If Donald Trump’s supporters cared at all about consistency, he wouldn’t have made it past the first debates. Still, here’s more damning evidence that the presumptive GOP presidential nominee will say anything as long as it makes people like him. A recently unearthed letter proves that Trump was very much a believer in man-made climate change before he started calling it a “hoax” on the campaign trail.
Exhibit A is an ad that ran in the New York Times back in 2009. The full-page ad is an open letter calling for President Barack Obama and members of Congress to push for legislation that would slow global climate change. The ad ran in the days before a summit in Copenhagen where world leaders discussed climate change. The letter was signed by business leaders including Trump and his two sons:
“We support your effort to ensure meaningful and effective measures to control climate change, an immediate challenge facing the United States and the world today. Please don’t postpone the Earth. If we fail to act now, it is scientifically irrefutable that there will be catastrophic and irreversible consequences for humanity and our planet.”
Though his signature graces the letter plain as day, Trump in 2016 is singing a remarkably different tune. He’s said that he’s “not a big believer in man-made climate change” and vowed to work against the Paris Agreement on climate change, even though you can draw a direct line from these 2009 talks and that 2015 deal.
That’s not to say Trump’s switch came after he began running for president. He’s posted some absolutely insane stuff to his Twitter on the subject starting all the way back in 2012. Like this classic tactic of confusing “weather” and “climate”:
It's really cold outside, they are calling it a major freeze, weeks ahead of normal. Man, we could use a big fat dose of global warming!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2015
It’s snowing & freezing in NYC. What the hell ever happened to global warming?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2013
Or these slices of conspiracy nuttery:
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
Any and all weather events are used by the GLOBAL WARMING HOAXSTERS to justify higher taxes to save our planet! They don't believe it $$$$!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2014
Like Trump’s stance on every subject that he touches on except brown people, parsing out how he really feels is complicated. Maybe he was thinking of millennials back then.
(Via New York Times & Grist)