This comes via Eric Worrall at Watts Up With That?
(Grist)  As negotiators headed to Copenhagen in December 2009 to forge a global climate pact, concerned U.S. business leaders and liberal luminaries took out a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for aggressive climate action. In an open letter to President Obama and the U.S. Congress, they declared: “If we fail to act now, it is scientifically irrefutable that there will be catastrophic and irreversible consequences for humanity and our planet.â€
One of the signatories of that letter: Donald Trump.
Also signed by Trump’s three adult children, the letter called for passage of U.S. climate legislation, investment in the clean energy economy, and leadership to inspire the rest of the world to join the fight against climate change.
“We support your effort to ensure meaningful and effective measures to control climate change, an immediate challenge facing the United States and the world today,†the letter tells the president and Congress. “Please allow us, the United States of America, to serve in modeling the change necessary to protect humanity and our planet.â€
You can see the ad over at Grist. Let’s note that it starts out with
“Additionally, we urge you, our government, to strengthen and pass United States legislation, and lead the world by example. We support your effort to ensure meaningful and effective measures to control climate change, an immediate challenge facing the United States and the world today.”
That is primarily directed at Obama, who was heading to Copenhagen. So, why the change in what Trump says he believes? Worrall attempts to link it to Climategate, and ends noting
Was it Climategate which changed Donald Trump’s mind? We won’t know unless Trump chooses to speak on this issue. I suspect though if you have a lot of money, and scam artists are always circling, you have to develop a pretty well tuned BS meter. There is a lot in the Climategate scandal, to shake the confidence of even the most committed climate activist.
Trump has never explained why he is a skeptic, beyond stating that it is a scam foisted by the Chinese, which is ridiculous. And, I’m not sure what Worrall thinks of Trump, whether he is a supporter or not, but, sorry, Eric, it is a weak defense of Trump. Grist further notes
Other than that, Trump has been fairly consistent in his views on climate change — or consistent for Trump. Two months after signing the open letter, he told members of the Trump National Golf Club that Al Gore should be stripped of his Nobel Prize because that winter had been cold. “Gore wants us to clean up our factories and plants in order to protect us from global warming, when China and other countries couldn’t care less,†he said. “It would make us totally noncompetitive in the manufacturing world, and China, Japan and India are laughing at America’s stupidity.â€
But, what does he really believe? Was there some revelation that changed his mind? I myself was a believer, as I’ve noted many times. I’ve also noted recently that Trump may be backsliding on his supposed climate skepticism. Quite frankly, I do not care if one is a believer or a Skeptic: I care what a government official plans to do about it, and if those actions will cause harm to myself and other citizens.
