FOR THE RECORD:
Sen.Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) downplayed the dangers of climate change at a Republican luncheon earlier this summer, according to a new report. “I don’t know about you guys, but I think climate change is - as Lord Monckton said - bullshit,” Johnson said, according to CNN’s KFILE, which reported the Republican did not utter the expletive but mouthed it instead. “By the way, it is,” Johnson then added, according to a report.
Lord Christopher Monckton is a British conservative climate change denier and political pundit.)
“What are we doing here? Well, we’re killing ourselves,” Johnson said at the event in early June, reportedly adding, “it’s a self-inflicted wound.”
The Republican reportedly separately blamed mainstream media outlets and Democrats for using the coronavirus pandemic and climate change as a means of creating a “state of fear” and “control.”
“It was all about creating the state of fear as they tried to do with global warming. Oh, I’m sorry. It’s climate change now. Yeah. Whatever works,” Johnson said, according to CNN. “Whatever works that they can, you can set up a state of fear so they can step in and alleviate their fear.”
The consensus among scientists is that global temperatures are rising because of activity by humans. Climate change increasingly has been seen in connection to violent tropical storms, as well as the recent heat wave in the Pacific Northwest.
Progressive Democrats in Congress have been pushing for more funding to fight global warming as part of the ongoing debate about infrastructure spending, a measure Republicans in both chambers have voiced opposition to.
“Mankind has actually flourished in warmer temperatures,” Johnson said in 2016. “I just think the question always is what is the cost versus the benefit of anything we do to try and clean up our environment.”
“As a Tea Party Republican and climate change denier in 2010, he attracted support from the fossil fuel industry. Later, by minimizing the pandemic and touting questionable treatments for COVID, he vouched for a former president’s lies and boosted his own credibility with the Trump base in his home state,” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote. “Johnson continues to put his own interests ahead of yours. He continues to put himself first and democracy second.”
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