The GOP MAGA Ex-President Continues to Be the Climate Change Denier-In-Chief

In 2022, Democrats in the US Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act allocating $369 billion in Energy Security and Climate Change programs designed to proactively help states with monies to mitigate against damage to land and structures from an increase in the number and severity of extreme weather events due to climate change, but GOP MAGA climate change denying politicians like the Florida Governor Ron DeSantis nixed accessing these funds in 2023.

These leaders like the GOP MAGA ex-president need to pay a political price for putting ideological purity ahead of prioritizing the needs of their own constituents.

Here’s 30-second spot by the democrat party’s US Senate nominee, US Rep. Debbie Murascal-Powell, entitled “Disaster.” Let’s not elect any more GOP MAGA climate change deniers like the ex-president to lead Americans out of this mess.

See: Watch 60 Minutes: Florida whistleblowers on insurance

The former republican party US Rep. David Jolly of Florida recommends steps that the US Congress can take to address this issue…

As per the October 1, 2024 Tampa Bay Times report by David Jolly, “Politicians must wake up to the economic realities of disasters:”

Excerpts:

“From hurricanes in the South to wildfires in the West, ice storms in the North, flooding in the Plains, tornados, droughts and other natural disasters, Congress always responds with billions of taxpayer dollars in financial relief to communities. As private markets fail, the government steps in. The financial repetition raises the question of whether this is the most efficient way to govern our responses. It seems not.”

“First, Congress should establish a national catastrophic fund to reinsure state catastrophic funds like Florida’s. I introduced such legislation as a young member of Congress, and it was endorsed by some of the most influential industry partners in home building and home ownership. Instead of governing by emergency bailouts, perhaps we should govern by sober actuarial science. Pre-fund against major losses, with shared responsibility and sound economics.”

“Such a two-tiered catastrophic fund approach would also unleash private insurers in high-risk regions of the country to enter the market, knowing they could privately underwrite most risks, including storm-related losses, but with the backstop of a state and federal catastrophic fund to absorb incidents of historic loss.”

“Second, we must make historic investments in climate resiliency for existing communities throughout our state. From undergrounding utilities to elevating properties, roadways and infrastructure, every day we delay is a gamble of immense economic risk. Many of the politicians we have elected throughout the state choose not to pay for smart investments that would address the increasing risk of catastrophe. The reality is we pay now or we pay later, and most of our politicians in Tallahassee and throughout Florida have failed us in responsibly governing.”

“There’s indeed a logical argument for families and businesses accepting risk for their own properties — it’s part of the American economic way. But in times of disaster, there’s also a strong argument for a nation taking care of its own. And we eventually do, time and time again.”

As per The October 1, 2024 Guardian report/ MSN by Dharna Moor, “News about Trump Continues To Deny Climate Crisis As He Visits Hurricane-Ravaged Georgia:”

Excerpts:

“As research finds that the deadly Hurricane Helene was greatly exacerbated by global warming, Donald Trump is continuing to deny the climate crisis and court donations from the industry most responsible for planetary heating. Environmentalists worry that he will also gut flood protections and climate policy if he wins November’s presidential election.”

“Hours before Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region Thursday night as a major category 4 hurricane, Trump said, baselessly, nuclear “warming”, not the climate crisis, is “the warming that you’re going to have to be very careful with”. The following day, he said the “little hurricane” was partially responsible for attendees leaving his rallies early.”

As the hurricane continued to ravage the region over the weekend, Trump dismissed global warming in a Saturday speech, and the following day referred to the climate crisis as “one of the great scams of all time”.

“Helene has now killed more than 150 (189) people across the region.”

“On Tuesday in Wisconsin, Trump incorrectly said that under the “green new scam”, Democrats “wanted to rip down all the buildings in Manhattan and they wanted to rebuild them without windows”. No environmental plans included removing windows from buildings, though Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act did include incentives for replacing windows with more energy-efficient models.”

“A preliminary study from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, published on Monday night, found that climate change caused 50% more rainfall during the hurricane in some parts of Georgia and the Carolinas.”

“It’s obscene that communities … are suffering and dying from the reality of the climate emergency while Donald Trump denies that it even exists,” said Brett Hartl, political director at the environmental non-profit Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund.”

“When the former president visited hurricane-ravaged Georgia on Monday, he said: “We’re here today to stand with complete solidarity with the people of Georgia and all those suffering in the terrible aftermath of Hurricane Helene.” But he is now headed back to the campaign trail to court donations from the fossil fuel industry, which accounts for over 75% of all planet-heating pollution and nearly 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions.”

“On (Oct. 2), Trump will attend two fundraisers in oil-rich Texas. First, he will hold an invite-only lunch in the Permian Basin, the world’s most productive oilfield. Later, he’ll reportedly hold a Houston cocktail party co-hosted by Jeff Hildebrand, who runs Hilcorp Oil and has been a major donor to the former president since 2017.”

“Last week, Trump’s vice-presidential pick, JD Vance, also attended two fundraisers thrown by oil industry executives in Dallas and Fort Worth, before being forced to cancel two Georgia fundraisers due to the hurricane.”

“The events come months after Trump reportedly offered a brazen “deal” to oil bosses, proposing that they give him $1bn for his White House re-election campaign and vowing that once back in office he would shred dozens of environmental regulations and prevent any new ones, sparking congressional investigations.”

Plans to gut emergency management

“Trump has also come under fire for his ties to Project 2025, a wide-ranging policy blueprint from which the former president has tried to distance himself, but which was written by allies and previous advisers of the former president. The plan leave US communities with far fewer resources to rebuild after climate disasters.”

“If enacted, the plan would end the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (Fema) federal flood insurance program – the primary source of federal flood insurance across the country – and replace it with private insurance plans “starting with the least risky areas currently identified by the program”.

“The playbook calls for an end to Fema’s disaster preparedness grants. And it calls to break up and privatize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The agency should “fully commercialize its forecasting operations and focus on providing data to private companies”, the plan says, referring to forecasts done by the National Weather Service, the country’s main source of weather forecasting which sends out warnings about disasters like Helene.”

“While roads, bridges and entire towns are being washed away, Trump and Project 2025 plan to gut Fema and roadblock every agency from confronting the climate crisis,” said the Center for Biological Diversity’s Hartl.”

“Project 2025 additionally calls for a “review” of the National Hurricane Center, a division of the National Weather Service which provides warnings, forecasts and analysis on dangerous storms.”