Trump’s Sideshow in Pennsylvania Shows Nerves
Washington, D.C. – Today, President Trump will travel to Scranton in an attempt to distract from the final night of the Democratic National Convention and resuscitate his campaign as polls show him trailing Vice President Biden.
The visit comes after a week of campaigning in key battleground states where Trump rapidly added to his laundry list of lies about climate change, the Green New Deal, and clean energy.
“The Trump campaign is doubling down on its science denial as more and more people are seeing the impacts of the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Pennsylvania State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta. “Here in North Philly, we’ve also been living with Trump’s environmental racism and watching as he puts the companies who pollute our air ahead of the people who live in my community. Access to clean air and water is an essential right and Trump is willing to take that and more away from Pennsylvanians just to further his own political agenda.”
Trump’s obsession with the Green New Deal and energy while on the campaign trail is a losing strategy for the incumbent. The majority of Americans are worried about climate change and just as many want the president and Congress to do more to stop the crisis. Three-in-five Pennsylvanians are concerned about the climate crisis and want leaders to take bold action now.
“Donald Trump doesn’t care about Pennsylvania workers. If he did, he wouldn’t be rolling back regulations on fossil fuel corporations that have a sordid history of exploiting workers by not disclosing toxic elements that can have long-term health consequences,” said Pennsylvania State House Representative Sara Innamorato. “Trump doesn’t care about Pennsylvania communities, or he wouldn’t cozy up to industry leaders who extract from our communities and when they are done defying their local will and taking what they want from the people and natural resources after they polluted the air and water after they’ve reduced property values, they leave their massive amounts of waste and go to the next place they can extract more profit to send to their shareholders. What we need is Trump to stop using Pennsylvania as a soapbox. What we need is an agenda that offers a fair transition for our towns and workers when industry leaves and investments in long-term growth.”
With Trump bloviating and spreading misinformation, he’s creating a stark contrast between his administration’s anti-science agenda and the Democrats who’ve spent the week sounding the alarm on the climate crisis and discussing bold solutions during their national convention. Climate has been mentioned more than 70 times during the Democratic convention, with state voices stressing the need to act and touting the benefits of clean energy jobs.
In states like Pennsylvania, where the election will be decided by such narrow margins, Trump’s anti-climate agenda makes him especially vulnerable. His continued war on clean energy and failed pandemic response have killed 1.1 million good-paying clean energy jobs, including nearly 19,000 in Pennsylvania, at a time when Pennsylvanians are already hurting.
While Trump is hellbent on holding back our economy, Biden has laid out a climate plan that would create over 10 million good-paying clean energy jobs and modernize our economy. Pennsylvania has the opportunity to be at the forefront of this transformation. The state is already a leader in clean energy jobs, ranking 15th nationally, and there is room for growth in Pennsylvania’s promising wind and solar industries.