Republicans are Turning a Blind Eye to the Country’s Biggest Challenges
When John McCain was running for president, he issued a stark warning:
“We have many advantages in the fight against global warming, but time is not one of them. Instead of idly debating the precise extent of global warming or the precise timeline of global warming, we need to deal with the central facts of rising temperatures, rising waters, and all the endless troubles that global warming will bring.”
How far we’ve come.
Tonight, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds praised the Trump administration’s response to the deadly derecho that decimated communities throughout the state. What she failed to mention is that weeks later, Trump still has not approved individual assistance requests for 27 counties, including $82.7 million for homes destroyed or damaged, $3.77 billion for damage to farmlands, grain bins, and buildings, and $100 million for private utility repair. Or that climate change will make these types of storms more frequent and intense.
Eric Trump lauded the beauty of the Grand Canyon, but not the fact that his father wants to mine this American treasure for uranium. Nor did he bring up that his father has attempted to remove protections from nearly 35 million acres of public lands.
A Minnesota mayor claimed Democrats are allowing “radicals” to push through a “job-killing” climate agenda without owning that Trump has killed 1.1 million clean energy jobs during his tenure in the White House. Or that bold climate action is widely popular with voters across the political spectrum.
First Lady Melania Trump said she was “moved by those who have lost everything” as she spoke of the devastating natural disasters pummeling every corner of our country, but she didn’t mention her husband’s refusal to address climate change or adequately equip FEMA and first responders. She encouraged people to look at problems from “all perspectives,” but didn’t acknowledge her husband’s refusal to listen to scientists and experts.
Tonight’s fact-free lineup built upon the convention’s first night, which served as a platform for climate change deniers like Charlie Kirk, Rep. Matt Gaetz, GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, and left climate change off the agenda completely.
We get it — it’s a political convention. You’re supposed to put what you think is your best foot forward. (Even though Trump’s climate agenda is not a strong point for his re-election.)
But the Republican insistence on ignoring the Trump administration’s anti-science agenda is a deadly political strategy. Consider this, tonight during the 2.5 hours the convention aired on primetime, 125 Americans died of the coronavirus. More than half a million Americans were ordered to evacuate as a hurricane made its way closer to the U.S. border. Families continued to live without power following the Iowa storm. Extreme heat continued to bear down on states across the country.
Even though it’s hurting their communities and hometowns, the Republicans that spoke this evening lied, misled, apologized for, and ignored the consequences of Trump’s anti-science and anti-climate action agenda. But these issues can’t be ignored.
The climate crisis is here. When are Republicans going to start paying attention?