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Trump And Congressional Republicans Decide If They Pretend Hard Enough, Climate Change Will Just Go Away

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Donald Trump has captured attention with an amazing feat of fact-defying ignorance, declaring to people in California that the entire drought there is nothing but a giant hoax. Trump said that he talked to farmers about it, and he says that they told him, “There is no drought. They turn the water out into the ocean.”

That’s an actual, direct Trump quote on the subject. I know, it’s confusing. Reading this comment, I keep wondering what possible relationship could a drought have to people turning water into an ocean… and what exactly does it mean for people to turn water out into an ocean, anyway?

The following is Trump’s attempt at a more articulate explanation of his understanding of the drought issue: “I said, ‘Oh, that’s too bad, is it a drought?’ ‘No, we have plenty of water,’ and I said, ‘Well, what’s wrong?’ and they said, ‘Well, we shove it out to sea.’ And I said ‘Why?’ And nobody even knows why and the environmentalists don’t know why. Now they’re trying to protect a certain kind of three-inch fish. But no, no think of it. So nobody even knows why, and by the way, the environmentalists don’t know why.”

Is this true? Could it be true that the drought in California is just a hoax, concocted by environmentalists who are trying to protect a three-inch fish, without even knowing why they’re doing it?

The answer to this question is easy: No, Donald Trump has got the facts wildly wrong.

The idea that Donald Trump is trying to articulate is that California isn’t really in drought, but is only experiencing water restrictions because of environmental regulations designed to protect a fish three inches long. That’s hogwash.

First of all, the species that are threatened by excessive pumping of water out of California’s rivers to create artificial farms out of desert landscapes are multiple. Some of them are three inch fish, but others are much bigger, including orcas and chinook salmon. Chinook salmon are not three-inch fish. As a National Marine Fisheries Service report explaining the problem details, “Chinook salmon are easily the largest of any salmon, with adults often exceeding 40 pounds.” The survival of chinook salmon is not just an environmental issue, either. It’s also an economic issue. Unsustainable exploitation of river water by desert farmers harms the substantial fishing economy of California. For many years before the California drought, California fishermen and their environmentalist allies have been asking for a more balanced, sustainable approach to the use of river water in the state.

The California drought is a separate issue. California water shortages are not being caused by environmental regulations there. What’s causing the water shortages there is the prolonged, extremely serious drought in the state.

The Drought Monitor Update from four days ago clearly shows that yes, California is in the most grave category of drought emergency.

NOAA Drought Monitor California Donald Trump

The drought in California isn’t merely real. It’s categorized as “exceptional”.

There’s no doubt about it. California is in drought. Environmentalists didn’t cause it.

What’s more, climatologists’ models predict that extreme droughts like this will be made more common by anthropogenic climate change. So, if any human beings are to blame for the California drought, it isn’t environmentalists, but the fossil fuels industry that Donald Trump wants to make even bigger than it is now.

The science on this is extremely well established, but Donald Trump simply refuses to acknowledge it, because the science doesn’t fit with his ideology, his economic self-interest as an establishment billionaire, and his experience as a coddled child of privilege who never had to tolerate anyone telling him that he’s wrong. Donald Trump believes that if he just keeps on saying that the California drought doesn’t exist, then it really won’t exist. Trump believes that if he keeps saying that climate change isn’t real, then it really won’t be real. These are the beliefs of a child.

Unfortunately, they also appear to be the beliefs of the overwhelming majority of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Just a few days ago, the House of Representatives was debating an energy authorization bill, H.R. 5055. During this debate, Republican Representative Paul Gosar instroduced amendment 1117 to the bill, which was written to prohibit anyone in the government from considering three specific documents of scientific analysis. These documents were created by scientists to analyze the impacts of climate change on the United States. They were based on hard data and years of careful research. This scientific work is referred to with the term “social cost of carbon” in political circles, because it provides concrete grounds for guidance, rather than ideological guesswork, for engineers, land managers, developers, and others, on how to mitigate for the many impacts of climate change already being experienced in the United States.

Paul Gosar doesn’t have any scientific data that’s superior in scope or quality to that of the scientific analysis he sought to censor with his legislative amendment. He simply wants the federal government to be in the dark when it comes to the impacts of climate change. This attitude is reckless. It’s like telling farmers that they won’t be allowed watch weather reports.

Paul Gosar has an extremely conservative ideology, funded heavily by the fossil fuels industry, that makes him not want to believe that climate change is real. So, Representative Gosar has simply chosen to ignore all scientific research that contradicts his ideology and the economic interests of his funders. Like Donald Trump, Paul Gosar believes that if he can silence all the scientific voices warning of climate change, then climate change will cease to exist. Like Donald Trump, Paul Gosar has the beliefs of a child.

The trouble we’re in as a nation is that the U.S. Congress appears to be filled with politicians who share the childish beliefs of Donald Trump and Paul Gosar.

230 Republican members of the House of Representatives voted last week to approve Paul Gosar’s amendment to censor scientific analysis of climate change. They don’t want to believe that climate change is real, so they’re trying to silence scientists who have done research in the field. They’re hoping that if scientific research into climate change isn’t seen, then climate change won’t be real.

These infantile censors of science in the House of Representatives are listed below:

Ralph Abraham
Robert Aderholt
Rick Allen
Justin Amash
Mark Amodei
Brian Babin
Lou Barletta
Andy Barr
Joe Barton
Dan Benishek
Gus Bilirakis
Mike Bishop
Rob Bishop
Diane Black
Marsha Blackburn
Rod Blum
Mike Bost
Charles Boustany
Kevin Brady
David Brat
Jim Bridenstine
Mo Brooks
Susan Brooks
Vern Buchanan
Ken Buck
Larry Bucshon
Michael Burgess
Bradley Byrne
Ken Calvert
John Carter
Buddy Carter
Steve Chabot
Jason Chaffetz
Curt Clawson
Mike Coffman
Tom Cole
Doug Collins
Chris Collins
Barbara Comstock
Michael Conaway
Paul Cook
Kevin Cramer
Rick Crawford
Ander Crenshaw
John Culberson
Rodney Davis
Jeff Denham
Scott DesJarlais
Mario Diaz-Balart
Dan Donovan
John Duncan
Jeff Duncan
Renee Ellmers
Tom Emmer
Blake Farenthold
Michael Fitzpatrick
Chuck Fleischmann
John Fleming
Bill Flores
Randy Forbes
Jeff Fortenberry
Virginia Foxx
Trent Franks
Rodney Frelinghuysen
Scott Garrett
Bob Gibbs
Louie Gohmert
Bob Goodlatte
Paul Gosar
Trey Gowdy
Tom Graves
Garret Graves
Sam Graves
Morgan Griffith
Glenn Grothman
Frank Guinta
Brett Guthrie
Cresent Hardy
Gregg Harper
Andy Harris
Vicky Hartzler
Joe Heck
Jeb Hensarling
Jody Hice
French Hill
George Holding
Richard Hudson
Tim Huelskamp
Bill Huizenga
Randy Hultgren
Duncan Hunter
Will Hurd
Robert Hurt
Darrel Issa
Lynn Jenkins
Bill Johnson
Sam Johnson
Dave Jolly
Walter Jones
Jim Jordan
David Joyce
Trent Kelly
Mike Kelly
Peter King
Steve King
Adam Kinzinger
John Kline
Steve Knight
Raul Labrador
Darin LaHood
Doug LaMalfa
Leonard Lance
Bob Latta
Frank LoBiondo
Billy Long
Barry Loudermilk
Mia Love
Frank Lucas
Blaine Luetkemeyer
Cynthia Lummis
Tom MacArthur
Kenny Marchant
Tom Marino
Thomas Massie
Kevin McCarthy
Michael McCaul
Tom McClintock
David McKinley
Cathy McMorris Rodgers
Martha McSally
Mark Meadows
Patrick Meehan
Luke Messer
John Mica
Jeff Miller
Candice Miller
John Moolenaar
Alex Mooney
Markwayne Mullin
Mick Mulvaney
Tim Murphy
Randy Neugebauer
Dan Newhouse
Kristi Noem
Rich Nugent
Devin Nunes
Peter Olson
Steven Palazzo
Gary Palmer
Erik Paulsen
Steve Pearce
Scott Perry
Robert Pittenger
Joe Pitts
Ted Poe
Bruce Poliquin
Mike Pompeo
Bill Posey
Tom Price
John Ratcliffe
Tom Reed
Reichert
Renacci
Reid Ribble
Tom Rice
Scott Rigell
Marth Roby
Phil Roe
Mike Rogers
Hal Rogers
Dana Rohrabacher
Todd Rokita
Thomas Rooney
Peter Roskam
Dennis Ross
Keith Rothfus
David Rouzer
Ed Royce
Steve Russell
Matt Salmon
Mark Sanford
Steve Scalise
David Schweikert
Austin Scott
Jim Sensenbrenner
Pete Sessions
John Shimkus
Bill Shuster
Mike Simpson
Jason Smith
Adrian Smith
Chris Smith
Lamar Smith
Chris Stewart
Steve Stivers
Marlin Stutzman
Glenn Thompson
Mac Thornberry
Pat Tiberi
Scott Tipton
Dave Trott
Michael Turner
Fred Upton
David Valadao
Ann Wagner
Tim Walberg
Greg Walden
Mark Walker
Jackie Walorski
Mimi Walters
Randy Weber
Daniel Webster
Brad Wenstrup
Bruce Westerman
Lynn Westmoreland
Ed Whitfield
Roger Williams
Joe Wilson
Rob Wittman
Steve Womack
Rob Woodall
Kevin Yoder
Ted Yoho
David Young
Todd Young
Don Young
Lee Zeldin
Ryan Zinke


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