Republicans Showed Up With No Plans, Only Rhetoric
Washington, D.C. – The GOP doesn’t have a clue (on climate change policy) — and they certainly don’t have a plan. The opening day for the Republican National Convention proved that to be true.
The GOP started the day announcing that their platform was blind support for President Trump while pretending the country is ‘the best it’s ever been,’ regardless of the fact that it is literally on fire. Despite having some of the party’s heaviest hitters and top thinkers like Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, and Donald Trump Jr., make their case — you heard nothing concrete or tangible on how a second-term Trump would handle the biggest crisis that our country will face in the coming decade.
You heard yelling, a lot of lies, and some less-than-subtle dog-whistling.
But nada on policy about the raging fires, increased pollution, severe floods, job losses, or economic downturns caused by climate change. It’s easy to understand why. Trump and Republicans’ policies on climate action are simple — it’s nothing. The Republican party has no policies or goals because they are too busy spewing an anti-climate agenda and lining the pockets of Big Oil political donors.
Don’t believe us. We laid it out for you below:
Addressing the climate crisis:
Trump and Republicans: Nothing. Trump has never had a real policy on addressing climate change. Instead, he spends his time attacking climate action and spews falsehoods, including 183 just this year on the climate crisis. To compare, Biden has announced a $2 trillion plan to build an equitable clean energy future, by creating millions of jobs, achieving 100% clean electricity by 2035, and rebuilding our economy.
Clean water and clean air:
Trump and Republicans: Despite claiming that clean air and water is a priority, Trump and Republicans have no policies or goals to get us there. Air quality is getting measurably worse under Trump, with 15% more unhealthy air days during his administration. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration rolled back Obama-era mileage standards for cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs. Of note, a decrease in standards and an increase in air pollution is estimated to lead to 440 to 990 premature deaths per year. All this and the RNC announced its plan to address toxic air is just more the same.
Extreme weather:
Trump and Republicans: Non-existent policy action. Trump pulled $271 million from FEMA disaster funds on his anti-immigration agenda to fund his border wall. During a time of crisis, Trump made bogus claims (“Sharpie-gate”) about Hurricane Dorian hitting Alabama at “category five.” The administration even provided an altered weather map, refuted from top experts.
Advancing environmental justice and fighting for Black and Brown communities:
Trump and Republicans: Absolutely nothing to offer. Republicans will support Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda, a slogan embedded in racist tropes, which also ignores Black and Brown communities. We saw how Trump’s agenda directly harms Black and Brown Americans when he gutted the National Environmental Protection Act, a rule that gives communities of color the ability to stop major polluting projects and pipelines from being forced into their neighborhoods.
Clean energy jobs:
Trump and Republicans: Surprise — nothing on clean energy. The party will continue to play the victim and blame the media when Trump aims to continue to kill ANY advancement in clean energy jobs. This might be because Trump knows nothing about clean energy and spends an extremely concerning amount of his time claiming that wind turbines cause cancer, kills birds, and leaves a carbon footprint (without evidence to back that last one up.) We know that Trump’s policies have killed 1.1 million clean energy jobs during his tenure in the White House, so we understand why this isn’t a topic Trump wants to get into.