In news so absurd we couldn’t have possibly made it up, the “dumbest member of Congress” just questioned whether the U.S. might be able to stop climate change by altering the Earth’s orbit around the sun.
Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert made the comment during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing focused on combatting the effects of climate change. Claiming that a past director of NASA once told him that the orbits of the Earth and moon were changing, the House member from Texas asked Jennifer Eberlien, associate deputy chief of the National Forest System, if her organization was looking to space for answers on how to improve global warming issues here at home.
“I understand from what’s been testified to the Forest Service and the BLM [Bureau of Land Management], you want very much to work on the issue of climate change,” Gohmert began, via Gizmodo. “Is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM can do to change the course of the moon’s orbit or the Earth’s orbit around the sun? Obviously, they would have profound effects on our climate.”
Eberlien seemed a bit stunned at the question, telling Gohmert she’d have to follow up with him regarding his orbital concerns. To be fair, she was probably trying to figure out if the Congressman was just joking because really, how can anyone be that obtuse? Gohmert responded to her answer saying, “Well, if you figure out a way that you in the Forest Service can make that change, I’d like to know.”
ORBITS: Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) asks whether the Forest Service or the BLM can alter the orbit of the moon or the Earth in order to fight climate change during a House Natural Resources hearing pic.twitter.com/yYiOyi2cMZ
— Forbes (@Forbes) June 8, 2021
Now, in all likelihood, Gohmert probably doesn’t care that much about climate change and wanted to make some point about global warming being a ridiculous theory by posing his own, equally implausible solution. After all, this is the guy whose tooth fell out during a press conference and said his face mask gave him COVID — though he rarely wore it. He’s not the sharpest tool in the GOP’s shed.
Still, some people will no doubt latch onto this ridiculous idea and run with it on Reddit forums and QAnon pages so let’s set the record straight: Global warming is an absolutely real crisis that humanity is fueling far more than any changes happening to the moon’s gravitational orbit. In fact, the whole concept of Earth’s orbit changes — we circle the sun in different ways over the course of thousands of years, and sometimes we “wobble” on our axis — is something NASA has studied, written about, and given a name. They’re also fairly clear on why none of these changes to Earth’s orbit are the cause of global warming.
And yet, Gohmert doubled down on Twitter, slamming people for conflating the abbreviation for the Bureau of Land Management with the Black Lives Matter movement in an effort to make him look even more ridiculous.
Exceedingly devious how you hid the context with an ellipses in your tweet. The hearing was about the BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT & climate change.
BLM stands for the BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT. #FakeNews https://t.co/WyIio5BQJM
— Louie Gohmert (@replouiegohmert) June 9, 2021
As if the question in its original context didn’t do that job already. But don’t worry, Twitter had the appropriate response to Gohmert’s nonsensical answer to the global warming problem.
I can help. I am Adjunct Professor at Trump Univ AST Dept of Astrophysics & Spacey Things. Rep Louie Gohmert has revealed perhaps a bit too much about altering the moon's orbit. This classified mission is run by Space Force & involves Italian satellites & Jewish Space Based laser pic.twitter.com/xKd5dIfS7f
— Tomi T Ahonen Moved to Post, Spoutible & Mastodon (@tomiahonen) June 9, 2021
https://twitter.com/BetaRayBob1/status/1402627765682290691
Me, an idiot: They can't shock me anymore.
Louie Gohmert: Can the forest service perhaps lasso the moon and change its orbit?pic.twitter.com/EZ7FNdACrT
— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) June 9, 2021
Louie Gohmert is the Eric Trump of Congress https://t.co/p0gj0zAyr3
— Tomi T Ahonen Moved to Post, Spoutible & Mastodon (@tomiahonen) June 9, 2021
stop being evasive, ma’am. yes or no: can park rangers change the laws of time and space or can’t they https://t.co/sOHiahqDT7
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) June 9, 2021