Republicans Finally Mention Climate In A Debate, God Help Us
Be Careful What You Wish For Department.
It was, as far as I can recall, a first for a Republican primary debate: an actual question about climate change. Fox News ran a clip of twentysomething Young American for Freedom member Alexander Diaz, who pointed out that climate change is a top concern for young voters. He wanted to know what the candidates would do to “calm their fears that Republicans don’t care about climate change?” It was a great question that not one of the eight people on the debate stage actually addressed in the subsequent verbal fracas.
Still, moderator Martha MacCallum gave it a shot, pointing out that both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said climate change was a major factor in the wildfires on Maui. She asked for a show of hands from the eight GOP presidential hopefuls: “Do you believe human behavior is causing climate change?”
Oh, don’t worry, nobody raised a hand, at least not in the microsecond before Florida Man Ron DeSantis completely derailed the question, which was how he didn’t answer most questions last night.
“Look, we’re not schoolchildren,” DeSantis broke in, proving that he was always very rude in school. “Let’s have the debate.” But instead of a debate, or even a discussion, all we got was a frothy mix of outright climate denial, avoidance of actually engaging the question, and zero mention of any policy Republicans might advance on climate. Hell, they even forgot to mention House Republicans’ useless pledge to “plant a trillion trees.” Just as well, since a fig leaf won’t capture much carbon anyway.
Instead of reassuring Diaz that Republicans take climate seriously, DeSantis insisted that the reason America is in so much trouble is that the media are so mean to Republicans while giving Joe Biden a free ride for doing absolutely nothing for the people of Maui (other than the prompt authorization of emergency aid and all that). So no, not a word on climate from DeSantis, who could have pointed out his push to make Florida’s infrastructure more resilient against sea level rise and flooding. But if he said that, it would amount to admitting that climate change is real, and DeSantis insists he’s “always rejected the politicization of the weather,” even when Atlantic Ocean temperatures recently resembled a hot tub.
Ron DeSantis Too Busy Spending $$$$$$$$$ On 'Sea Level Rise' To Think About Commie 'Climate Change'
If DeSantis derailed the climate question, Vivek Ramaswamy ran along the string of tank cars setting them on fire with some good old-fashioned climate denial. Notably, he was the only one of the eight who straight out rejected the scientific consensus on global warming; the others all played footsie and gave excuses for doing nothing. Not Ramaswamy, who must have figured lying outrageously might win him a veep spot.
Notice all the boos, though. It’s as if even Fox audiences know that crap no longer sells. That, or they were booing the “bought and paid for” line. Or the other candidates’ reactions to the line. Or maybe the audience thought it saw a squirrel, or the postal carrier.
Ramaswamy: Let us be honest as Republicans: I’m the only candidate on the stage who isn’t bought and paid for, so I can say this … [angry mutters from others] The climate change agenda is a hoax [audience boos] … The climate change agenda is a hoax, and we have to declare independence … [the boos overwhelm whatever he said]
And the reality is, the anti-carbon agenda is the wet blanket on our economy. The reality is, more people are dying of bad climate change policies than they are of actual climate change.
That’s all complete nonsense, and Ramaswamy didn’t even pretend to offer evidence that climate change policies are killing anyone. The fact-checkers at the New York Times noted that it’s “hard to tell what Mr. Ramaswamy was referring to,” even, since zero deaths have been linked to renewable energy or efforts to curb the use of fossil fuels. Maybe he was thinking of the poor imaginary Polish people in that PragerU video, suffering from lack of dirty coal. In any case, yeah, extreme weather events that have been worsened by climate change have in fact been deadly, so shut up.
No, we won’t even bother with the mishegas that followed Ramaswamy’s remarks, when Crisp Crispy said Ramaswamy sounded like an AI chatbot and that the last time a “skinny guy with a funny name” — Ramaswamy’s earlier self description — ran for president we got Obama. So we guess half a cheer to Christie for pointing out the plagiarism from Obama’s 2004 Democratic Convention speech.
Finally, Nikki Haley decided to be the sole Republican in the debate to acknowledge that climate change is real and caused by humans, but then she quickly threw whatever credibility she had into the trash incinerator:
First of all, we do care about clean air, clean water. We want to see that taken care of, but there is a right way to do it. The right way is first of all, yes, is climate change real? Yes, it is. If you want to change the environment, we need to start telling China and India that they have to lower their emissions.
It’s a classic Republican dodge, saying they love “clean air and water” — who doesn’t? — while ignoring greenhouse emissions, which are invisible but heat the atmosphere even if they aren’t accompanied by smoke. And obviously, no, we can’t wait until India and China have eliminated emissions before we start. Happily, we have very much started, and even China and India are pursuing clean energy even as they still burn coal.
Haley then went on to falsely claim that President Biden’s climate policies — which, if fully implemented, will reduce US greenhouse emissions to nearly half the rate of 2005 emissions by 2030 — would mostly help China, because about half of EV batteries are currently made there. Again, bullshit, because the Inflation Reduction Act has already launched a boom in battery factories being planned and built right here in the USA, and mostly in red states, which will welcome the jobs and still deny climate change is real.
And that was it for climate discussion at the GOP debate. Bummer, Mr. Diaz — if you want to be reassured that a political party takes climate seriously, we’ve got a seat for you on the Democratic bus. It’s electric, even. The bus, not the seat, really. And we have cookies!
[Mother Jones / Guardian / NYT / Independent / NYT]
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Joe on Xitter:
"I'm glad that my Administration’s infrastructure investments are so popular that even Speaker McCarthy is trying to take credit for them, despite voting against them.
That’s alright. I’ll see him at the next groundbreaking."
https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1694706489720553783