Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumTrump Monkey-wrenches GOP Greenwash With Big Public Dump On "Messaging" That They Care About Climate
As fires rage along the West Coast and Hurricane Sally threatens to pound the South, Trump openly embraced conspiracy theories that reject basic tenets of climate science. He revealed having a deep distrust of scientists and claimed that temperatures will begin cooling soon, even though the global average has increased 2 degrees Fahrenheit over 140 years.
By flatly rejecting scientific evidence of warming so close to an election, Trump is weakening his prospects for reelection in a race where climate change is an accepted fact among many Republicans, said Doug Heye, a longtime GOP strategist and former spokesman of the Republican National Committee. Trump's claims also threaten down-ballot candidates. "It's a setback and hurts Republicans in their efforts in congressional and statewide races this cycle," Heye said. "But it also makes it harder for Republicans moving forward because the issues of climate change is of dramatically higher concern for younger voters than it is older voters, and how you vote when you're 22 or 27 is a very good predictor of how you're going to vote when you're 52 or 57."
Yesterday, Trump was pressed repeatedly on his assertions about climate change, including by reporters on Fox News. Brian Kilmeade, host of "Fox & Friends," asked Trump to acknowledge that rising temperatures are a problem that people younger than 35 care about. Trump answered in a way that contradicted his administration's moves to weaken or erase rules that reduced greenhouse gases from the power sector and from vehicles. "You want to clean up your plants, you want to clean up your auto pollution, you want to clean up a lot of things," Trump said.
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In response, the GOP has tried to craft messages its members can live with: Plant a trillion trees, spend money on carbon capture technology, and invest in research and development for energy technology. Most Republican lawmakers in Congress have not sought to meaningfully constrain the use of fossil fuels, the driving force behind human-caused climate change. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican and a close ally of the president, has said the party has "too many deniers." House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R) of California has said the party needs a climate policy that meets the concerns of its younger voters. Former Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) said Trump is alienating key voters, especially suburban Republicans with college degrees, when he dismisses climate science during a deadly event clearly linked to global warming. Curbelo said that with Trump's comments on Monday, it was a "bad day for Republicans."
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Hey, Matt? Hey, Andrew? Hey, Carlos? Sucks to be you.
https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063713829