Trump Is Wrong About Global Warming And The Polar Vortex
(AP)
Today’s top stories:
1. Climate Catastrophe: As the polar vortex sweeps the nation, Americans are grappling with sub-zero temperatures and at least 20 deaths reported so far. While many areas in the midwest are seeing temperatures well below zero, by Super Bowl Sunday, some temperatures will go up into the 60s. President Trump took to Twitter to remark on the polar vortex, tweeting: “What the hell is going on with Global Waming?” (That “waming” typo is his, not ours.) This is an ignorant, climate change denying tweet that ignores the reality of the existential threat climate change poses to humanity. As we’ve seen, global warming is actually the cause of this and many other extreme weather events, as it speeds up climate change. Global warming is being exacerbated by human-driven carbon emissions, which President Trump is doing everything in power to increase to benefit fossil fuel companies. Note to media: if you report on the polar vortex without mentioning climate change, you’re doing it wrong.
2. Build The Wall That’s Already Built: Appropriation negotiations are underway, in an effort to avoid a February 15th government shutdown. President Trump sent a series of tweets attempting to make the case for his border wall, including one that announced the more troops being sent to the southern border. President Trump also falsely claimed much of his border wall is already built. Meanwhile, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said at a press conference that there will be no money for a wall in the deal, but she is open to some barriers. President Trump responded by claiming if that’s the case, the negotiators are wasting their time. As this back and forth was playing out, US Border Patrol made the largest fentanyl bust in its history. Important to note that this, like the majority of drugs apprehended at the border, happened at a port legal of entry. A wall wouldn’t have prevented that. In other immigration news, the Associated Press reported that ICE has force-fed detainees who were on a hunger strike.
3. Beefing With Intel: In a congressional testimony earlier this week, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and CIA Director Gina Haspel contradicted President Trump’s messaging on ISIS, Iran, North Korea, and other topics. Yesterday, President Trump called them “passive and naive” and later claimed the media misreported their statements, even though the entire country saw the live footage with their own eyes. It culminated with Trump tweeting a photo with him, Coats, and Haspel in the Oval Office, claiming they also said their testimony was mischaracterized. That claim should be taken with several grains of salt.
4. Mueller Moves: In a court filing, Special Counsel Robert Mueller revealed just how much evidence they raided from newly indicted Roger Stone. Mueller has seized several years of “multiple hard drives containing several terabytes of information consisting of, among other things, FBI case reports, search warrant applications and results (e.g., Apple iCloud accounts and email accounts), bank and financial records, and the contents of numerous physical devices (e.g., cellular phones, computers, and hard drives).” This comes as Roger Stone, who was released on bail he could afford unlike hundreds of thousands of poor Black Americans, and Republican allies claimed he was mistreated by investigators. In related news, ABC News reported that the identity of the block calls Donald Trump Jr. had around the time of the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting were with Nascar CEO Brian France and real estate developer Howard Lorber.
5. Senate Rebuke: In a bipartisan 68-to-23 vote, the Senate sent a clear rebuke to President Trump. The vote advanced legislation, written by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell himself, that strongly opposes Trump’s troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
6. China Talks: After days of negotiations between American and Chinese negotiators, the talks end for now with no new deal. Trump plans to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping amid the tariff war that has rattled markets and ratcheted up global economic uncertainty. If a deal isn’t reached by March 1st, China tariffs will increase to 25% on March 2nd.
This article was adapted from our Rantt Rundown newsletter.
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