Trump said global warming needs to “come back fast,” and um, what?
President Donald Trump is a frequent and vocal climate change denier. From repeatedly calling global warming a “hoax” to withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, the president has taken an aggressively anti-science stance. And in a recent tweet, Trump dismissed scientific evidence yet again, joking that global warming needs to “come back fast” in light of cold winter weather.
Weather forecasts are predicting a brutal cold snap this week, with weather.com reporting that the Midwest will experience its coldest temperatures in more than 20 years. So, true to form, the president took to Twitter on January 28th to suggest (erroneously) that these subzero temperatures were a sign that global warming is not a problem (and he even managed to misspell “warming”).
"In the beautiful Midwest, windchill temperatures are reaching minus 60 degrees, the coldest ever recorded," he tweeted. "In coming days, expected to get even colder. People can’t last outside even for minutes. What the hell is going on with Global Waming? [sic] Please come back fast, we need you!"
https://twitter.com/udfredirect/status/1090074254010404864
Twitter users were quick to point out the flaws in Trump’s logic.
The “It’s cold so global warming isn’t real!” people are double stupid because they’re never like “It’s 50 degrees in January! I have to rethink everything!” Their fake logic only goes one way.
— Josh Gondelman (@joshgondelman) January 29, 2019
Trump's joking about how cold temperatures in the midwest somehow disprove global warming is a reflection of his stunning ignorance. A wave of cold weather is different than long term climate change for which the evidence is utterly overwhelming — and should be terrifying.
— Tony Schwartz (@tonyschwartz) January 29, 2019
In all fairness I can’t expect a man who doesn’t know how to close an umbrella to understand global warming.
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) January 29, 2019
Others just had jokes.
Not sure about Global WAMING, but Global Warming is a REAL phenomenon, and has to do with climate change, NOT day-to-day weather. I know fourth graders who can express themselves more intelligently than you!
— Ed Beebout (@EdwardBeebout) January 29, 2019
Nobody knows what is going on with Global “Waming,” but there are plenty of educated people (unlike you) who understand what Global “Warming” is…#globalwaming pic.twitter.com/VMTL1uhoer
— Scott Brown (@Sdbrown9) January 29, 2019
https://twitter.com/udfredirect/status/1090127572002689024
Even the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stepped in to fact-check Trump.
Winter storms don't prove that global warming isn't happening. https://t.co/LDqfq4JH9n pic.twitter.com/ndmLD637Cb
— NOAA Climate.gov (@NOAAClimate) January 29, 2019
As NOAA points out in a blog post, when scientists refer to “global warming,” they simply mean that Earth’s average temperature is increasing—not that every single day will be hotter than the last.
Some scientists even believe that cold snaps like the one the U.S. is currently experiencing are actually caused by global warming. According to CBS News, as warm air travels north, it can displace the polar vortex (an area of cold air around the North Pole), sending the frigid air south. And the Associated Press notes that these cold snaps have become more common in recent years. While not every scientist agrees that they are caused by climate change, Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center, told the AP in an email that several research papers have found evidence of the connection.
The bottom line is that climate change is a very real threat, and it would be great if the president of the United States acknowledged that instead of just making ill-informed jokes.
