He claimed he had « the best environmental numbers ever » during this first term. That’s not true.
Two-thirds of the way through Thursday night’s presidential debate, CNN journalist Dana Bash finally asked the candidates how they would tackle a challenge that scientists say poses an existential threat to human civilization: climate change.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, former President Trump made a series of false claims about his first-term track record.
After he spent most of his two-minute response time returning to a previous debate topic, Bash prompted him to say something about global warming. Trump responded that he wants “absolutely immaculate clean water” and “absolutely clean air.”
“We were using all forms of energy, all forms — everything,” he said, referring to his first term. “And yet, during my four years, I had the best environmental numbers ever, and my top environmental people gave me that statistic.”
Here’s the reality: U.S. air quality and water quality have been steadily improving for decades, thanks to federal laws such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. But scientists have found that polluted air and filthy water still afflict tens of millions of people with disease and premature death. And during his first term, Trump attempted to roll back limits on air and water contamination from power plants, trucks and other sources.
