Day 950: Climate change denier Trump laments existence of hurricanes and/or Puerto Rico
Donald Trump has frequently and falsely claimed that climate change is a hoax. Sometimes he likes to allege that it has been perpetrated by the Chinese. Other times, like when it’s cold out, he thinks that’s evidence that climate change isn’t real.
Scientists nearly unanimously agree that the Earth is warming at a far-too-rapid rate due to human-induced reasons. The results not only will be catastrophic in the future, but the immediate effects are real too.
For instance, the strength of hurricanes is being driven, in part, by climate change warming the planet.
Scientists are continuing to refine our understanding of how global warming affects hurricane activity. Cutting edge research is beginning to be able to attribute individual hurricanes to global warming. For example, new research estimates that as the Earth has warmed, the probability of a storm with precipitation levels like Hurricane Harvey was higher in Texas in 2017 than it was at the end of the twentieth century. Because of climate change, such a storm evolved from a once in every 100 years event to a once in every 16 years event over this time period.
Tuesday, Trump seemed to lament the existence of yet another hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean and/or the existence of Puerto Rico.
Trump’s “Will it ever end?” question would logically seem to follow the “Yet another big storm heading to Puerto Rico” portion of the tweet, indicating his frustration with hurricanes as a whole. However, as a climate change denier who refuses to see what is happening to the planet, maybe Trump is hoping to simply wish future hurricanes away by tweet.
Trump’s “Will it ever end?” question could also precede the statement following it, which mentions aid to Puerto Rico. If this is true, Trump is frustrated with having to assist three million American citizens in Puerto Rico and is therefore perturbed by the island’s very existence. The Trump administration’s response to Hurricane Maria was disorganized and dreadful, and certainly contributed to the loss of life totals on the island.
Trump’s annoyance with potentially having to help Americans in times of need is shameful, even though that’s literally one of a president’s primary jobs. His hand waving indicating ‘we gave them enough money last time’ is callous and ignores the real peril that Puerto Ricans would be in should Tropical Storm Dorian strengthen and make landfall.
In addition, the numbers in Trump’s tweet were wrong, in what is a familiar pattern for him.
Trump’s hot takes about hurricanes seem to be coming in an abundance this week. Earlier, Axios reported that Trump privately floated the idea of sending nuclear bombs to try and disrupt hurricanes as they approached the U.S.
950 days in, 512 to go
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