It’s become a familiar pattern by now. Every cold snap that grips the nation brings with it a bunch of hot air from conservative politicians who seize on subzero temperatures and declare global warming a hoax.
Mocking climate protesters who interrupted Republican campaign events in Iowa, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., posted on social media: “You’ve got to appreciate the irony of climate protestors trudging through a foot of snow and -30 degree wind chills to yell about how the planet is warming. They just don’t see it, do they?”
Every cold snap brings with it a bunch of hot air from conservative politicians who declare global warming a hoax.
When a climate protester in that same state was tackled by security guards at a campaign event for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., gleefully posted a video of the protester being body-slammed. He wrote, “The irony of protesting global warming during a once in a lifetime cold snap/blizzard. dude found out!” And after a climate protester held up a sign calling former President Donald Trump a “climate criminal,” Politico quoted Trump adviser Chris LaCivita as saying: “Climate change? It’s minus 15 degrees. Read the room, man.”
That echoed what the nation heard for four years from the White House under Trump. In January 2019, when there were minus 60-degree wind chills in the Midwest, he tweeted, misspelling and all, “People can’t last outside even for minutes. What the hell is going on with Global Waming? Please come back fast, we need you!”
According to NBC News, as of Wednesday afternoon, more than 100 million people were under wind chill advisories and at least 12 had died, including at least three in Southern states. And another blast of cold air is still expected to hit this week.
Despite the skepticism from those Republicans that cold weather and climate change can co-exist, it’s important to remember that, for many of us, the cold snap is just a moment of discomfort,…
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