Trump Campaign Assures Public That He Doesn’t Care About Climate Change

By SIERRA CLUB POLITICAL TEAM

It was hard not to laugh after we saw the report earlier today that Trump 2020 campaign officials were in search of “climate change victories” to show off going into the next election. Was this an April Fools Day joke that arrived a few days late? Or a clear sign that someone on the Trump campaign recognizes just how big of a political vulnerability Trump’s anti-climate record and science denial will be on the campaign trail? Either way, we quickly got to work putting together a list of Trump’s climate victories.


Here, we present it in full:

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Yea, that’s not a typo: there’s nothing there.


That’s why it wasn’t surprising when minutes after Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune called out this absurd claim by Trump’s associates that Trump’s campaign manager came out and noted that any assertions that Trump would talk about or take climate change seriously on the campaign trail were “100% fake news.”


So, if you’re looking for a clear illustration of just how dramatic the divide is going to be between the candidates in the 2020 election on climate, look no further. While every candidate on the Democratic side is talking about the urgency of the climate crisis, with many offering and supporting bold, innovative aggressive solutions to get us to 100% clean energy, Trump’s campaign just confirmed he doesn’t care at all.

 

Not that there was any uncertainty on the topic, but Trump made it that much more obvious just yesterday when he falsely, indeed clownishly, claimed that climate solutions like wind energy “cause cancer.” The American Cancer Society begs to differ, noting that, once again, Trump’s claims are fact-free.

 

The truth is that Trump’s rhetoric and his record are a massive liability for him,

 

The lowlights of Trump’s anti-climate, anti-public health record include:

    • Seeking to abandon the Paris Climate Agreement

    • Appointing fossil fuel lobbyists to head the EPA and Interior Department

    • Rolling back the Clean Power Plan

    • Scrapping the Coal Ash Rule

    • Rolling back the Clean Water Rule

    • Rolling back methane standards

    • Repeatedly seeking to bail out coal executives and their uneconomic plants

    • Rolling back the Mercury and Air Toxins Rule

    • Proposing to roll back the clean car standards

    • Slow walking or completely refusing to adequately act on per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemicals

 

While Trump spreads lies about clean, renewable energy, his administration has threatened the drinking water for a third of the country, potentially put millions upon millions of people at risk for cancer, and increased the risk of hundreds of deaths per year due to his pro-fossil fuel agenda.

 

As Trump continues to attack clean, renewable energy, new polling demonstrates just what a bad move that is.

 

According to a recent Yale survey, 85% of registered voters support “requiring electric utilities in your state to produce 100% of their electricity from clean, renewable sources by 2050,” including 95% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans.

 

THE FACTS ARE THESE:

  • Donald Trump is the worst President in history for our climate and our environment, and his attempt to say otherwise is an outright lie.

  • Trump’s Administration is fighting tooth and nail to roll back some of the most important climate action policies in history, including the Clean Power Plan, clean car standards, and the methane rule.

  • Trump has tried bailing out coal billionaires and their failing plants with taxpayer dollars. He’s pushed to drill anywhere and everywhere. And he’s repeatedly peddled lies about clean energy, as well as the very existence of climate change.

  • So if Trump is looking to show off “climate victories,” he could start by reversing every single action he’s taken, and every proposal he’s put forward.