In an interview with Piers Morgan, President Donald Trump displayed a frightening lack of understanding of climate change, climate science, or how to maintain a healthy environment.
“There is a cooling, and there’s a heating. I mean, look, it used to not be climate change, it used to be global warming. That wasn’t working too well because it was getting too cold all over the place” he said, contrasting his own agencies, which called 2017 one of the hottest on record.
ICYMI: 2017 was the third warmest year on record. It’s now been 41 years since we’ve had a colder than average year. @NCEINOAAclimate https://t.co/OkHapW5Uf0 pic.twitter.com/b6kWaXCIC8
NOAA Climate.gov (@NOAAClimate) January 20, 2018
The president also said, in defending his climate position, the polar icecaps “were going to be gone by now, but now they’re setting records. They’re at a record level.” And in reciting a line popular on the campaign trail, Trump said he believes in clean air. “I believe in crystal-clear, beautiful I believe in just having good cleanliness in all. Now, with that being said, if somebody said go back into the Paris accord, it would have to be a completely different deal because we had a horrible deal.”
If you must, watch the interview below. But don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Trump is not expected to touch on climate change in tomorrow’s State of the Union address. For that, we might be grateful.