Given Republicans’ fondness for spouting hot air, it was only a matter of time before they took the phrase literally.
On Monday, Bloomberg reported that the Consumer Product Safety Commission was considering new regulations around gas stoves, given growing concerns over indoor pollutants. “Any option is on the table,” Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. said. “Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”
No one’s coming to take your gas stove.
Now, Trumka never said a ban was forthcoming. And he (and Bloomberg) neglected to add that any CPSC regulations, like other proposed state and local-level bans of gas stoves, only apply to new construction. But that didn’t keep Republicans from pouncing and evoking visions of a 2023 filled with government agents busting down doors and ripping ovens out of walls.
“Democrats are coming for your kitchen appliances,” claimed Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. “Come and take it!” tweeted Sen. Ted Cruz. (Which would be difficult, frankly — the CPSC’s jurisdiction doesn’t extend to Cancun.) “Get your hands off our gas stoves!!!!” declared Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla. Even a few Democrats got in on the faux populism, with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin declaring: “The federal government has no business telling American families how to cook their dinner.”
The Biden administration quickly sought to turn down the flame. CPSC Chair Alexander Hohen-Saric stated Wednesday that the commission will not ban gas stoves. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre clarified later that day that “the president does not support banning gas stoves.” But that hasn’t stopped Republicans’ pots from boiling over. “God. Guns. Gas stoves.” tweeted Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Thursday (because when the Twitter account for the Jordan-led House Judiciary Committee Republicans proclaimed, “Kanye. Elon. Trump.” last fall, that went super well).









