Campaign communications director thanked Lady Gaga for sharing the statement with 82 million subscribers
Washington:
Music superstar Lady Gaga engaged in an unlikely Twitter feud with President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign on Sunday after accusing it of being anti-fracking.
Democratic challenger Joe Biden has announced that Gaga will run with him Monday night at a drive-through rally in Pittsburgh, Pa., A state crucial to claim victory on November 3.
Trump’s team responded immediately, criticizing the common appearance.
“Nothing exposes Joe Biden’s contempt for Pennsylvania’s forgotten workers like campaigning with anti-fracking activist Lady Gaga,” campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement on Twitter.
“This desperate effort to generate enthusiasm for his lackluster candidacy is actually a sharp stick for 600,000 Pennsylvanians who work in the fracking industry,” Murtaugh said, adding that Biden had “repeatedly promised activists to left “that he would end fracking should he take office.
Fracking – the extraction of gas and oil from deep underground rocks using injection of water and chemicals – exploded in the mid-2000s thanks to new technology.
In 2014, this made the United States the world‘s largest producer of oil and gas.
But its costs are high: drilling triggers earthquakes, while research links its air emissions and water contamination to a myriad of health problems. It also contributes to global warming when methane escapes from boreholes and becomes a very potent greenhouse gas.
Biden supports a ban on new fracking on public land and the country’s transition to renewables, but said he would not eliminate fracking entirely.
Lady Gaga applauded Murtaugh by tweeting: “HEY TIM HEY @realDonaldTrump SO HAPPY IM GLAD TO LIVE RENT FREE in your head. #BidenHarris.”
HEY TIM HEY @realDonaldTrump SO HAPPY IM GLAD TO BE LIVE RENT FREE in your HEAD. #BidenHarrishttps://t.co/k2ODfQNkF3pic.twitter.com/Iy3Nj8aYMR
– Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) November 1, 2020
The Oscar winner attached an image of Murtaugh’s statement, decorated with animated stickers saying “LOL” and “Vote Biden”, as well as the message “Heeeey Donald … #WINNING (also, what- what a fracking?) your PA jobs … We (heart emoji) You. “
Murtaugh thanked Gaga for sharing this statement with her 82 million subscribers, saying he hoped “a lot of people in PA will see it.”
“Next time @ me,” he added, referring to Twitter’s method of tagging people in posts.
But there was only love for Gaga in the rest of the comments, where fans jokingly urged her to “END HIM” and “GET HIM QUEEN”.
Murtaugh doubled down shortly after, tweeting, “Now that we have your attention, Google ‘Lady Gaga fracking’.”
But many remained indifferent, with one Twitter user joking: “Yes, the first thing I think of when I think of Gaga is her opinion on fracking.”
“This is for you, Lady Gaga, the Grammy Award-winning anti-fracking activist,” another wrote.
Biden currently leads Trump by 4.3 percentage points on average in Pennsylvania, according to RealClearPolitics, two days before the election.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
