CNN’s Avlon: Trump’s Climate Policies Could Lead to ‘80,000 Unnecessary Deaths Every Decade’ 13 Sep 2018
During a Thursday “Reality Check” segment for CNN’s “New Day,” political analyst John Avlon weighed in on President Donald Trump’s complicity with hurricanes.
According to Avlon, if the United States continues to ignore climate science, “the cost of lives and dollars will escalate.”
“On the same day Trump was discussing [Hurricane] Florence, his EPA proposed rolling back restrictions on emissions of methane. That’s just the latest environmental policy targeted by the Trump administration,” Avlon stated.
He went on to note how two Harvard scientists claimed Trump’s policies and getting the country out of the Paris Climate Agreement could lead to 80,000 deaths every decade.
“It is so bad according to two Harvard scientists said it could lead to 80,000 unnecessary deaths every decade,” said Avlon. “Warmer water means more intense storms. When President Trump called Hurricane Florence tremendously wet, he was actually on to something.”
He later concluded, “This isn’t rocket science, folks, it’s climate science. And as long as we continue to aggressively ignore it, the cost in lives and dollars will escalate. That’s your reality check.”
I imagine the people at CNN and their like minded colleagues are quite upset with Florence. Yes, it's bringing lots of rain, but a respectable tropical storm could do that. No, what they were hoping for was a category 5 which would reap destruction on a massive scale so they could blame President Trump for the hurricane and his total lack of response (which might happen anyway).
As to the human suffering which a truly major storm would bring, who cares? It's hitting mostly in the South where President Trump is most popular, and no amount of suffering outweighs an opportunity to stick it to him.