Trump delivers dumbest climate speech of all time

President Donald Trump has implemented a new rule in the White House: No one is allowed to say “coal.”

”I have a little standing order in the White House: Never use the word coal,” Trump said Tuesday in a speech to the United Nationals General Assembly. “Only use the words: Clean, beautiful coal. Sounds much better, doesn't it?”

“Clean, beautiful coal” does sound much better than “coal.” Just like “healthy, patriotic smog” sounds much better than “smog.” And “safe, glistening pools of American abundance” sounds much better than “oil spills.”

But oil spills aren’t safe, smog isn’t healthy, and coal isn’t clean, no matter what Trump would like the world to believe. Fortunately, in his 10-minute tirade on Tuesday about how climate change is the “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” Trump didn’t say anything all that novel, intelligent, or convincing.

Mostly, Trump just regurgitated the same, tired, easily-debunked talking points he and the oil industry have been repeating for twenty years. It was so unoriginal it was actually kind of funny—in a sad, pathetic way.

Some highlights, and responses:

“We're getting rid of the falsely named renewables. By the way, they're a joke. They don't work. They're too expensive.”

Compared to what? Most renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuels. On average, solar is currently 41 percent cheaper than the lowest-cost fossil fuels for electricity generation. Offshore wind is 53 percent cheaper.

“You lose money, the governments have to subsidize [renewable energy]. You can't put them out without massive subsidies."

Again—compared to what? Because fossil fuels currently receive nine times as much government consumption subsidies as renewables. Global fossil fuel subsidies amounted to $620 billion in 2023, compared to $70 billion for renewables, according to the International Energy Agency.

“The executive director of the United Nations Environmental Program predicted that by the year 2000, climate change would cause a global catastrophe. He said that it will be irreversible as any nuclear holocaust would be. This is what they said at the United Nations. What happened?”

He was mostly right. Climate change is causing a global catastrophe and many of the impacts are irreversible. Mostafa K. Tolba’s prediction was not correct