Introduction
It is widely believed that climate change is the most urgent crisis facing the world today. We are probably very close to tipping points that, if breached, could wipe out most life on Earth. If Trump is re-elected, it is virtually certain that things will get much worse.
This doesn’t have to be our path forward. There are numerous ways we could mitigate climate change and establish adaptation plans where needed to avoid catastrophe.
Chapter One describes the peculiar history of Donald Trump’s thinking about climate change. The second chapter details his recent position. Chapter Three shows what he did while President. Chapter Four catalogs his fossil fuel funding. And Chapter Five describes concerns about his mental health which adds to the dangers.
Find documentation at the end.
Chapter One
DENY, DODGE AND DISTORT
Donald Trump has a remarkable history with respect to climate change. He apparently considered it a problem in 2009 when he and three of his children signed a letter to President Barack Obama on December 6th, 2009 calling for a global climate deal. “We support your effort to ensure meaningful and effective measures to control climate change, an immediate challenge facing the United States and the world today,” declared the letter, which was signed by dozens of business leaders and published as an ad in the New York Times. “If we fail to act now, it is scientifically irrefutable that there will be catastrophic and irreversible consequences for humanity and our planet.”
However, Trump had changed his tune by early 2010, telling an audience at one of his golf clubs, “With the coldest winter ever recorded, with snow setting record levels up and down the coast, the Nobel committee should take the Nobel Prize back from Al Gore…Gore wants us to clean up our factories and plants in order to protect us from global warming, when China and other countries couldn’t care less. It would make us totally noncompetitive in the manufacturing world, and China, Japan and India are laughing at America’s stupidity.” (He would later say he was joking about the Nobel Prize being rescinded.)
Around the same time, Trump caught wind of the so-called “Climategate” in which climate deniers wrongly claimed a trove of hacked emails showed that scientists had conspired to fabricate evidence of global warming. Trump said (inaccurately) on Fox News that there was an email “sent a couple of months ago by one of the leaders of global warming, the initiative…almost saying—I guess they’re saying it’s a con.” He added that “in Washington, where I’m building a big development, nobody can move because we have 48 inches of snow.”
As it happens, the Union of Concerned Scientists had reported on 12/8/2009, that the manufactured controversy over emails stolen from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit has generated a lot more heat than light. “The email content being quoted does not indicate that climate data and research have been compromised…nothing in the content of these stolen emails has any impact on our overall understanding that human activities are driving dangerous levels of global warming. Media reports and contrarian claims that they do are inaccurate.”
In 2012, Trump posted on Twitter a couple of messages that asserted that climate change was a hoax that China had devised to secure an unfair trade advantage, presumably because the Obama administration was seeking to curb coal consumption in the US. “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive,” he asserted.
In fact, Wallace Smith Broecker, a Columbia University professor is the one who popularized the term “global warming” in 1975.
And a year later, on December 6th, 2013, Trump’s ignorance was even more apparent. He tweeted: “Ice storm rolls from Texas to Tennessee – I’m in Los Angeles and it’s freezing. Global warming is a total, and very expensive, hoax!”
For those who would like clarification, the United States Geological Survey provides it: “Weather refers to short term atmospheric conditions while climate is the weather of a specific region averaged over a long period of time. Climate change refers to long-term changes.”
Furthermore, all the way back in 1990 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change First Assessment Report made a very clear statement about what was already happening.
“Emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases. These increases will increase the greenhouse effect, resulting on average in an additional warming of the Earth’s surface.”
Trump was confused again when he tweeted on December 6th, 2013:
“We should be focused on magnificently clean and healthy air and not distracted by the expensive hoax that is global warming!”
To clarify again, I’ll quote the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention):
“According to the National Climate Assessment, climate change will affect human health by increasing ground-level ozone and/or particulate matter air pollution in some locations. Ground-level ozone (a key component of smog) is associated with many health problems, including diminished lung function, increased hospital admissions and emergency department visits for asthma, and increases in premature deaths.”
Exactly one month later Trump took to Fox News to complain about the severe cold that was setting records across the country. He lamented, “This winter is brutal,” and added that climate change is a “hoax” perpetrated by “scientists [who] are having a lot of fun.” Trump kept up this line of argument throughout that long, miserable winter.
Nonetheless, US government scientists probably weren’t laughing. They reported that the year 2014 – after shattering temperature records that had stood for hundreds of years across virtually all of Europe, and roasting parts of South America, China and Russia – was the hottest on record, with global temperatures 1.24F (0.69C) higher than the 20th-century average. The latest prediction is that 2024 will be the hottest year, replacing 2023.
At some point in 2014 Trump donated $5,000 of his foundation’s money to Protect Our Winters, an advocacy group dedicated to “mobilizing the outdoor sports community to lead the charge towards positive climate action.” The group’s website explains, “If we’re serious about slowing climate change, it’s imperative that we decrease our dependence on fossil fuels and focus on cleaner sources of energy and electricity.” The New York Daily News said Trump made the donation at the request of Olympic snowboarding gold medalist Jamie Anderson, who was a contestant on Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice reality show. Anderson was participating on behalf of Protect Our Winters, which, she said on the show, “brings light and inspiration to climate change.” Still, Trump remained a climate change denier. During the season premier, which aired in early 2015, Trump suggested that New York’s cold weather undermined Gilbert Gottfried’s belief in climate science.
On June 17th, 2015, the day after announcing his candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination, Trump appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, where he said he was “not a believer in man-made” warming. He added, “When I hear Obama saying that climate change is the No. 1 problem, it is just madness.”
Here’s a reminder of what Obama said in his 2015 Obama State of the Union Address:
“No challenge – no challenge – poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.”
The most reputable scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate, and if we do not act forcefully, we’ll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods, widespread wildfires, extreme hurricanes, extensive and massive disruptions that are already triggering greater migration, conflict, and hunger around the globe. The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security.
During the GOP 2015 primary race, Trump kept up his climate denial. On Hugh Hewitt’s radio show he said, “I’m not a believer in man-made global warming. It could be warming, and it’s going to start to cool at some point. And you know, in the early, in the 1920s, people talked about global cooling…They thought the Earth was cooling. Now, it’s global warming…But the problem we have, and if you look at our energy costs, and all of the things that we’re doing to solve a problem that I don’t think in any major fashion exists.”
Actually no one in the 1920s thought the earth was cooling. In the 1970s, a few scientists briefly speculated that aerosols in the atmosphere (blocking sunlight out) might overwhelm the longer term effects of greenhouse gases (trapping heat in). But they did some science, discovered that was wrong, and adjusted their views accordingly.
During the Paris climate negotiations on December 1st, 2015, Trump used Instagram to express his disapproval. “While the world is in turmoil and falling apart in so many different ways—especially with ISIS—our president is worried about global warming,” he said. “What a ridiculous situation.”
Trump’s dislike of Obama was evident when he criticized the former President during a campaign speech at the end of 2015. Trump denounced Obama for worrying too much about “the carbon footprint” of the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change—an issue that Trump confused with the hole in the ozone layer. “I want to use hair spray. They say, ‘Don’t use hair spray, it’s bad for the ozone.’ So I’m sitting in this concealed apartment, this concealed unit…It’s sealed, it’s beautiful. I don’t think anything gets out. And I’m not supposed to be using hair spray?” He then returned to the subject of the climate hoax: “So Obama’s talking about all of this with the global warming and the—a lot of it’s a hoax, it’s a hoax. I mean, it’s a money-making industry, okay? It’s a hoax, a lot of it.”
Further clarification from Socratic.org lets us know that ozone depletion refers to the thinning and loss of ozone whereas global warming refers to the widespread warming of average temperatures across the globe.
In May of 2016, one of Trump’s golf clubs asked officials in County Clare, Ireland, to approve construction of a sea wall to guard against the dangers of sea level rise and “more frequent storm events.”
According to an environmental impact statement submitted with the application, “If the predictions of an increase in sea level rise as a result of global warming prove correct…it is likely that there will be a corresponding increase in coastal erosion rates…In our view, it could reasonably be expected that the rate of sea level rise might become twice of that presently occurring.” As far as I can tell, Trump didn’t pick up on that with a public statement.
Bill O’Reilly asked Trump on Fox News on July 26th 2016 whether it was “true” that he had “called climate change a hoax.” Trump replied that he “might have” done so following the release of the ClimateGate emails. “Yeah, I probably did,” he added. “I see what’s going on.” Trump went on to say that fossil fuels “could have a minor impact” on the climate but “nothing [compared] to what they’re talking about.”
To provide another bit of useful information, here’s what the U.S. Energy Information Administration had to say:
“The burning of fossil fuels was responsible for 76% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2016.”
Environmentalists weren’t pleased when Trump chose Myron Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute to lead his transition efforts at the Environmental Protection Agency on September 26th. Ebell had a long history of opposing efforts to fight climate change; even accusing climate scientists of “manipulating and falsifying the data.” Any small increase in global temperatures, he had said, is ‘nothing to worry about.’” He told scientists that climate science “may be overestimating the rate of global warming and directed scientists to say rising carbon dioxide is beneficial because it “may increase plant water use efficiency” and “lengthen the agricultural growing season.”
To put the problem bluntly, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) provided this:
At 1.5 degrees Celsius warming, about 14% of Earth’s population will be exposed to severe heat waves at least once every five years. Problems arise with water stress, biodiversity, sea level rise, ocean acidity, temperatures and oxygen levels, marine ecosystems, vector-born disease, food security, sea ice loss, damage to the economy, among other things if temperatures rise above a mere 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
We didn’t know in September of 2016 that Trump doesn’t always sort truth from lies. During the first debate, Clinton noted that Trump “thinks that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.” In response, Trump lied. “I did not, I did not,” he said. “I do not say that.” Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway later attempted to clarify his position, said, “What he has said is, he believes [climate change] is naturally occurring and is not all man-made.”
In a New York Times interview two weeks after his 2016 victory, Trump made a number of confusing and contradictory statements about climate science and policy. Asked if he still planned to pull out of the Paris agreement, Trump said, “I have an open mind to it. We’re going to look very carefully.” He conceded that there is “some connectivity” between humans and climate change,” adding, “It depends on how much. It also depends on how much it’s going to cost our companies.” He claimed that the “hottest day ever” was in 1898. He said climate is “a very complex subject. I’m not sure anybody is ever going to really know.” He once again invoked ClimateGate, declaring, “They say they have science on one side but then they also have those horrible emails that were sent between the scientists.” And, apparently in contrast to his request to build a sea wall in Ireland, Trump even speculated that sea level rise would actually improve his golf course in Florida.
Some of us are afraid that all of south Florida may wind up under water as sea levels rise. In 2010, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the South Florida Regional Climate Change Compact passed this on:
“The president’s Mar-a-Lago estate, the soaring apartment towers bearing his name on Miami-area beaches and his Doral golf course are all threatened by rising seas.”
Recent history indicates that his property might be destroyed by a strong hurricane.
Following Trump’s confusing New York Times interview on November 27th, 2016, incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus sought to reassure supporters that the president-elect is, in fact, a climate change denier. “As far as this issue on climate change, the only thing he was saying, after being asked a few questions about it, is, ‘Look, I’ll have an open mind about it,’” Priebus explained on Fox. “But he has his default position, which is that most of it is a bunch of bunk.”
However, here’s what the National Climate Assessment had to say way back in 2014:
“The global warming of the past 50 years is primarily due to human activities.”
To make matters worse, on December 7th, 2016 Trump selected Scott Pruitt, a climate change skeptic, to lead the EPA. As Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt sued the EPA to block the Clean Power Plan, Obama’s restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. He also claimed that “scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind.” As EPA administrator, Pruitt continued to reject the scientific consensus, telling CNBC in March 2017 that he doesn’t believe carbon dioxide is “a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.”
Referring again to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), here’s the expert opinion:
“Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals1 show that 97% or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities. In addition, most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position.”
Throughout his presidency Trump continued to cast doubt on whether there’s agreement about the threat that climate change poses, and blew hot and cold on whether he thinks it’s a problem. He vehemently disagreed with his Administration’s and scientists’ assessments of the threat, and he made numerous erroneous and confusing statements. His focus since 2016 was on the need for jobs rather than the climate crisis.
Back to the question of “hoax”, on October 14th, 2018, asked if he still believes climate change is a hoax, Trump said on CBS’ 60 Minutes, “Something’s changing, and it’ll change back again. I don’t think it’s a hoax.” He added, “But I don’t know that it’s manmade. I will say this. I don’t wanna give trillions and trillions of dollars. I don’t wanna lose millions and millions of jobs.” After being reminded that scientists at NOAA and NASA have concluded that humans are indeed warming the planet, Trump said, “We have scientists that disagree with that.” He later added, “Look, scientists also have a political agenda.”
And here are some more facts at the time according to Citizens Climate Lobby:
Fossil fuel employment has been shrinking for years, mainly because of mechanization, not regulation. In 2018, there were 2.4 million jobs in clean energy and energy efficiency, compared to half that many in fossil energy. Installers and service technicians for solar and wind are forecast to grow 11 to 13 times faster than the U.S. average. Today, the energy technologies of the future create more well-paying jobs per energy dollar spent, and will continue to do so even as the new technologies mature. Not only is renewable electricity already cost-competitive with fossil-generated power in many locations, it provides 50% more jobs, at similar pay, for the same amount of energy.
When an AP reporter noted on October 17th, 2018 that scientists are warning that climate change could soon become irreversible, Trump said, “No, no. Some say that and some say differently. I mean, you have scientists on both sides of it.” The president noted that his uncle “was a great professor at MIT for many years,” though he acknowledged that he “didn’t talk to him about this particular subject.” But, Trump added, “I have a natural instinct for science, and I will say that you have scientists on both sides of the picture.”