This Earth Week, as Donald Trump continues to downplay the threat of climate change and promises to roll back the progress President Biden has made on protecting our planet, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Families are suffering through deadly wildfires, horrific flooding, and record-high temperatures, but Donald Trump said he didn’t ‘think science knows’ if climate change is even real. As president, Trump put his dangerous climate denialism into action, cozying up to his Big Oil and Gas friends while dismantling key protections that keep Americans safe. While President Biden is tackling the climate crisis head-on, making record investments in clean jobs and a sustainable future, Trump has proven he can’t be trusted to lead — and the American people will reject his extremism this November.”

As wildfires devastated California, Donald Trump ignored experts and said he didn’t “think science knows” if the threat of climate change was real.

NPR: “‘I Don’t Think Science Knows’: Visiting Fires, Trump Denies Climate Change”

“With wildfires devastating the West and a hurricane bearing down on the Gulf Coast, President Trump, who has for years mocked and denied the reality of climate change, was briefed on Monday on the status of fires in California.

“Still, even as more than two dozen wildfires roared across California alone, Trump declined to acknowledge the role climate change likely played in fueling the flames.”

CBS News: “Trump says ‘I don’t think science knows’ about climate”

“In California, [Trump] questioned climate change, and blamed the fires on poor forest management even though many forests in California are federally managed. 

“California National Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot disagreed that the rapidly spreading wildfires could entirely be blamed on forest management. He told Mr. Trump, ‘We want to work with you to really recognize the changing climate, and what it means to our forests.’ Crowfoot warned, ‘If we ignore that science, and sort of put our head in the sand, and think it’s all about vegetation management, we’re not going to succeed together protecting Californians.’

“[Trump] claimed the climate would ‘start getting cooler.’

“‘I wish science agreed with you,’ Crowfoot replied. 

“‘I don’t think science knows,’ [Trump] responded.”

Donald Trump spent every single year in office gutting and undermining environmental protections and regulations.

New York Times: “Over four years, the Trump administration dismantled major climate policies and rolled back many more rules governing clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals.”

Associated Press: “[Trump] rolled back dozens of environmental rules he considered overly burdensome on businesses. Many of the regulations were designed to protect the environment and public health, but were viewed by the Trump administration as costly and unnecessary.”

Politico: “Trump is once again seeking deep and unrealistic cuts to most federal agency budgets … The EPA’s budget would see a nearly 27 percent chop.”

Slate: “In Trump’s budget, which was also released today, the discretionary budget for the … [EPA] is cut by $2.8 billion.”

Rolling Stone: “[Trump] dismissed the idea that climate change is anything to worry about. ‘The oceans are going to rise 1/100 th of an inch in the next 300 years and it’s going to kill everybody,’ he said sarcastically. ‘It’s going create more oceanfront property, that’s what it’s going to do.’”

Trump fired the scientist responsible for assessing climate change and repeatedly contradicted his own administration’s findings about the threat of climate change.

Axios: “Trump says he doesn’t believe his administration’s climate report”

New York Times: “Trump Administration’s Strategy On Climate: Try To Bury Its Own Scientific Report”

New York Times: “Trump Administration Removes Scientist in Charge of Assessing Climate Change”

“The White House has removed the scientist responsible for the National Climate Assessment, the federal government’s premier contribution to climate knowledge and the foundation for regulations to combat global warming, in what critics interpreted as the latest sign that the Trump administration intends to use its remaining months in office to continue impeding climate science and policy.”

Associated Press: “Government climate report contradicts Trump, warns of worsening US disasters”

Trump wants to repeal President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act — the most significant action on clean energy and climate change in the nation’s history.

Financial Times: “Donald Trump would gut Joe Biden’s landmark IRA climate law if elected”

“Donald Trump is planning to gut US President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law, increase investment in fossil fuels and roll back regulations aimed at accelerating the transition to electric vehicles if he is elected next year. … The Inflation Reduction Act — the centrepiece of Biden’s economic strategy, with $369bn in tax breaks and subsidies for clean energy — would be in Trump’s crosshairs.”

CNBC: “The [Inflation Reduction Act], which President Joe Biden signed into law in August, is the most aggressive climate investment ever taken by Congress and is expected to slash the country’s planet-warming carbon emissions by about 40% this decade and move the country toward a net-zero economy by 2050.”

Bloomberg: “Between last August, when President Joe Biden’s  landmark climate bill became law, and the end of January, companies have announced more than 100,000 clean energy jobs in the US, according to an analysis released Monday by the nonprofit advocacy group Climate Power.”

Trump is also vowing to once again pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement, which President Biden rejoined after Trump damaged international trust in the U.S. and abdicated America’s role as a global leader in addressing climate change.

Trump: “We will again get out of Paris. … So, get those proposals ready now, because we are going to put thousands of Americans to work building the power plants, pipelines, grids, ports, refineries, and shipping terminals of tomorrow.”

NPR: “In one of his first acts in the Oval Office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to have the United States rejoin the Paris climate agreement, the largest international effort to curb global warming. … Biden’s move to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement signals to the world that the U.S. is serious about addressing climate change again, and that it will have a seat at the table when world leaders meet in Glasgow to make new climate pledges later this year.”

Politico: “The U.S. under former President Donald Trump backslid in terms of international climate leadership, essentially standing still on carbon emissions when the world drastically needed to ramp up its climate-fighting efforts.”

Reuters: “With Trump’s action, the United States will walk away from nearly every other nation in the world on one of the pressing global issues of the 21st century.”

Vox: “Trump pulling out of the Paris climate agreement is great news … for China”

Forbes: “U.S. Withdraws From Paris Accord, Ceding Leadership To China.”

Trump is spreading climate change denialism to help his wealthy Big Oil and Gas friends.

Washington Post: “Trump rails against wind energy in fundraising pitch to oil executives”

“Former president Donald Trump repeatedly ranted about wind power during a fundraising dinner with oil and gas industry executives last week, claiming that the renewable-energy source is unreliable, unattractive and bad for the environment.

“‘I hate wind,’ Trump told the executives over a meal of chopped steak at his Mar-a-Lago Club and resort in Florida.

“Trump’s comments reveal how he is wooing potential donors with his long-standing hostility to wind farms and pledges to halt this form of renewable energy if he returns to office. His stance poses a potential threat to one of the linchpins of America’s clean-energy transition, according to more than a dozen Trump allies, energy experts and offshore wind industry officials.”

Bloomberg: “Donald Trump is the oil and gas industry’s undisputed top pick for the Republican presidential nomination as energy sector donors shower his candidacy with nearly 10 times the amount of money as they gave his challenger Nikki Haley.”