By Sierra Club Political Committee
Donald Trump doubled down on his fringe climate change conspiracy theories on FOX news (watch at minute 4:00) late last night, confirming that he still believes it is a "hoax" when pressed by Bill O'Reilly.
Trump's continued dismissal of science would keep him isolated on the world stage, where every single world leader acknowledges the dangers and science of climate change (you can find and read quotes from every world leader here).
It's clear why Clinton pummels Trump by 38 points on the issue of climate change, the widest spread between them on any single issue, according to Gallup.
"If Donald Trump thinks he can negotiate with the hard facts of climate science, he's going to fail just as badly as he did in Atlantic City," Khalid Pitts, Sierra Club national political director, said. "His unhinged conspiracy theories denying science would embarrass our country around the world and endanger families across the country who are already feeling the pain of extreme droughts and storms fueled by the climate crisis."
Here's the transcript of Trump on FOX News:
O'REILLY: Okay. But did you ever call climate change a hoax?
TRUMP: Well, I might have because when I look at some of the things that are going on, in fact, if you look at Europe where they had their big summit a couple of years ago, where people were sending out emails, scientists practically calling it a hoax and they were laughing at it. So, yes, I probably did. I see what's going on and you see what's going on.
O'REILLY: Do you believe that that man-made fossil fuels and gases have eroded the environment so that the sun is more intense on Earth? Because that's the basic thing? Do you believe that's happening?
TRUMP: Well, they are saying man made and I say it could have a minor impact but nothing, nothing to what they're talking about.
Media Matters for America
By Max Greenberg
Fox News cut away from President Obama's address on climate change in favor of a lawyer from a fossil fuel-funded think tank, who proceeded to dismiss the science indicating significant man-made global warming.
Yesterday, America Live interrupted Obama's speech, claiming that the President's statement that "the planet is warming and human activity is contributing to it" is "not the full story." Host Megyn Kelly then interviewed Chris Horner, a Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and American Tradition Institute (ATI) fellow who often appears on Fox News to cast doubt on climate science.
Kelly granted Horner, a lawyer who has no scientific training, nearly as much air time (approximately four minutes and 10 seconds) as the leader of the free world (approximately four minutes and 35 seconds).
Kelly and Horner each claimed there has been "no warming" in the last 15 years, with the latter laughably declaring "the presidency deserves more than [warnings about climate change]." However, short-term temperature trends do not undermine the extensive evidence that the planet is getting warmer, largely due to human activity, at a rate that will have significant negative impacts.
Horner has spearheaded an ongoing effort to attack the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and hype the Obama administration's alleged "war on coal," even when no evidence backs him up. Both CEI and ATI have financial ties to Koch Industries and other fossil fuel interests.
According to Politico and Mediabistro, many other cable networks skipped the address, with the Weather Channel, Fox Business and Bloomberg among the only ones to carry the full speech.
Visit EcoWatch’s CLIMATE CHANGE page for more related news on this topic.
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