The White House Twitter account received flak on social media Thursday, after it targeted and shamed Republican lawmakers who have been critical of President Joe Biden’s student loan handout.
The account mentioned several prominent GOP members by name, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., admonishing them for government loans they’ve taken out recently. It was clearly an attempt by the White House to make opponents look hypocritical for slamming the administration's plan to absolve $10,000 in student loans for millions of Americans, a government handout that could cost between $300 billion and $600 billion.
Though conservatives on social media argued that the move was too political and in bad taste, especially from an administration constantly touting itself as the return of "civility" to the White House.
The White House began a Twitter thread on the subject with a hit on the congresswoman from Georgia, who called the student loan handout "completely unfair." Pointing to her own history of borrowing money from the government, The White House account tweeted, "Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene had $183,504 in PPP loans forgiven."
BIDEN WHITE HOUSE FUMBLES BASIC QUESTIONS ON STUDENT LOAN HANDOUT, WON’T ANSWER WHO WILL PAY FOR IT
As stated by the U.S. Small Business Association, PPP, or the "Paycheck Protection Program" provided loans to small business owners in the U.S. so they could "keep their workforce employed during the COVID-19 crisis."
The White House then took aim at Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., who claimed that Biden’s "student loan giveaway" is "reckless" and "unfair" to Americans who "played by the rules." The official government platform stated, "Congressman Vern Buchanan had over $2.3 million in PPP loans forgiven."
Four other congressmen took fire from the White House on this subject including Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Penn., and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
However, conservatives and critics of the student loan handout found these tweets to be in poor taste, especially because they were coming from the White House’s official account.
Conservative pundit Sebastian Gorka wondered if the tweets were so political that the violated the Hatch Act, the federal law limiting certain political activities of federal employees. Gorka asked, "How is this not a Hatch Act violation?"
Newsweek contributor Joel M. Petlin shared an image of a 2021 AP News headline, which read, "Biden inaugural: Abrupt pivot to civility in post-Trump era," and tweeted, "We were told that we wouldn't have personal political attacks coming from official government Twitter accounts once President Biden was elected. I guess that the intern running the @WhiteHouse Twitter account didn't get the memo about civility... Or possibly, they just lied."
"This is mind-numbingly stupid - does anyone in this White House actually know what PPP loans were?" commented Republican communications expert Matt Whitlock.
Conservative commentator Graham Allen tweeted, "Things are so bad at the White House they're having to play some pretty embarrassing defense rn."
Jewish News Syndicate U.S. Bureau news editor Kassy Dillon explained the difference between PPP loans and student loans to the White House, tweeting, "Imagine thinking taking money from the government after it forced your business to close is the same thing as willingly taking out a student loan and expecting someone else to pay it back."
Podcast host John Ziegler tweeted, "Hey, remember when liberals got SO upset about the Trump administration using White House platforms/resources for purely political communication?? Good times…"
He added, "This thread, paid for by all US taxpayers and put out under the ‘White House’ banner, is quite ‘something’…"
