President Donald Trump decried climate change as “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” in his address to the United Nations General Assembly, insisting countries step away from the “green scam.”
In a wide-ranging address Tuesday morning — without a working teleprompter — Trump quoted several U.N. officials’ years-long warnings about the impacts of climate change, before declaring it a “con job” believed by “stupid people.”
“It's the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion,” the president said. “Climate change, no matter what happens, you are involved in that. No more global warming, no more global cooling. All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong.”
“They were made by stupid people that have cost their countries fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success. If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump predicted, eliciting some groans from the crowd.
He doubled down on this warning, boasting that he’s “right about everything.”
"I'm really good at predicting things,” he told the crowd. “During the campaign they had a hat — a best-selling hat: 'Trump was right about everything.' And I don't say that in a braggadocious way, but it's true. I've been right about everything."
In his tirade, the president also labeled “carbon footprint” a “hoax.”
Despite Trump’s claims, countless studies show that climate change is a very real threat. Last year, for example, marked the hottest on record. Furthermore, the 10 warmest years in the historical record have all occurred in the past decade, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Beyond the rising temperatures, within the U.S. this year alone, climate change is evident.
It was a force behind the devastating wildfires that swept through Southern California in January, scientists have found. It’s making flooding, including the so-called “once-in-century flood” in Texas in July, more dangerous, experts have warned.
The president’s attacks on climate change aren’t new to his second term. However, this time around, his administration has made 70 percent more changes to government environmental websites during its first 100 days than the first administration, according to a report by Environmental Data & Governance Initiative last month.
This week, the National Park Service removed signs related to climate change at Acadia National Park in Maine, the Washington Post reported.
