To everyone’s surprise, Chris Wallace asked a
question about the climate crisis, the first in a presidential debate in 20
years.
Wallace
noted the wildfires that have ravaged the US west and challenged Donald Trump
over his environmental rollbacks. The president responded by saying he wants
“crystal clean water and air” and calls the Paris climate agreement a
“disaster.” Trump blamed the fires upon poor forest management (scientists have
made clear that rising temperatures are exacerbating wildfires)
Wallace,
incredibly, then pressed Trump twice on whether he accepts the reality of
climate science. Trump initially repeated his answer on wanting clean air and
water, before conceding greenhouse gases are having an impact “to an extent,
yes.”
Trump was
asked why, then, he rolled back Barack Obama’s clean power plan and he said
because it increased energy prices (it was never actually put into force so did
not do this). In a back and forth with Joe Biden, Trump then falsely claimed
that Democrats want to “take out the cows.
In
response, Biden promised to create “millions of good-paying jobs” in clean
energy and notes the huge financial damage caused by hurricanes and floods. “We
are in real trouble,” said the former vice president.
Goaded by
Trump over the Green New Deal, a plan put forward by left-wing Democrats, Biden
distanced himself from it. “I don’t support the Green New Deal,” Biden said. “I
support the Biden plan that I put forward.”
This
response will displease progressive climate activists but, overall, Biden had
far more to say on climate than Trump, who was unusually subdued, as if he has
conceded that anyone worried about global heating won’t be voting for him.
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