Tweet of the week: Greenpeace fact-checks Trump

This week President Trump addressed climate change for the first time in a while only to spread conspiracy theories that it’s not happening. In his tweet, Trump quoted Patrick Moore, who has claimed that he was a founder of Greenpeace, by saying: “The whole climate crisis is not only Fake News, it’s Fake Science.” Greenpeace vehemently denied this claim and said in a statement that Moore “frequently cites a long-ago affiliation with Greenpeace to gain legitimacy in the media, and media outlets often either state or imply that Mr. Moore still represents Greenpeace. He does not.” It’s certainly not the first time Trump has spread conspiracy theories about climate change but as more Americans continue to die from climate-related deaths on his watch, these tweets aren’t just something to be scoffed at, they should be taken as evidence that our President is ignoring threats to Americans lives and national security. 

Why This Matters: When the President uses Twitter to insult his political rivals or spread claims of his innocence in the Russia probe, that’s one thing. When he spreads conspiracy theories about the single greatest threat facing humanity and diminishes the risk of climate change, he is setting himself up to have blood on his hands. When our own Department of Defense has repeatedly warned of the threat climate change poses to American livelihood you’d think that the commander in chief would listen. But perhaps what’s most startling is that the President can’t feign ignorance here: he has access to the very best and latest information and security intel of any person on the planet yet he chooses not to read any of it. We have students in our country that are risking disciplinary action and are giving up their time to be kids to get political leaders to do something about climate change. POTUS might want to attend a high school science class in one of their places!

March 14, 2019 » climate change, Greenpeace, Trump