Between being pranked by Russian comedians and getting caught up in the recent taxpayer-funded private jet scandal, Energy Secretary Rick Perry isn’t having a great year. Then again, neither are a lot of powerful men whose positions of authority — primarily in the entertainment industry — have been shattered by an endless barrage of sexual assault and harassment scandals. That’s not to say that Perry has been accused of anything by anyone yet, but for reasons unknown, the former Texas governor decided to wade into the issue while discussing energy policy on Thursday.
Specifically, fossil fuels which, according to The Hill, Perry believes can prevent sexual assault in the right circumstances. “I just got back from Africa,” the secretary said of a recent trip to the continent. “A young girl told me to my face, ‘One of the reasons that electricity is so important to me is not only because I’m not going to have to try to read by the light of a fire and have those fumes literally killing people.'” Okay, but sexual assault? How did that enter the picture? “From the standpoint of sexual assault,” Perry added, “when the lights are on, when you have light that shines, the righteousness, if you will on those types of acts.”
While the Trump administration has routinely pushed its insistence on “clean coal” since the presidential campaign, the apparent lengths Perry went to connect the matter to unrelated current events ultimately came off as odd. Then again, this is the same White House that includes Vice President Mike Pence, who prefers not to dine alone with women who aren’t his wife. You can read the full quote from Perry below.
https://twitter.com/Timothy_Cama/status/926064308957655041
(Via The Hill)