Some media outlets parrot Trump’s preposterous claim that he’s an environmentalist
Written by Zachary Pleat
Published
President Donald Trump claimed that he’s an environmentalist in a press conference after he skipped the G-7 summit on climate change. Despite ample evidence to the contrary, Twitter accounts of ABC News, CBS News, and The Hill parroted Trump’s absurd description of himself.
Trump was asked at a press conference whether he still denies the evidence of human-caused climate change and increasing global average temperatures. In response, he insisted, “I’m an environmentalist” and “I want the cleanest water on Earth, I want the cleanest air on Earth, and that’s what we’re doing.”
The Twitter accounts for ABC News Politics, ABC’s Sunday news talk show This Week, and CBS News simply repeated Trump’s claim. The Hill also included Trump’s claim that “I think I know more about the environment than most people” in one tweet, though at least it also mentioned that he skipped the climate change session at the summit of world leaders.
Trump’s claim that he's an environmentalist is nothing more than another one of his more than 12,000 verifiable lies or misleading claims since becoming president. Two months ago, the Trump administration announced it would replace the Obama-era Clean Power Plan with weaker regulations that could actually increase air pollution -- both conventional air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions driving climate change have increased since Trump took office. Over the course of his administration so far, Trump has also made it easier for corporations to pollute America’s waters in several ways, most recently by proposing the fast-tracking of new fossil fuel pipelines that could pollute water sources.
Trump’s administration has also employed known climate science deniers, attacked its own climate reports, unilaterally abandoned the Paris climate accord, and has worked to minimize or remove the impacts of climate change from national assessments and statements.
And according to The New York Times, as of June 7, the Trump administration is rolling back 83 environmental rules and regulations. Some environmentalist.