On Wednesday's Amanpour & Co. on PBS and CNN International, host Christiane Amanpour declared that the Donald Trump administration is "conducting a major undercover assault" on EPA regulations and clean air as she gave a sympathetic forum to Washington Democratic governor and global warming alarmist Jay Inslee to promote his agenda.
After spending the first part of the segment --- which was part of a show that commemorated Earth Day --- letting Inslee brag about environmental regulations he has enacted in his home state, the PBS host eventually fretted over why there are currently so few Republicans who support more regulations, unlike in the past:
So let met just quickly ask you because it is all so political now. In the introduction, I mentioned that this is a hyperpartisan issue and that the first EPA creator was a Republican President, and during the last decades, the world -- you all did manage to cure the ozone layer -- cure the hole in the ozone layer by a very simple, sustained appeal to get rid of CFCs. If you could do it then, what is the problem now?
Inslee recalled that the first EPA administrator was a Republican from Washington, argued that Democrats must move ahead with new regulations instead of waiting for Republicans to "evolve" in their direction, and bashed President Trump on environmental issues:
But while we are waiting -- and we cannot wait for the evolutionary process to evolve the Republican party to produce some leaders. We have to act, and, frankly, that means by electing people who will act. In the presidential race here in the United States this next year, I think we will have the greatest contrast of someone who has ignored science -- who has been deceiving or trying to deceive Americans about the science of climate change, and has been an abysmal failure trying to protect the health of Americans.
After Governor Inslee promoted Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's candidacy, instead of pushing back, Amanpour sympathetically asked him how President Trump's "assault" on regulations could be reversed:
At the moment, while all these disaster relief bills, for wont of a better word, go through Congress, we also see the White House and the President trying to bail out fossil fuel companies and all the rest of it, and also conduct a major undercover -- under cover of coronavirus -- assault on EPA regulations and clean air and water and mercury and all those things are happening right now. How is that going to be reversed? And do you think you can get what the UN secretary general is calling for -- proper resources, you know, into the recovery bills for the climate?
Below is the relevant transcript (click "expand"):
CNN International and PBS's Amanpour & Co.
April 22, 2020CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So let met just quickly ask you because it is all so political now. In the introduction, I mentioned that this is a hyperpartisan issue and that the first EPA creator was a Republican President, and during the last decades, the world -- you all did manage to cure the ozone layer -- cure the hole in the ozone layer by a very simple, sustained appeal to get rid of CFCs. If you could do it then, what is the problem now?
GOVERNOR JAY INSLEE (D-WA): Well, it is a great conundrum and a bit of a mystery. The first head of the Environmental Protection Agency was a Washingtonian -- Bill Ruckelshaus -- who worked for Richard Nixon in that regard. So we have had good Republican leadership in decades gone by, and, unfortunately, it has disappeared. It's a great void. And we're looking for the day again when this becomes a bipartisan effort. But while we are waiting -- and we cannot wait for the evolutionary process to evolve the Republican party to produce some leaders.
We have to act, and, frankly, that means by electing people who will act. In the presidential race here in the United States this next year, I think we will have the greatest contrast of someone who has ignored science -- who has been deceiving or trying to deceive Americans about the science of climate change, and has been an abysmal failure trying to protect the health of Americans. But we have another candidate who has introduced the first bill on climate change in the United States Senate -- it was either in 1986 or 1988 -- and, most importantly, was very successful in helping to rebuild our economy after the last collapse in the Recovery Act.
And Joe Biden led the effort that built $90 billion worth of infrastructure and created 3.3 million jobs in America. And I think we're going to have a really great race, and I believe the person who is an optimist is going to win that is when American leadership will begin to be restored.
AMANPOUR: Okay, so you've endorsed Joe Biden clearly, and for all the reasons that you've just laid out and more, probably, but what I want to ask you is this -- because clearly the United States, like the rest of the world, is in a deep economic hole right now because of coronavirus, the halting of the global economy, and, as always, the poorest and the most vulnerable are going to be the biggest losers.
At the moment, while all these disaster relief bills, for wont of a better word, go through Congress, we also see the White House and the President trying to bail out fossil fuel companies and all the rest of it, and also conduct a major undercover -- under cover of coronavirus -- assault on EPA regulations and clean air and water and mercury and all those things are happening right now. How is that going to be reversed? And do you think you can get what the UN secretary general is calling for -- proper resources, you know, into the recovery bills for the climate?
