Remember when the worst thing Mitt Romney said was the off the cuff comment about how 47% of Americans won't vote him no matter what, or that he has binders full of women? Now those gaffs sound about as tame as a sheep. Donald Trump has said numerous off putting remarks this year, though some we've learned were his fresh sarcasm. One thing, however, he has not given us the "just kidding" evasive side step on is his thoughts on climate change. Young people can sniff out bullshit quicker than they can sniff out weed and when we have google in our pockets, most right wing anti-science rhetoric gets called out a lot quicker than it did in the past. It takes very little effort to fact check how fracking would emit loads of greenhouse gases.You no longer need a masters degree in science to know how much of a 'clean' energy source coal is, which is a position the GOP adopted to their platform last month. Donald Trump has said that climate change is a conspiracy made up by the Chinese and that he wants to get rid of the Department of Enviromental Protection. Trump is running his campaign with the narrative that he is the outsider and Hillary Clinton is corrupt; and, while the latter may be true, he is not someone who is immune to the GOP's ignorance to fairly basic scientific concepts. Trump also doubled down on his anti science platform when he picked Indiana governor Mike Pence as his running mate. Pence has been a Christian conservative crusader in congress for years. On Hardball with Chris Matthews, Pence told Matthews that the science is mixed on evolution and global warming. It gets better; Pence has also been a champion for off shore drilling since 2010.
The science is out on this one. The Keystone XL Pipeline would be disastrous. Unfortunately for Mike Pence, he is immune to scientific progress. This is an excellent example of the contrast between the GOP and young people. It takes less than a minute for me to find several scientific journals explaining how disastrous off shore drilling is or the Keystone Pipeline.
Donald Trump, the literal big cheese himself, is only worst when it comes to fighting climate change. A common but terrible argument made by conservative leaders is that "because it snowed a lot in my hometown then global warming isn't real". My high school AP statistics teacher would not be happy.
Just because one city or state has a colder than normal winter does not mean the global temperatures are not rising. Donald Trump has laughed and scoffed away any protestors about climate change. He has even attributed this 'conspiracy' to the Chinese.
Now, Hilary Clinton is no Climate Change warrior. It took her awhile to get behind a nationwide fracking ban and there's some legitimate skepticism to be had if she'll hold true to this position. But, I'll take someone who says she believe in climate change and wants to do something about it, even if it's not as much as I'd like over someone who is deaf to what the entire science community agrees on. Often people turn to Trump's proud Wall Street lobbyist rejection stance but just because he isn't sleeping with the Koch brothers doesn't mean he is suddenly pro science. So, because Clinton wouldn't immediately endorse a nationwide fracking ban you're going to elect the guy who thinks climate change is a Chinese conspiracy? Clinton won't reject money from fossil fuel and fracking special interest groups but that isn't reason to elect an idiot who calls it a myth. The biggest threat to our nation isn't Mexicans and it isn't ISIS; it's the environment, and picking the better candidate on this issue should be a no brainier.
