After the network showed a clip of a young conservative activist saying that climate change was the number one issue for young voters, Fox News moderator Martha MacCallum asked for a show of hands in response to her question, “Do you believe human behavior is causing climate change?”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis refused to participate, and then GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy declared, “I’m the only person on the stage who isn’t bought and paid for, so I can say this: The climate change agenda is a hoax.” A crowd full of Republicans started to boo.
Most of the Republicans on stage fell short of completely denying that climate change is caused by human activity. Ramaswamy, perhaps taking a page out of the Trump playbook of making the most outlandish comment possible, came right out and said it.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie shot back, “I’ve had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT.” Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley went so far as to venture, “Climate change is real.”
But moderator Bret Baier seized not on Ramaswamy’s blatant denial of the scientific consensus on climate change, but on his claim that he was the only candidate on the stage who was “not bought and paid for.” Baier took turns asking candidates, “Are you bought and paid for?” In classic Fox News fashion, a moment that could have provided insight into how far Republicans are willing to go to please young voters concerned about the environment devolved into senseless crosstalk. Still, for a party that has spent years ignoring or denying the biggest threat to our planet’s future, tonight’s responses were actually, almost, a little bit refreshing.
Outright climate denial, avoidance of actually engaging the question, and zero mention of any policy Republicans might advance on climate.
It’s even funnier when considering they could suggest climate denying policies and still don’t.
They have no platform. Literally. Not even a regressive one.
Them having a platform is irrelevant. Trump is going to be the nominee, almost certainly even if he’s actually found guilty and ends up in prison (which I doubt will ever happen). This is all just a marketing exercise for the other candidates.
Also if they’re getting booed for denying climate change(?), then they’re better off just being silent on the campaign trail while continuing to support the oil sector once in office. Hell, they could even pivot to what the dems do by campaigning on it and doing nothing if their base starts to make it an issue.
I’m talking about the republicans overall. In the general they better have a platform but it seems this is going to be a repeat of 2020.
“My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” - Grover Norquist
That’s always been their platform. They just don’t say the quiet part out loud very often.
Republicans tell their base that they want to cut government, but always act otherwise. Controlling government purse strings is political power and economic power. There may be shell games played that transfers spending, but Republicans do not cut government, nor their power.
The Republicans don’t offer any solution for anything. It’s nothing but denialism and pandering. How could anyone have heard these idiots speak and think they have anything to offer us as President?
The democrats are only marginally better in that they propose solutions. But they never follow through with them.
I dislike dems as much as any neoliberal party, but their complete inaction is largely caused by GOP obstruction.
Outright climate denial, avoidance of actually engaging the question, and zero mention of any policy Republicans might advance on climate.
Democrats will admit that climate change is real but either do nothing to stop it or keep making things worse (with Biden signing more oil drilling permits than Trump because he is a puppet of the bourgeoisie, like every elected official in the country).
They seem to have a bone to pick with China and any renewables manufactured there.
-This message was unironically posted from a Chinese made iPhone.
Well yeah you’d prefer to manufacture it in the US. Biden did that with the IRA. But that won’t stop Republicans from shouting C-c-China.
A crowd full of Republicans started to boo.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley went so far as to venture, “Climate change is real.”
Is this article from The Onion? Or am I like on candid camera or something? They believe in climate change now and are against it?
Well, immigrants tend to be more tan from their exposure to the sun, and as we all know being more tanned is a result of having more melanins per square inch of skin. It’s also established fact that as you stuff more moles of a thing into a fixed space like America that, all other things beibg equal, the temperature goes up.
So really it’s immigration. Why does Biden hate our temperate climate??
Also, dead babies make Baby Jeebis cry dtears of hot rage, and that’s not helping with the hurricanes in the desert.
/s, because some of you don’t recognize satire
It does. It’s called the upvote button.
We all have one.
People with extra money for shouldn’t get to boost visibility.
The narrative changed about 10 years ago to “well it’s happening, but humans can’t do anything about it, it’s a natural process”. No real difference, but it puts a bit more smoke and mirrors up for the rubes who believe that sort of thing since it sounds a bit less wrong.
Interesting that you can tell where someone’s political development kinda “paused” based on this. A dork who thinks climate change isn’t happening is a full 10 years behind their fellow dorks.
Here’s their evolution on climate change:
- it doesn’t exist
- it does exist, but it’s not caused by man
- it’s caused by man, but it isn’t a bad thing
- it is a bad thing, but it’s china’s fault
How many more steps until some responsibility is accepted?
I think it’s gonna lead to more calling for nationalist sentiment. My chud brothers say shit like, “We need to secure resources for the people that contribute”. They think people walking across borders are polluting more than people flying in planes because, “Elon is trying to fix climate change”
Also once the effects get really bad they can accuse Democrats of trying to make us miserable during the final enjoyable days on Earth. We’ll let you have fun in these final moments while the Democrats will try to enslave you to sift through garbage heaps.
It’s the classic Yes, Prime Minister Four-Stage Strategy.
In stage one we say nothing is going to happen.
Stage two, we say something may be about to happen, but we should do nothing about it.
In stage three, we say that maybe we should do something about it, but there’s nothing we can do.
Stage four, we say maybe there was something we could have done, but it’s too late now.
It’s been a mainstream talking point in conservative circles for a bit that climate change is real, but:
a) Us doing something won’t change anything until China and/or India also start doing something with us
b) If we started doing something, the cost would weaken us economically until China can overtake us and start influencing the world to the west’s detriment
Both of which are wrong, but it doesn’t stop conservatives from believing the talking heads. A lot of people can’t outright deny global warming anymore so they’re just shifting the blame now
Edit: Actually, I was just looking into it, I think this claim is unsupported. Looks like climate change will cause a 5-25% less than what it would have been, but that’s as compared to the projected growth of yields due to improved technology and resources. So the picture is a little more muddy but still impactful.
Climate change isn’t really something you can deny anymore if you work in ag, and a lot of small-town conservatives have a close relationship to farming (not trying to stereotype, just speaking to my experience in Iowa). Yields have been declining basically every year for the last 10 or so, with wind, drought, and flooding being the top reasons. Temps in the central US reached the highest since the great depression and the dust bowl. For those people, denying the existence of climate change is basically saying you’ll do nothing to help farmers suffering from decreasing yields. It’s not a harmless “anti-woke” opinion anymore, it’s actively harmful to the material conditions of a lot of republicans.
That’s not to say it isn’t really interesting watching them dance around it. They’ll probably try to say, “yea, it’s real, but there’s no point in cutting back fossil fuels at this point. Here’s more farming subsidies to help with your decreasing yields”, and i’m betting that it will still be very effective for their base.-
I want to point out that they denied climate change while in Milwaukee, which set a record high temperature of 101°F the day of the debate, with a heat index of 115°F.
The average high temperature over the past 30 years is 80°F
No wonder the audience started to boo.
Wait, they closed the school because of heat? As a native Texan I don’t understand. Do the schools not have central air?
I grew up in the northeast and none of the schools had central air. It’s not hot enough before summer break to justify it. At least historically…
I can’t see anywhere which would explain why the school closed. It’s possible that it doesn’t have central air. It could also be an efficiency thing; maybe the AC can’t vent out the heat fast enough to cool down the building when it’s that warm? My house is actually like that when it hits around 105° outside.
The smart ass reply is they close down when it’s hot for the same reason Texas closes down when it’s only 30° and it barely snows 😅
As a non American, viewing this from the outside. Let me say this.
These guys are ridiculous please don’t vote for them. Not only do they not believe in climate change, which is insane given how much of the planet is currently ablaze, but they don’t even understand what chat GPT is. So they are corrupt and stupid.
What am I saying, they are presidential material.
Vivek saying “I’m the only one here not bought and paid for” just sounds like projection to me, along with a bit of “no true Scotsman” fallacy thrown in for flavoring.
Also dude literally started an “anti-woke” company just to Join in on the anti-woke grift.
