news
Summary
- Climate change was barely addressed in the first presidential debate of 2024 between President Biden and former President Trump.
- President Trump’s claims on energy independence and air pollution were misleading.
- The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 was the largest investment in fighting climate change in U.S. history, passing under President Biden’s administration.
- President Trump’s actions during his term, such as pulling out of the Paris Agreement and rolling back environmental protections, worsened climate change.
06.28.2024
Talk of climate change, often embellished, took the backseat in the first 2024 presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Amidst a year that continues to bring record-breaking extreme heat, wildfires raging in California, and historic floods, climate mentions in the first presidential debate of the 2024 general election were noticeably scant.
Only after the first hour of the debate did CNN moderator Dana Bash ask about the climate crisis, in a debate that saw current President Joe Biden face off against former President Donald Trump. Political experts say both candidates had less than stellar performances as Biden’s remarks were at times “rambling and incoherent,” according to Vox. Meanwhile, former President Trump’s performance, though seemingly competent, was riddled with falsehoods and lies, according to Snopes and PolitiFact.
On climate, though, it was a mixed bag. Trump’s off-the-cuff references to oil and gas as “liquid gold right under our feet” and criticisms of the “green new scam” were more opinions than facts, and his factual claims were mostly misleading rather than outright false. Meanwhile, President Biden’s record on climate substantiated his mostly true claims.
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