There are no depths CNN won’t sink to in order push a left-wing political agenda on behalf of the Democratic Party. On Tuesday and Wednesday, that shameless partisan activism included exploiting the deadly building collapse in Surfside, Florida to argue – without a shred of evidence – that climate change somehow caused the horrific tragedy.
The fact-free narrative began on Tuesday’s New Day, when fill-in co-host Erica Hill suggested to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm that climate change was responsible for the condo building collapse in the Miami area:
We’ve been talking a lot about what happened in Florida at the Surfside condominium building that collapsed, we don’t know exactly what happened at this point. But given what we know about the changing climate, given that we’ve seen an increase in these so-called extraordinary tides and the impact that that can have in areas like south Florida, do you think that climate could have played a role in that building’s collapse?
Rather than dismiss such wild and premature speculation, Granholm actually indulged the notion in order to lobby for the Biden administration’s massive infrastructure spending plans: “Well, obviously we don’t know fully, but we do know that the seas are rising....There’s so much investment that we need to do to protect ourselves from climate change, but also to address it and mitigate it. And hopefully these infrastructure bills, when spoke together, will make a huge step and allow America to lead again.”
On Wednesday’s New Day, co-host John Berman deceptively framed the investigation into the collapse as if officials were looking at climate change as the culprit: “Structural engineers are investigating what trigger event could have caused the collapse, amid new reporting the climate crisis could have contributed to this, laid the groundwork for this to happen.” He then turned to correspondent Tom Foreman and emphasized that the reporter would “explain the possible contribution here to the building’s collapse.”
Foreman hyped how “this report from a researcher at the University of Miami, Brian McNoldy, is really getting a lot of attention....saying over the last 40 years he believes the sea level has risen seven to eight inches in this area.” He kept pushing the idea: “...the question is, if you have a sea rise in that area of that level, what effect does it have on this? Does it create instability?”
Later in that same hour, left-wing hack John Avlon came on to offer one of his ridiculous, so-called “Reality Check” segments, which began with him preaching: “This could be the summer when climate change denial finally goes the way of the dodo because the pain and the stakes, the need for mitigation and adaptation are clear.”
After mentioning the heat wave in the Pacific northwest, Avlon turned to Florida:
Now, in this record breaking heat wave, much of our collective attention this past week has been focused on the horrific building collapse in Surfside, Florida. It’s an urgent, as opposed to slow-moving crisis. And while it’s still too soon to know the precise cause or triggering event for the collapse, the structure seems to have been stressed over time by king tides that come from rising sea levels, which flooded the building’s parking garage on a regular basis, according to residents....the broader toll of climate change on our coastal communities can no longer be ignored.
Acting as a Democratic Party lobbyist, Avlon ranted: “So who could have seen this coming? Pretty much anyone who paid attention to the science. But instead we’ve seen decades of political foot-dragging by climate change denialists....And that’s why there should be additional urgency in passing an infrastructure bill that can help mitigate the effects of climate change.”
The motto of left and their media allies has consistently been “never let a crisis go to waste” and if that means exploiting a deadly tragedy to sell a political agenda, so be it.
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Here is a transcript of Hill’s June 29 exchange with Granholm on New Day:
7:21 AM ET
(...)
ERICA HILL: You know, in terms of climate, you brought up what’s happening – what we’re seeing in the Pacific Northwest. We’ve been talking a lot about what happened in Florida at the Surfside condominium building that collapsed, we don’t know exactly what happened at this point. But given what we know about the changing climate, given that we’ve seen an increase in these so-called extraordinary tides and the impact that that can have in areas like south Florida, do you think that climate could have played a role in that building’s collapse?
JENNIFER GRANHOLM: Well, obviously we don’t know fully, but we do know that the seas are rising. I mean, we know that we’re losing inches and inches of beaches, not just in Florida but all around. You know, Lake Michigan, where I’m from, you know, we’ve seen the loss of beaches because the waters are rising. So, you know, this is a phenomenon that will continue, whether – we’ll have to wait to see what the analysis is for this building.
But the issue about resiliency and making sure we adapt to this changing climate, that’s gonna mean levees need to be built, that means sea walls need to be built, that means infrastructure needs to be built. We need to make sure that we invest enough in clearing out the forests so don’t have these weather events. We need to invest in hardening our transmission lines, maybe burying wires so that we can protect areas that are like tinderbox try. There’s so much investment that we need to do to protect ourselves from climate change, but also to address it and mitigate it. And hopefully these infrastructure bills, when spoke together, will make a huge step and allow America to lead again.
(...)
Here is a transcript of the June 30 coverage on New Day:
8:04 AM ET
JOHN BERMAN: Structural engineers are investigating what trigger event could have caused the collapse, amid new reporting the climate crisis could have contributed to this, laid the groundwork for this to happen. We have Tom Foreman this morning at the magic wall to explain the possible contribution here to the building’s collapse. Tom?
TOM FOREMAN: Yeah, the fundamental question here, John, is did you have, for some reason, an unstable building on an unstable surface. And this report from a researcher at the University of Miami, Brian McNoldy, is really getting a lot of attention. He’s saying over the last 40 years he believes the sea level has risen seven to eight inches in this area. Why would that matter so much? It matters, in part, because of what is underneath all the buildings on this little spit of land here, which is where the Champlain Towers are located, right in this area here. This was built on reclaimed, deforested wetlands. Below the surface of all these buildings out here is sand and organic fill. This is not something that was collected over thousands and thousands of years and settled into place. This is something that is much more recent than that.
Now, it is on a plateau of porous limestone, which would be something that was there from way, way back in time. But nonetheless, the question is, if you have a sea rise in that area of that level, what effect does it have on this? Does it create instability? Is that in any way tied to these pictures from the Miami Herald, from the neighboring part of the building there, where they talked about the erosion that was happening here, the water that so many residents had talked about being a consistent problem down below in the parking garage, other places, was that somehow connected to outside water getting in? And did that create some kind of instability beneath everything else there?
Combine that with a building that might have problems and then you have a much bigger problem. And bear in mind, this is something that isn’t just a unique problem to this area. Not to be alarmist about this, but simply to point it out, most of the building in this country over the past decades has been near the coast. And right now 40 percent of the U.S. population lives on coastal land, some of it reclaimed like this. That’s why it’s so important to figure out if the land itself beneath this building was a contributing factor to what happened. John?
BERMAN: This is such important insight, Tom, and such important data points to consider, or I guess in some cases, reconsider. Thank you so much for this.
(...)
8:55 AM ET
JOHN AVLON: This could be the summer when climate change denial finally goes the way of the dodo because the pain and the stakes, the need for mitigation and adaptation are clear. The heat wave in the Pacific northwest is horrific. And no, it’s not just seasonal extremes. Not when Portland, Oregon, sees its three hottest day on record, with 116-degree heat in June or when Seattle hits temperatures higher than any ever recorded in Atlanta, making the highways there buckle. Canada suffering as well, with British Columbia cracking 121 degrees, by far the hottest ever recorded in Canada, passing the hottest temperature ever in Las Vegas, with more than 230 heat-related deaths reported to date. Farmers in the western U.S. are fearing for their crops and livestock amid a massive drought, and peak fire season hasn’t even started yet. And, yes, this spike in extreme weather is driven by climate change, it’s part of an undeniable pattern. Washington State Governor he Jay Inslee gets it.
GOV. JAY INSLEE [D-WA]: And now we’re here, the opening act has arrived of the climate catastrophe, and we’re getting it in the Pacific northwest right now. Everyone’s going to get hit by this climate catastrophe.
AVLON: Now, in this record breaking heat wave, much of our collective attention this past week has been focused on the horrific building collapse in Surfside, Florida. It’s an urgent, as opposed to slow-moving crisis. And while it’s still too soon to know the precise cause or triggering event for the collapse, the structure seems to have been stressed over time by king tides that come from rising sea levels, which flooded the building’s parking garage on a regular basis, according to residents. There’s talk about how the building was old at 40 years. Now that’s only old for south Florida. But the not so stable combination of concrete and saltwater can be doubly dangerous given how much the Florida coast is built not on bedrock, but on porous limestone and landfill.
I want to be clear, there’s no reason to believe the adjoining properties are at any immediate risk at all, but this is a wake-up call. And the broader toll of climate change on our coastal communities can no longer be ignored.
So who could have seen this coming? Pretty much anyone who paid attention to the science. But instead we’ve seen decades of political foot-dragging by climate change denialists, some of whom hail from the worst-hit southern and Sunbelt states. We’ve seen some belated changes from folks like Florida Senator Rick Scott, whose administration didn’t even want to mention climate change when he was governor, now he’s suddenly admitting it’s real, that’s good. Maybe he took a hint from Miami’s previous Republican mayor, who pushed to spend $192 million on sea rise and flood mitigation.
But we’re beyond the piecemeal approach. Abraham Lincoln once said, “The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do it all or cannot do so well for themselves in their separate and individual capacities.” That’s climate change. That’s infrastructure. And that’s why there should be additional urgency in passing an infrastructure bill that can help mitigate the effects of climate change. We need to strengthen our cities, including our roads and bridges, to deal with extreme weather conditions, including flooding. We need to strengthen our electrical grid to make it more resilient. And yeah, that includes you, Texas. And we need to innovate our way from fossil fuels. Here’s the bottom line: Short-term thinking helped get us into this mess. Long-term thinking and action will help get us out. And that’s your Reality Check.
ERICA HILL: John Avlon, thank you. You know, as you point out and as our chief climate correspondent Bill Weir was saying earlier, really what it boils down to in many cases is this choice between mitigation and adaptation. That at the bottom, you know, regardless of which you choose or how much of each one you’re choosing, there has to be some action.
AVLON: Denial is not an option.
HILL: No, it is not. And it certainly doesn’t solve the problem. John, thank you.
