The president’s State of the Union address clocked in at 82 minutes, the third-longest in U. S. history. But not once did he mention climate change.
President Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night clocked in at 82 minutes, the third-longest in U. S. history. In it, Trump called for bipartisan unity while vowing to continue hardline policies on immigration and to oppose abortion. Not once did he mention climate change — an issue that many Democrats in Congress and even inTrump’s own government believe poses a dire threat to the United States.
Trump said that the U. S. economy is the “hottest” anywhere in the world, speaking metaphorically. He did not mention that the environment is also as hot as it’s ever been, with 2018 ranked as 4th warmest year since records began in 1880, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. Nor did he mention the U. S. Intelligence Community’s annual “Worldwide Threat Assessment” report’s warning that climate change remains a national security threat.
In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats warned that climate change remains a national security threat.
“How can a president of the United States give a State of the Union speech and not mention — not one word about climate change?” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wondered in his response to Trump’s address . “When the leading climate scientists in the world tell us that climate change is real, that climate change is caused by human activity, and that climate change is already causing devastating harm.”
The closest Trump came to referencing the environment was in his exaggerated claim that his administration has “unleashed a revolution in American energy.
