The Fox GOP debate melted down when the word “climate” was mentioned ( www.motherjones.com )

After the network showed a clip of a young conservative activist saying that climate change was the number one issue for young voters, Fox News moderator Martha MacCallum asked for a show of hands in response to her question, “Do you believe human behavior is causing climate change?”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis refused to participate, and then GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy declared, “I’m the only person on the stage who isn’t bought and paid for, so I can say this: The climate change agenda is a hoax.” A crowd full of Republicans started to boo.

Most of the Republicans on stage fell short of completely denying that climate change is caused by human activity. Ramaswamy, perhaps taking a page out of the Trump playbook of making the most outlandish comment possible, came right out and said it.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie shot back, “I’ve had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT.” Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley went so far as to venture, “Climate change is real.”

But moderator Bret Baier seized not on Ramaswamy’s blatant denial of the scientific consensus on climate change, but on his claim that he was the only candidate on the stage who was “not bought and paid for.” Baier took turns asking candidates, “Are you bought and paid for?” In classic Fox News fashion, a moment that could have provided insight into how far Republicans are willing to go to please young voters concerned about the environment devolved into senseless crosstalk. Still, for a party that has spent years ignoring or denying the biggest threat to our planet’s future, tonight’s responses were actually, almost, a little bit refreshing.

queermunist ,
@queermunist@lemmy.ml avatar

Lahaina is fucking gone

gruvn ,

And the far northern Canadian city of Yellowknife was just evacuated due to a wildfire.
The Arctic is literally on fire.

MF_COOM ,

Wait they’re already having debates?

ken27238 ,
@ken27238@lemmy.ml avatar

Gotta start weeding them out early.

HellAwaits ,

No, it’s all just a troll. The video was AI generated.

MF_COOM ,

It’s funny because you said the opposite of the true thing

Rapidcreek ,

Outright climate denial, avoidance of actually engaging the question, and zero mention of any policy Republicans might advance on climate.

TTH4P ,

Sounds about Right.

MorgoFett ,

They seem to have a bone to pick with China and any renewables manufactured there.

-This message was unironically posted from a Chinese made iPhone.

someguy3 ,

Well yeah you’d prefer to manufacture it in the US. Biden did that with the IRA. But that won’t stop Republicans from shouting C-c-China.

some_guy ,

TIL I have a nemesis on the Lemmyverse. Cross-eyed glance at someguy3.

Kichae ,

Just waiting for the 2nd amigo to show up so you guys can commence with the Mexican-Spider-Man-point-off.

Arotrios ,
@Arotrios@kbin.social avatar

You've got one on kbin too - @some_guy - a racist, bigoted fascist who likes to obsessively troll people and try to dox them.

It took me a moment to determine whether or not you were the same person, but unlike him, you can speak in complete sentences. As such, I thought I'd give you and @someguy3 a heads up that your good names are being dragged through the mud.

some_guy ,

That sucks. Thanks for the heads-up. I’m getting the impression that kbin might be a haven for shitheads. Is this accurate? (Asking the room in general.)

Arotrios , (edited )
@Arotrios@kbin.social avatar

Actually Kbin is great for tracking shitheads, which is why I'm able to call this guy out. Downvotes are visible on the activity tab of each post and comment, and this troll loves downvote spam - as you can see, he downvoted my comment above. He's the kind that will stalk your account and downvote everything to try and get your attention.

In general, 99.9% of the community here is awesome, and there's a lot of support between users here. It's actually the best experience I've had online in many years (and I've been online since the early 90s). One of my goals in calling out the trolls when they decide to target me is to keep the community enjoyable, as I'm quite certain I'm not their only intended victim.

hansl ,

It’s even funnier when considering they could suggest climate denying policies and still don’t.

They have no platform. Literally. Not even a regressive one.

barrbaric ,

Them having a platform is irrelevant. Trump is going to be the nominee, almost certainly even if he’s actually found guilty and ends up in prison (which I doubt will ever happen). This is all just a marketing exercise for the other candidates.

Also if they’re getting booed for denying climate change(?), then they’re better off just being silent on the campaign trail while continuing to support the oil sector once in office. Hell, they could even pivot to what the dems do by campaigning on it and doing nothing if their base starts to make it an issue.

hansl ,

I’m talking about the republicans overall. In the general they better have a platform but it seems this is going to be a repeat of 2020.

barrbaric ,

I mean yeah. All they need to do is say “woke” a bunch of times and they’ll be within spitting distance of the presidency.

letsgocrazy ,

That wouldn’t be a problem if so many far left people weren’t so insufferably woke. You can pretend it’s something made up by the right - but I’ve voted Labour all my life and I’m sick to death of wokeness.

sawne128 ,

Is this a bit?

yata ,

Could you define “wokeness”?

letsgocrazy ,

You know sometimes when you meet a Christian person, and you only find it out later? But they were really respectful, down to earth, helpful and generally seems like a good person and member of their community? The kind off person that volunteers to drop of a second hand sofa in their station wagon?

And you know how sometimes you get Christians that are constantly trying to use their religion to imply moral superiority? Forcing other people to do what they want? Having shameful public displays? Trying to erode the rights of women and gays? Screeching Karens who seem totally disconnected from anything even slightly spiritual?

Woke people for me are more like the social justice equivalent of the second care category.

HornyOnMain , (edited )

That wouldn’t be a problem if so many far left people weren’t so insufferably woke. You can pretend it’s something made up by the right - but I’ve voted Labour all my life and I’m sick to death of wokeness.

I wonder why so many trans people become communists when even the supporters of the left wing liberal parties openly oppose their existence 🤔

letsgocrazy ,

“oppose their existence”

Bullshit.

People who supper trans people 100% but yet think that self-id and trans people being in Ellen’s sports is problematic are being called “terfs” and “transphobes”

It’s just insanity.

People like you with absolutely no sense of perspective are doing more harm to trans people than anyone else.

UlyssesT ,

It’s just insanity.

Fuck off with that ableist “people that disagree with me are mentally ill and mental illness is for bad people” shit.

letsgocrazy ,

“ableist”

I mean there you are, you’ve just proved my point for me.

You just want to score moral outrage points because you’re a narcissist.

Conversations with people like you are never productive because you are addicted to the outrage / moral reinforcement mechanism you’ve built for yourself.

UlyssesT ,

you’ve just proved my point for me.

You had no point to make except you’re a bigoted piece of shit.

You just want to score moral outrage points

Outrage about outrage is still outrage, except you’re outraged that people care too much.

because you’re a narcissist.

You’re projecting, hard.

Conversations with people like you are never productive

Then shut the fuck up and stop replying, you bigoted piece of shit.

volcel_olive_oil ,
@volcel_olive_oil@hexbear.net avatar

[surreptitiously speaking into walkie-talkie]: “labour voter spotted. send in the wokes”

HornyOnMain ,

data-laughing

UlyssesT ,

That wouldn’t be a problem if so many far left people weren’t so insufferably woke.

Get that divisive nazbol shit out of here, bootlicker.

letsgocrazy ,

Ahh yes, calling people nazis and boot lickers isn’t divisive.

You people are the new Christian Right from the 90s.

UlyssesT ,

Ahh yes

reddit-logo style opener. I know everything after that is going to be smug centrist garbage.

calling people nazis and boot lickers isn’t divisive.

Fuck you. It’s stupid to not divide away from nazis and nazi enablers. Sit down with ten nazis, you just made a table of eleven nazis.

You people are the new Christian Right from the 90s.

And you’re the same kind of useless liberal that let Hitler take the chancellorship and thought it was a smart compromise.

GreenMario ,

Woke is this decades “a noun a verb and 9/11”

barrbaric ,

Not until Biden starts saying it (not that I’d rule this out lol, the man’s a segregationist).

p03locke ,
@p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

“My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” - Grover Norquist

That’s always been their platform. They just don’t say the quiet part out loud very often.

n0m4n ,

Republicans tell their base that they want to cut government, but always act otherwise. Controlling government purse strings is political power and economic power. There may be shell games played that transfers spending, but Republicans do not cut government, nor their power.

p03locke ,
@p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

They cut government, so that corporations can wield more control. Eliminate public schools over private. Deregulate so that corporations can pollute or scam as much as they want. Or just slash government to “prove” that government is worthless, so that they can slash government even more.

They don’t need government. They just need government to disappear. They believe in corporatocracy.

yata ,

They have endless amounts of bigotry, and that is all that matters to their voters. They know they don’t need a platform and Trump made them realise that they don’t even need to pretend to have a platform anymore.

rgb3x3 ,

The Republicans don’t offer any solution for anything. It’s nothing but denialism and pandering. How could anyone have heard these idiots speak and think they have anything to offer us as President?

beteljuice ,

The democrats are only marginally better in that they propose solutions. But they never follow through with them.

NattyNatty2x4 ,

I dislike dems as much as any neoliberal party, but their complete inaction is largely caused by GOP obstruction.

beteljuice ,

Thats just a convenient excuse they use to not do anything and keep their lobbiests happy.

Donjuanme ,

Was there any legitimate policy discussed at all? Besides platitudes and dog whistles?

duderium ,

Outright climate denial, avoidance of actually engaging the question, and zero mention of any policy Republicans might advance on climate.

Democrats will admit that climate change is real but either do nothing to stop it or keep making things worse (with Biden signing more oil drilling permits than Trump because he is a puppet of the bourgeoisie, like every elected official in the country).

TokenBoomer ,

Is this eco-fascism?

dulce_3t_decorum_3st ,
@dulce_3t_decorum_3st@lemmy.world avatar

Christo-eco-fascism

floofloof ,

Nothing eco about today’s GOP. It’s just regular fascism.

VHS ,
@VHS@hexbear.net avatar

Bought and paid for by the all-powerful Climate Science Industry?

Neato ,
@Neato@kbin.social avatar

Trump did the first smart thing in his life by deigning not to appear on this grudge match of delusional nobodies.

darq ,
@darq@kbin.social avatar

I think we have to rapidly come to terms with the fact that, politically, we are never going to adequately address climate change before it is too late. Conservatives will dig in their heels and slow the process to a near-standstill, and liberal democratic institutions will allow it to happen.

Climate change will be addressed by either a deus-ex-machina-like technological breakthrough, or by means outside of electoral politics.

AAA ,

Climate change will be addressed by either a deus-ex-machina-like technological breakthrough, or by means outside of electoral politics.

And we can rule out the technological breakthrough. It’s unlikely, although not impossible, to happen, BUT it’s absolutely impossible to be implented on a large enough scale to make change.

The same people who don’t want wind turbines or solar farms within eye sight of their backyard are suddenly to accept something completely new and not well understood or tested… on an unprecedented scale? Sign me up for a laugh.

edit: All those bastards advocating some world saving technology, just so they don’t need to change something now, ignore the fact that it’ll also be them who will prevent that technology - if it comes. NIMBYs stay NIMBYs.

breakfastburrito ,

Remember what happened when we got that miraculously effective covid vaccine? The unwillingness of people to take that simple, free action to help return to the normal they wanted back so badly really killed my hope for an end to climate change.

andrewta ,

Sadly in my opinion it is already too late. In my opinion we are already in the downward spiral. It’s like a roller coaster ride, once you are over that hump just hang on for the ride.

At this point we and our great great great great great great…. Grand children will pay the price.

We had the chance to fix it. It’s already way too late. Sorry just my opinion. Less pollution might make the fall out slightly less bad. So there is a point in stopping pollution, but as for reversing and stopping what’s going to happen? Yeah no sorry we are screwed.

sharkfucker420 ,

Really hoping for some deus ex machina shit rn and I think that says a lot

m4xie ,

If the tech breakthrough hurts oil companies profits, they will lobby and propagandize against it.

P1r4nha ,

Forget technology. Even scientists’ and engineers’ wettest dreams don’t consider technologies that capture even a tenth of the billions of tons of CO2 we release on a yearly basis.

If you look closely at the numbers it’s hard to understand that we engineer ourselves out of this mess.

Solar, wind etc. is all nice. Nuclear fisson, cold and hot fusion, okay. We’re far away of anything useful. Capital is just in the wrong hands.

darq ,
@darq@kbin.social avatar

Trust me, I realise... I mention a technological breakthrough not because I think it's likely or a good idea to expect, it's not and it isn't. It's a terribly stupid "solution" to bet on.

But no actual, plausible solution will actually be allowed. At least not until tremendous damage has already been done.

CIA_chatbot ,

Melted down just like the ice caps

HellAwaits ,

Ramaswamy just sounds like he’s trying too hard with the “not bought and paid for” like who the hell believes that?

Even if you weren’t bought and paid for, you’re just going to act like you are anyway if you were elected. Trump did the exact same thing.

Treczoks ,

Maybe Trump was not bought. But he had his own business interests - just think of the fortunes he made by making the Secret Service stay in his hotels - and, quite likely, he was and still is being owned by Putin.

NeedingvsGetting , (edited )

I want to point out that they denied climate change while in Milwaukee, which set a record high temperature of 101°F the day of the debate, with a heat index of 115°F.

The average high temperature over the past 30 years is 80°F

No wonder the audience started to boo.

gAlienLifeform ,
@gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world avatar

Also, Milwaukee’s Public Schools are all closed because of the heat today

TokenBoomer ,

That should be alarming.

ThunderWhiskers ,
@ThunderWhiskers@lemmy.world avatar

Wait, they closed the school because of heat? As a native Texan I don’t understand. Do the schools not have central air?

mindbleach ,

If the schools were built for 80-degree highs, two months out of the school year… probably not.

flyingjake ,

I grew up in the northeast and none of the schools had central air. It’s not hot enough before summer break to justify it. At least historically…

shastaxc ,

Do they at least open the windows? Never cycling the air sounds gross.

flyingjake ,

Yeah, the windows would open. But, honestly some days were gross. But US school would end by mid June and start in September so there’s only a few hot days to worry about, you might hit over 80F /27c a few times at most.

Pickle_Jr ,

I can’t see anywhere which would explain why the school closed. It’s possible that it doesn’t have central air. It could also be an efficiency thing; maybe the AC can’t vent out the heat fast enough to cool down the building when it’s that warm? My house is actually like that when it hits around 105° outside.

The smart ass reply is they close down when it’s hot for the same reason Texas closes down when it’s only 30° and it barely snows 😅

Railing5132 ,

Nope, most schools in the midwest, particularly rural schools with small tax bases, don’t have air. It was 85 F in my town’s high school today.

timicin ,

Still, for a party that has spent years ignoring or denying the biggest threat to our planet’s future, tonight’s responses were actually, almost, a little bit refreshing.

setting the bar so low that any response besides outright hostility as refreshing, is not refreshing.

chuckleslord ,

Ah! Finally, after years of being given boiling water to drink, I’ve finally been given horribly scalding water instead. Refreshing! /s

Treczoks ,

Wow. It is hard to believe, but they are all as dumb as Trump. Couldn't they have placed just one candidate with an IQ over 90? I mean, just for a change?

donuts ,
@donuts@kbin.social avatar

Being smart doesn't poll well on the right.

Daft_ish , (edited )

Smart? You mean elite snob know it all?

CapgrasDelusion ,

They're not all stupid, but they're all catering to stupid. With the exception of Chris Christie which is why he's so far behind.

mindbleach ,

Oil companies buy votes.

Climate activists can’t.

Dubious_Fart ,

Climate activists could, if you knew how little per voter it takes to buy off a politician.

hell, some sell out their constituency for as little as 3 cents a head.

ComradePorkRoll ,

The only people that say climate change is a hoax are either in need of serious psychiatric intervention or being paid to say it’s not real.

DulyNoted ,

That’s what makes the “I’m not bought and paid for so I can say it’s a hoax freely” line so weird.

I’ve never understood how people not being paid to intentionally misunderstand the topic can go on about the hoax line.

CapgrasDelusion ,

It's less that he's bought and more that he's hoping to be bought. He's seeking donations from other people with a vested interest in denying human made climate change. He's not bought, he's for sale.

CrapConnoisseur ,

Should have made that dumbfuck sit outside for the duration of the debate. It was 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Milwaukee on the day of the debate.

Rolder ,

“I’ve had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT.”

Now that’s a zinger

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