On Tuesday afternoon, CNN climate correspondent Bill Weir declared that the Donald Trump administration is in an "all-out assault on science," and compared global warming to a burning theater that the administration is forcing people to stay inside. His assessment came during a segment about the administration firing researchers who were working on a regular report on the climate.
At the top of the 3:00 p.m. hour of CNN News Central, co-host Boris Sanchez teased: "And also, scientists agree that climate change is a threat, but the government under President Trump may soon know far less about it. This is after the White House dismisses all the researchers working on a key new report."
About 3:33 p.m., Sanchez returned to the story and informed viewers of the firing of scientists in charge of putting together the National Climate Assessment report, which is due every five years. Weir noted that a law was passed in 2000 requiring that the report be done, and then recalled:
In 2018, it was a really blunt assessment and with a prediction that 10 percent of the global economy could disappear by the end of the century as a result of an overheating Earth -- too much fossil fuel pollution. The Trump administration then buried it. They released it on Black Friday -- the shopping day after Thanksgiving.
After noting that there was a report released in 2023, he added:
...this next one, which is supposed to come out in 2028, was just killed in the cradle. Like, they're working on it right now, and it is a law that they have to deliver something. So the fear is that they're just going to deliver pseudoscience and ideology -- the kind of stuff we're seeing in all these environmental and climate-related press releases -- executive orders coming out of the White House right now. But this is yet another blow, Boris, in the first 100 days of just an all-out assault on science across every agency. Anything with a hint of climate change attached to it or even ground-level pollution
Which side of this debate -- which the Left refuses to acknowledge as a debate -- has been delivering "pseudoscience and ideology"? Way back in 1992, CNN ran a scare special called The People Bomb saying the world was overpopulated, and they wouldn't allow any air time to scientists who disagreed with their doom-saying (and anti-humanitarian) viewpoint.
As he concluded his analysis, Weir took a hyperbolic shot at the Trump administration:
So, right now, everybody is hurting on the front of this story, and it remains to be seen what becomes of this assessment, the people working on it. If they can do one, do they release it to the public? Who knows? But, once again, really hiding the science, telling people essentially to stay seated in a burning theater and removing the exit signs as well.
Wrapping up, Sanchez echoed him: "Staying seated in a burning theater -- what a way to put it. Bill Weir, thanks so much for the reporting. Appreciate it."
Transcript follows:
CNN News Central
April 29, 2024
3:00 p.m. Eastern
BORIS SANCHEZ: And also, scientists agree that climate change is a threat, but the government under President Trump may soon know far less about it. This is after the White House dismisses all the researchers working on a key new report.
(...)
3:33 p.m.
SANCHEZ: President Trump marked the end of his 100 days -- his first 100 days of his second term by firing hundreds of people in charge of a critical report on how climate change is affecting the country. CNN obtained an email sent last night confirming the dismissal of scientists and authors tasked with putting together the National Climate Assessment. Scientists say the report is a valuable resource for officials dealing with extreme weather events at the regional, state and local levels. Let's get more from CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir. So, Bill, what is the goal here by eliminating these scientists?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, it's to eliminate the science that is the underpinning of many lawsuits -- that could be a main sort of motive. We saw that in the Project 2025 sort of layout there. But, just to set some perspective here, in 2000, Congress passed a law that, every few years, the best Earth scientists in the country -- about 400 of them -- would put together a comprehensive assessment that would inform local governments, states, even private industries, about what's happening when the -- to the country -- water supplies, energy supplies, to farms and fisheries -- every aspects of the economy, and let them know, just no holds barred, so we could better prepare.
In 2018, it was a really blunt assessment and with a prediction that 10 percent of the global economy could disappear by the end of the century as a result of an overheating Earth -- too much fossil fuel pollution. The Trump administration then buried it. They released it on Black Friday -- the shopping day after Thanksgiving. I still remember this -- I was in Paradise, California, covering that epic wildfire there, and nobody really paid attention. In 2023, under Biden, a new one came out, but this next one, which is supposed to come out in 2028, was just killed in the cradle.
Like, they're working on it right now, and it is a law that they have to deliver something. So the fear is that they're just going to deliver pseudoscience and ideology -- the kind of stuff we're seeing in all these environmental and climate-related press releases -- executive orders coming out of the White House right now. But this is yet another blow, Boris, in the first 100 days of just an all-out assault on science across every agency. Anything with a hint of climate change attached to it or even ground-level pollution -- PFAs, plastics, these sorts of things.
Lee Zeldin just announced they're going to tackle microplastics, these sorts -- but with no real policy plan in place. Meanwhile, laying off the best and brightest scientists really in the world at a time is creating, as you can imagine, incredible angst in this space right now. But, at the same time, the price of oil is about 50 bucks a barrel, which is a huge money loser for all the oil executives that Donald Trump promised to help with deregulation. So, right now, everybody is hurting on the front of this story, and it remains to be seen what becomes of this assessment, the people working on it. If they can do one, do they release it to the public? Who knows? But, once again, really hiding the science, telling people essentially to stay seated in a burning theater and removing the exit signs as well.
SANCHEZ: Staying seated in a burning theater -- what a way to put it. Bill Weir, thanks so much for the reporting. Appreciate it.
