CNN special correspondent and far-left climate activist Bill “ignorant f***sticks” Weir joined afternoon CNN Newsroom host Brooke Baldwin Thursday for a criticism-free lovefest in honor of the Green New Deal. All told, the pair determined it was akin to NASA and a necessary step to save Earth without offering any questions or answers about how this move toward communism would be paid for.
If those things didn’t convince you that this four-minute-plus segment was a trainwreck, Baldwin sat in awe as Weir quipped that the Green New Deal was a love story for Earth, like A Star Is Born where Bradley Cooper could play Senator Ed Markey (D-NY) and Lady Gaga would be Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Baldwin began with, again, zero criticisms or wondering how everything would be paid for (click “expand”):
In the meantime, let's talk about this phrase that we’ve been hearing about all on the campaign trail, the Green New Deal. Well, today it became real on Capitol Hill. Freshman congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat along with Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey just unveiled their plan to tackle climate change and what it does is, it calls for a ten year initiative that would phase out fossil fuel use and overhaul the nation's infrastructure. The resolution so far calls for a shift to renewable energy, the creation of high wage jobs, the elimination of greenhouse gases, investment in wind and solar and public investments in vulnerable communities.
She asserted after clips from Markey and Ocasio-Cortez that Weir “did this huge deep dive into the Green New Deal,” which could better be described as saying exactly what his fellow environmentalists want him to say.
Weir explained that this proposal harkens back to the first New Deal “[b]ack when Ohio looked like Venezuela does today, when it was 80 percent unemployment and society was literally coming apart,” so “[p]art of his idea was not just let's kick start the economy and get us out of the Great Depression, but let’s keep society from pulling apart, so let's have big jobs” like “pay[ing] two million guys to plant trees out west.”
After falsely claiming that the New Deal was how labor unions were formed (instead of noting that they only grew stronger in that time), Weir gushed about the creation of “unemployment insurance” and Social Security, which is interesting to tout as a success because it’s going bankrupt.
Sounding like AOC himself, Weir went on (click “expand”):
This is the modern version of that. Let's do all of those things again only smarter and non-polluting and because the way that Dust Bowl and things happened and touched off parts of the Great Depression where the stock market crashed, that's coming. All the scientists are saying when they stop insuring houses and condos on Miami Beach because of sea level rise, that’ll create an economic Dust Bowl. It'll create climate migrants into Wisconsin. You think you're safe in the Great Lakes, well, wait until you get a bunch of new neighbors who just left Texas, you know? And so, this idea is very aspirational. It's a non-binding resolution. It's just saying we agree to agree, spent two years trying to figure out all the bills. This will be dozens of bills now that Democrats — they hope to have more power in 2020, play it out legislatively[.]
To make things even more absurd, Weir compared the Green New Deal to NASA as it started from a fledgling agency to a sign of pride in America.
But nothing could have prepared the ears for Weir’s bizarre comparison between the Green New Deal and A Star Is Born (click “expand”):
WEIR: But what's fascinating about watching those two is I was joking about if you to make a —
BALDWIN: Please tell everyone what you said.
WEIR: — if I were to make a movie at this moment, you cast Bradley Cooper as Ed Markey, the old climate warrior and Lady Gaga as this new freshman.
BALDWIN: This is Ally and Jack’s climate change.
WEIR: And their — their love is — their love story's about the planet and the idea that we could lose it if we don't do some big, bold thing right now. But I was watching the live stream of comments as she was talking.
For those familiar with A Star Is Born, it’s not exactly the ending that Weir is probably looking for.
Giving one last chance for either one to ask how this would all be paid for or allude to any of the absurd proposals (more on those in a minute), Baldwin didn’t budge and instead Weir focused on how many don’t like Ocasio-Cortez (click “expand”):
WEIR: And wow, is she polarizing and this whole idea.
BALDWIN: She is.
WEIR: And some people — the hatred is just —
BALDWIN: She's got a big old target on her back.
WEIR: — she’s got a big target on her back, but she's inspiring so many people. At the very least, she’s going to have people talking about the potential end of the world and maybe that's not a bad thing.
BALDWIN: Thank you for coming on and explaining it the way in which you did, right? You understand now this Green New Deal.
Now, for the nonsense. The proposals to eliminate cars and domestic air travel would cause millions of people to lose their jobs (in addition to what AOC wants regarding the health care system). Weir suggested to this writer that there could be carbon-free planes, but he should get back to us when its something middle and lower-class Americans can afford.
Our friends over at The Federalist and Washington Examiner found a few others that included but were not limited to: Free education, guaranteed “healthy food,” a free house, free money for those “unable or unwilling” to work, and the banning of meat so we can rid the planet of cows who, like humans, can have flatulence.
Good luck trying to ask those who spend money to create jobs with businesses of their own or donate to charities why they should pay for all these things. In other words, the Green New Deal would, if implemented in full, make us the Soviet Union. So much for freedom.
To see the relevant transcript from February 7's CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin, click “expand.”
CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin
February 7, 2019
2:31 p.m. EasternBROOKE BALDWIN: In the meantime, let's talk about this phrase that we’ve been hearing about all on the campaign trail, the Green New Deal. Well, today it became real on Capitol hill. Freshman congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat along with Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey just unveiled their plan to tackle climate change and what it does is, it calls for a ten year initiative that would phase out fossil fuel use and overhaul the nation's infrastructure. The resolution so far calls for a shift to renewable energy, the creation of high wage jobs, the elimination of greenhouse gases, investment in wind and solar and public investments in vulnerable communities.
DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSWOMAN ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (NY): Climate change — climate change and our environmental challenges are one of the biggest, existential threats to our way of life, not just as a nation but as a world and in order for us to combat that threat, we must be as ambitious and innovative in our solution as possible.
DEMOCRATIC SENATOR ED MARKEY (MA): We are talking about jobs and justice. We are talking about the greatest blue collar job creation program in a generation. We are talking about repairing the historic oppression of frontline and vulnerable communities which are born the worst burdens of our fossil fuel economy.
BALDWIN: CNN’s Bill Weir is with me now and good to see you.
BILL WEIR: Brooke, how are you?
BALDWIN: So, you did this huge deep dive into the Green New Deal.
WEIR: Yeah.
BALDWIN: Tell me about it.
WEIR: You got to think about it in terms of the O.G. New Deal, the original --
BALDWIN: FDR.
WEIR: — FDR. Back when Ohio looked like Venezuela does today, when it was 80 percent unemployment and society was literally coming apart. Part of his idea was not just let's kick start the economy and get us out of the great depression, but let’s keep society from pulling apart, so let's have big jobs. Let’s do — it’s easier to do together.
BALDWIN: Let’s do big things. Yeah
WEIR: Let's pay two million guys to plant trees out west and all that and that also gave us labor union and unemployment insurance and social security. The things that changed the way people think about government. This is the modern version of that. Let's do all of those things again only smarter and non-polluting and because the way that Dust Bowl and things happened and touched off parts of the Great Depression where the stock market crashed, that's coming. All the scientists are saying when they stop insuring houses and condos on Miami Beach because of sea level rise, that’ll create an economic Dust Bowl. It'll create climate migrants into Wisconsin. You think you're safe in the Great Lakes, well, wait until you get a bunch of new neighbors who just left Texas, you know? And so, this idea is very aspirational. It's a non-binding resolution. It's just saying we agree to agree, spent two years trying to figure out all the bills. This will be dozens of bills now that Democrats — they hope to have more power in 2020, play it out legislatively, but today is sort of, as Ed Markey invoked JFK, when he says we're going to the moon at the end of this decade, he didn't say how we're going to do it. He just said we’re going to do it. We’ll figure it out and it was wildly unpopular all during the '60s and it wasn't -- those poll numbers didn't jump until we landed on the moon. And now we look back and say, wow, that was really — NASA — that was a really good idea.
BALDWIN: So if we say: “Oh my gosh. How is this even attainable? This is so huge.” Your point being at the end of the day it worked.
WEIR: But what's fascinating about watching those two is I was joking about if you to make a —
BALDWIN: Please tell everyone what you said.
WEIR: — if I were to make a movie at this moment, you cast Bradley Cooper as Ed Markey, the old climate warrior and Lady Gaga as this new freshman.
BALDWIN: This is Allie and Jack’s climate change.
WEIR: And their — their love is — their love story's about the planet and the idea that we could lose it if we don't do some big, bold thing right now. But I was watching the live stream of comments as she was talking.
BALDWIN: Yeah.
WEIR: And wow, is she polarizing and this whole idea.
BALDWIN: She is.
WEIR: And some people — the hatred is just —
BALDWIN: She's got a big old target on her back.
WEIR: — she’s got a big target on her back, but she's inspiring so many people. At the very least, she’s going to have people talking about the potential end of the world and maybe that's not a bad thing.
BALDWIN: Thank you for coming on and explaining it the way in which you did, right? You understand now this Green New Deal. Thank you, Bill.
WEIR: You bet.
BALDWIN: Bill Weir.
