Philippe is an outspoken critic of Lebanese political stalemate;[14] he gained the support of the Aounist elite, namely President Aoun and the president of the Free Patriotic Movement and then-Minister of foreign affairs and Emigrants Gebran Bassil with whom he developed close ties. In January 2020 Ziade was nominated for Minister of Energy and Water in the cabinet of then-prime minister-designate Hassan Diab; he maintains that he was nominated by Sayed Fenianos and a member of the Harvard University board who is in communication with Diab.[15] The nomination of Ziade to the office is based on his experience with renewable and sustainable energy; his reform agenda centered on cutting energy waste and shifting from fossil fuel energy to self-powered households and businesses using new renewable energy technology such as Tesla's Powerwall.[13] During a televised interview the influential Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Maronite Church openly supported the nomination of Philippe.[13] Ziade declined the nomination following the liquidation of Qasem Soleimani, a high-ranking Iranian military commander, which according to him would impose regional political interference in the internal Lebanese politics while he was expecting to be part of Diab's technocratic cabinet. Ziade was also the subject of a media smearing campaign involving the circulation of his photos in a state inebriety during a bachelor party when he was 22 years of age.[15][16][17] He issued a press release announcing that his refusal of the cabinet position was on grounds not related to the leaked photos.[18] Ziade was unapologetic during a televised interview with the Lebanese journalist Marcel Ghanem and justified his behavior as a normal aspect of integration in occidental culture.[15][19]