. [12:27] I feel like the president is paying, the president's administration is paying companies to stop producing windmills because he thinks that they kill birds. [12:38] Okay. [12:38] It's not because he thinks that windmills. [12:41] He, he, he doesn't, because he thinks they're an eyesore and they kill birds. [12:45] That is what he, that's what he said. [12:47] It's not going to be effective energy producers compared to what we actually need. [12:50] If you want a better grid, it's not going to be for windmills. [12:53] Why should we subsidize it? [12:54] If it's so good, the private sector should do it. [12:56] We are subsidizing. [12:57] And trust me, energy companies will do it if it makes money. [12:59] We are subsidizing. [12:59] We are subsidizing countries to stop producing energy. [13:04] That also doesn't make sense. [13:05] That's all I'm saying. [13:06] It makes a lot more sense than doubling down and sending money to companies that are doing something that has no impact on the grid in a positive manner. [13:11] It's dragging it down. [13:13] My tax dollars should not go to, to support or subsidize a green new deal that is a disaster for the grid. [13:19] Why is, why is, why is your grid in Texas such a failure? [13:21] It's been absolutely upgraded and we've advocated for it and we've been pushing and voting for it. [13:25] It's gotten a lot, yes. [13:26] Let's just admit we're better than Europe because of how they see it. [13:29] When it broke the last time, they made it very clear. [13:35] The legislature came in in a bipartisan way and said, we can never let that happen again. [13:40] No, you just criticized Texas and you didn't know what you were talking about. [13:42] Look at that. [13:43] That's how it works. [13:45] No, I'm good on that. [13:46] It's tempting to pin the blame on one technology or another, but the truth is our electricity demand is rising faster than it has in years. [13:53] Between AI data centers, electric vehicles, manufacturing returning to the U.S. and hotter summers straining air conditioning systems, experts anticipate consumption will keep climbing. [14:05] That means we need more generation, not less. [14:08] The debate also shouldn't be framed as wind versus natural gas or solar versus nuclear. [14:13] Most energy experts push for an all-of-the-above approach because every source brings its own strengths and weaknesses. [14:19] Natural gas delivers reliable baseload power. [14:21] Nuclear provides steady zero-carbon electricity, while wind and solar ease pressure on traditional power plants when conditions allow. [14:30] The real bottleneck isn't just generation. [14:32] It's transmission lines, energy storage, and an aging grid that wasn't designed for today's electricity demands. [14:38] And let's be honest, asking people to conserve electricity during a record-breaking heat wave isn't some radical political notion. [14:45] Utilities across the country have made these kinds of requests for decades because when everyone blasts their air conditioner during peak hours, it can overwhelm the system. [14:54] Preventing rolling blackouts is far better than entire neighborhoods losing power in triple-digit heat. [14:59] That's basic grid management, not ideology. [15:02] I also think we waste too much time debating who made the recommendation instead of whether the recommendation itself makes sense. [15:09] Whether it's a Republican governor, a Democratic mayor, or a local utility company asking people to cut electricity use for a few hours during an emergency, [15:17] the advice doesn't become good or bad depending on the letter next to their name.