The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
Oy, the mess of it all. Last night’s debates were clearly a cringe-worthy show. And, above all perhaps, a real and in-your-face display of just how far the Republican Party has fallen. The party’s candidate couldn’t stop interrupting the Democratic nominee and was embarrassingly ill-prepared, basically slapping in the face his supporters who had obviously hoped for more. Dear GOP, what have you done with Mitt Romney? At least he could put a sentence together that makes, you know, actual sense.
But, I digress. As lovers of playing outdoors, in places that actually matter, what did we find out about our candidates’ stance on the environment? Where are they when it comes to our most important resources? We didn’t learn a ton, although we did get some sparks going off between the two on the issue. According to Mother Jones, environmental issues received exactly 82 seconds of airtime last night. Glass half full? That’s 82 seconds more than any debate in 2012. The best barb for people concerned about the environment during the evening came as Clinton was laying down her own stance against Trump’s: “Donald says climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese.”
“I did not, I did not say that,” he said in response. But unfortunately, “The Donald’ did, as you can see from his Twitter post from 2012, above. And then backed up awkwardly by this gem, among others, in 2014:
The weather has been so cold for so long that the global warming HOAXSTERS were forced to change the name to climate change to keep $ flow!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2014
Double oy! Word to Donald’s peeps: This ain’t like ‘Vegas. What happens on social media doesn’t just stay on social media. Here’s the full exchange. Love it that Hillary actually seems visibly stoked to improve our environmental situation–and tying in economic feasibility by creating jobs. Idealistic? Maybe. Would have liked to hear more of Trump’s rhetoric on our “energy policies” that are a “disaster.”
Gotta be honest: Don’t know if I could ever get behind a guy who suggests global warming is a Chinese conspiracy against us—let alone, speaks of women the way he does (I have a daughter). Call me crazy. Of course Trump might be actually redefining that term for us.
