U.S. Representative George Whitesides (D-CA) blasted President Trump’s Energy Secretary Chris Wright while discussing energy costs.
Whitesides, former chief of staff at NASA and CEO of Virgin Galactic, said, “Daylight sunshine is the cheapest form of energy available to humans…and that is an incontrovertible fact, Mr. Secretary.” When Wright hesitated to respond, Whitesides asked Wright, “Is it a fact?” and Wright replied, “It is not a fact.”
Whitesides repeated, “The truth is that the cheapest form on a per unit basis, right now, is daylight solar. Is that not true?”
When Wright said, “It depends how you do the math,” Whitesides yelled, “No, it doesn’t depend. It is true.”
WHITESIDES: The truth is the cheapest form of energy on a per unit basis is daytime solar. Is that not true?
CHRIS WRIGHT: It depends–
WHITESIDES: No it doesn’t depend! It’s true. You are amazingly misleading the American public.
WRIGHT: It depends–
WHITESIDES: No! pic.twitter.com/vA9W15ST6n
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 10, 2026
[NOTE: According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), “solar power offers the lowest-cost electricity, frequently beating out coal and natural gas for new power generation.”]
Objecting, Wright told Whitesides, “The utilization is too low for it. You can’t deploy capital and only have 24 percent utilization,” which prompted Whitesides to yell, “You are amazingly misleading the American public. The cheapest form of energy right now is daytime solar on a per unit basis.”
Wright continued to argue that “it all depends on how you measure.” Whitesides again refuted Wright’s claim, repeating that “it does not depend.”
Before Whitesides moved on to questions about the Iran conflict, he pointed at Wright — former CEO of Liberty Energy, the North American hydraulic fracturing giant — and said, “I’m really disappointed with your answer because that is not true, and I depend on you for facts, and you are a factual person.”