Trump’s climate denial is an affront to science and reality – and out of step with most Americans
Host Joe Scarborough responded to Trump’s claim that people aren’t “buying” the idea of climate change by rightly calling it a lie and pointing out that “19 of the 20 hottest years on record have been the last 19 or so years.”
He added: “But talk to Republicans who run insurance companies, that look at the numbers of how much storms are costing insurance companies, are costing the federal government, are costing Americans. It's getting so devastating that in so many places, some people can't even get property insurance anymore because insurance companies have been so overwhelmed by the radical change in climate over the past 20 years.”
Scarborough also pointed to farmers as another group that is particularly impacted by climate change, noting, “You know who else believes in climate change? An overwhelming majority of farmers. According to polls, they've seen the devastation and how their livelihoods have been damaged by the change, the radical change in climate over the past 20, 30 years.”
Polling shows that a majority of Americans believe that global warming is affecting their local communities and support climate action.
On the campaign trail, Trump has repeatedly mocked the idea of climate change by suggesting that it would result in more beachfront property. (Sea-level rise means less coastline, or less beachfront property, so as The Washington Post suggested, Trump doesn’t seem to understand how oceans work.)
Trump’s rhetoric is also matched by his recent positions and former actions related to disaster response.
A government shutdown, which Trump supported, would have hobbled the federal response to Hurricane Helene
MSNBC’s Jonathan Lemire also noted that “it was Donald Trump supported Republican efforts to shut down the federal government just last week. If that government had shut down, think of what the federal response would be to this storm now for people, slowing down that much further the people who desperately need help.”
After Hurricane Maria in 2017, Trump’s administration blocked federal aid to Puerto Rico, which struggled for weeks to return power to its residents. The mayor of San Juan publicly criticized Trump’s response, and he also drew backlash when he threw paper towels into a crowd of people at a relief center.
Also during his presidency, Trump undermined weather forecasting in 2019 by baselessly claiming that Hurricane Dorian would hit Alabama despite assurances from the National Weather Service that the state was not in its path. The then-president used a Sharpie to change the predicted path of the storm on a map.
Hurricane Laura, the most powerful hurricane to hit Louisiana in more than 160 years, slammed into the state during the 2020 Republican National Convention. Some speakers offered “prayers” to those in the path of this unprecedented storm, while others blasted and mocked Democrats and the Biden campaign for having a climate plan. Trump did not cancel his appearance at the RNC as the disaster unfolded in Louisiana.
Trump also reportedly asked senior Homeland Security and national security officials on multiple occasions whether they could nuke hurricanes to keep them from hitting the U.S.
