Trump Isn't A Climate Change Denier. He's Much Worse.
Money Blinds Him From The Harm He Knows He's Causing
In signing an executive order to withdraw the USA from the Paris Climate Agreement, Donald Trump exposed himself as anything but a climate change denier.
Twisting himself into confused knots yet again, Trump babbled in his trademark ‘I so don’t sound like a world leader’ style:
“You know, China. They use a lot of dirty energy, but they produce a lot of energy. When that stuff goes up in the air, you know, it doesn’t stay there.
“It’s not like you have a wall. We love walls that way. Not like you have a wall around and it just doesn’t. It floats into the US after three-and-a-half to five-and-a-half days, it floats across the oceans, and it comes right over your neighbourhood.
“So they all say we have to fight for cleaner air, but the other dirty air is dropping all over us. So what the hell are they talking about? Unless everybody does it. It just doesn’t work.”
That’s right Donald - fossil fuels create harmful particles that travel through our atmosphere, and they affect countries far, far away.
So are you using fossil fuels as a weapon now?
Don’t Credit Trump With Stupidity
One thing that infuriates me about all the coverage given to Trump and his views on the climate crisis, is that he is always described as a ‘climate change denier’.
That paints him as a member of the crazy gang, the ones who have done their “own research” and ignored the fact that 99.9% of climate scientists (a real profession) say the world is warming at a dangerously rapid pace, and humans are to blame.
But he’s not one of the tinfoil hat brigade. He’s far worse than that.
Trump knows that climate change is real. He is aware of the damage it is doing. He will no doubt be aware of the vast number of lives it is claiming, and the millions of people it is displacing.
But he wants the fossil fuel money. So screw you, screw your family, and screw your future.
How Do We Know That Trump Knows?
Trump knows. His speech highlighted at the top of this article exposes that. But as President last time around, he was furnished with plenty of official information to put him in the picture.
Back in 2019, when Trump was ‘in charge,’ the American military conducted a report into threats facing its bases in the Pacific.
Impacts of Changing Climate on Pacific Island-based Defense Installations was released by the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) in October 2019. It stated:
“Department of Defense (DoD) installations on Pacific islands face multiple climate-related threats, including tropical cyclones, droughts, floods, and increased rates of sea-level rise.
“Understanding and preparing for how future climate change may contribute to changes in the likelihood of extreme events, loss of coastal land including protective landforms, and changes in freshwater resources are significant challenges facing DoD planners.”
So Why Does He Claim To Be The Equivalent of a Flat Earther?
Trump needed the fossil fuel money for two reasons: Firstly, it has always been one of the major sources of income for his campaigning.
In fact, the oil and gas industry gave a huge $24 million in campaign contributions to members of the U.S. House and Senate, sworn in at the start of 2025, according to a Yale Climate Connections review of campaign donations.
The report shows that the industry gave an additional $2 million to Trump’s own campaign, bringing total spending on winning candidates to more than $26 million.
However, these donations only show part of the story. The Yale review reveals:
“Most of the money in politics isn’t given to specific candidates. Rather, it goes to political action committees, known as PACs, and political party committees. This is called outside spending.
“In the 2024 election cycle, the oil and gas industry funneled over $151 million to into the election via this additional spending, according to Open Secrets.
“The industry gave $67 million to candidates (including those who didn’t win), bringing the total to a staggering $219,079,058 spent by the oil and gas industry to influence the 2024 election.
“The vast majority of this money went to Republicans, including nearly $23 million of oil and gas money donated to Donald Trump’s campaign and PACs supporting him.”
The second reason Trump needs the dirty fuel cash is to fund his policies. The wealth of the US economy was always built on oil, and Trump is a dinosaur so can’t fathom how a green economy could afford him the same financial benefits.
He wants to deliver a healthy economy. He only knows the old ways. So that’s where we are, however damaging it is for all our futures.
Calling The Wrong Emergency
It remains to be seen if Trump causes much damage and delay to global efforts to slow down the climate and nature emergencies.
With renewables being the cheapest source of energy today, and with popular support growing in the country for wind and solar, it was hoped that Trump's efforts to double down on oil and gas might be weakened.
However, by declaring a ‘national energy emergency’ on his first day in office, to permit more oil and gas licenses, roll back environmental protections and withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, it seems that filthy money has won the day again.
Yes filthy money elected Trump. Trump is impotent at rolling back climate change actions. That horse had left the barn with America the greatest producer of fossil fuels and no interest in drilling more. Leases are going unsold. California car exhaust standards set the bar for the nation. And meeting the Paris Accord is making corporations money. Applications to work at Frito Lay are up because their truck fleet are more efficient and sustainable making Mim and Dad drivers looking good. The stock market rose with Trump and corporate America got a return on their political donations. Keep combating climate change locally where it counts.
Where will all the hot air rising in Washington go? Where’s the thermal inversion when needed. Smoke on the water?