Tucker Carlson says it’s “factually untrue” that climate change impacts hurricane season
Carlson: “I mean, it’s not a close call”
Published
Citation From the September 29, 2022, edition of Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight
TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): The one thing you don't do is immediately jump forward to score some sort of cheap and sleazy political point from it. That used to be obvious. But for the past several years, it's been clear it's no longer obvious -- at least to one political party. You saw this happen after the forest fires in California two years ago. It happened after tornadoes killed people in the Midwest last year. And it's happening again now. Immediately on cable television and on the floor of the legislative bodies across this country, self-described experts are demanding that you accept responsibility for whatever natural disaster has just occurred. It's your fault, including for Hurricane Ian. You did this because you didn't support giving Joe Biden trillions of dollars to fight climate change. So, you caused it.
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People are dying, so wait just a moment before putting forward your demands for more political power. But, it's also factually untrue. So, you just heard one hair hat say, "It used to be one or two hurricanes a season would happen. Now, it's happening all the time." And you hear this all the time. And it's a way of terrifying you into handing politicians more power over your life.
But the fact is it's a lie. It's not even remotely true. I mean, it's not a close call. There has been, as a factual matter, no increase in hurricane frequency in the continental United States from 1900 to 2020. That's 120 years. It's been reported, we have the data. They're on your screen right now. In fact, as Michael Shellenberger has pointed out, someone who has actually looked at the numbers, the number of landfalling hurricanes has dropped slightly over the past century. Why? We're not sure, but we can probably guess it has nothing to do with climate or your SUV.