Does the president now believe in climate change? It’s a question his aides have taken pains to avoid.<\/b>
\nDoes he or doesn’t he? Believe in climate change, that is.
You’d think that would be an easy enough question the day after President Donald Trump announced he was pulling the U. S. out of the landmark global accord aimed at combatting global warming.
But don’t bother asking at the White House.
\u00ab\u00a0I have not had an opportunity to have that discussion\u00a0\u00bb with the president, responded Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Friday.
\u00ab\u00a0You should ask him that, \u00a0\u00bb offered White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway.
Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt dodged the question, too.
The president also ignored it during an unrelated bill-signing.
It’s quite a reversal for Trump, who spent years publicly bashing the idea of global warming as a \u00ab\u00a0hoax\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0total con job\u00a0\u00bb in books, interviews and tweets. He openly challenged the scientific consensus that the climate is changing and man-made carbon emissions are largely to blame.
\u00ab\u00a0Global warming is an expensive hoax!\u00a0\u00bb he tweeted in 2014.
But Trump has been largely silent on the issue since his election last fall. On Thursday, he made scarce mention of it in his lengthy remarks announcing America’s exit from the Paris accord. Instead, he framed his decision as based on economics.
Here’s what he’s said before:
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TRUMP’S TWEETS:
The president’s twitter feed once was filled with references to \u00ab\u00a0so-called\u00a0\u00bb global warming being a \u00ab\u00a0total con job\u00a0\u00bb based on \u00ab\u00a0faulty science and manipulated data.\u00a0\u00bb
An Associated Press search of his twitter archives revealed at least 90 instances in which he has referred to \u00ab\u00a0global warming\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0climate change\u00a0\u00bb since 2011. In nearly every instance, he expressed skepticism or mockery.
\u00ab\u00a0This very expensive GLOBAL WARMING bulls— has got to stop, \u00a0\u00bb he wrote in January 2014, spelling out the vulgarity.
Often the president has pointed to cold weather as evidence the climate scientists are wrong.
\u00ab\u00a0It’s 46 (really cold) and snowing in New York on Memorial Day \u2014 tell the so-called \u00ab\u00a0scientists\u00a0\u00bb that we want global warming right now!\u00a0\u00bb he wrote in May 2013 \u2014 one of several instances in which he said that warming would be welcome.
\u00ab\u00a0Where the hell is global warming when you need it?\u00a0\u00bb he asked in January 2015.
The same message was echoed in the president’s books.
In \u00ab\u00a0Great Again: How to Fix Our Crippled America, \u00a0\u00bb Trump made a reference to \u00ab\u00a0the mistaken belief that global climate change is being caused by carbon emissions.\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0If you don’t buy that \u2014 and I don’t \u2014 then what we have is really just an expensive way of making the tree-huggers feel good about themselves, \u00a0\u00bb he wrote.
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CANDIDATE AND SKEPTIC:
\u00ab\u00a0I’m not a believer in man-made global warming, \u00a0\u00bb Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in September 2015, after launching his bid for the White House. He bemoaned the fact that the U. S. was investing money and doing things \u00ab\u00a0to solve a problem that I don’t think in any major fashion exists.\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0I am not a believer, \u00a0\u00bb he added, \u00ab\u00a0Unless somebody can prove something to me … I am not a believer and we have much bigger problems.\u00a0\u00bb
By March 2016, the president appeared to allow that the climate was changing \u2014 but continued to doubt humans were to blame.
\u00ab\u00a0I think there’s a change in weather. I am not a great believer in man-made climate change. I’m not a great believer, \u00a0\u00bb he told The Washington Post. \u00ab\u00a0There is certainly a change in weather, \u00a0\u00bb he said.
Then-campaign manager, Conway explained Trump’s view this way: \u00ab\u00a0He believes that global warming is naturally occurring. That there are shifts naturally occurring.\u00a0\u00bb
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EVOLVING PRESIDENT:
In an interview with The New York Times in November, after the election, Trump was asked repeatedly whether he intended to leave the Paris accord and appeared to have a new open-mindedness.
\u00ab\u00a0I’m looking at it very closely, \u00a0\u00bb Trump told the newspaper. \u00ab\u00a0I have an open mind to it. We’re going to look very carefully.\u00a0\u00bb
He went on to say that he thought \u00ab\u00a0there is some connectivity\u00a0\u00bb between human activity and the changing climate, but that, \u00ab\u00a0It depends on how much.\u00a0\u00bb
Asked about the comment several days later, Trump’s now-chief of staff Reince Priebus told Fox News that Trump \u00ab\u00a0has his default position, which is that most of it is a bunch of bunk.\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0But he’ll have an open mind and listen to people, \u00a0\u00bb he said.
Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

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