During tonight’s CNN GOP presidential primary debate, anchor Jake Tapper dropped a question that would have been in place at a Democrat debate- which was the question on what the candidates would do to cut carbon emissions. This question stuck out like a brick of fake seed oil-and-soy meat in the beef aisle of your local supermarket.
Watch as Tapper drops pure climate agenda into the GOP debate:
JAKE TAPPER: Turning to the topic of climate, 2023 was the hottest year ever recorded on Earth, and Americans are already feeling the impact. Just yesterday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that the U.S. experienced 28 weather and climate-related disasters that cost at least $1 billion last year, another record. Governor Desantis, here in Florida, ma-- I’m sorry, governor Desantis, here in Iowa, massive flooding left farmers underwater. In Florida, rising seas threaten coastal cities. You have taken action in your home state to mitigate the problems of rising seas. But as president, would you do anything to deal with the underlying cause which scientists agree requires cutting carbon emissions.
In fairness, this was the only question levied at the candidates which could have been considered to have a left-wing bias, including on abortion. Tapper introduced the debate by saying that in choosing topics, they’d focused on the issues important to Republicans as part of their commitment to provide as much information as possible to voters. For the most part, he and Dana Bash kept that commitment. Except for the one question.
I suppose it could’ve been far worse, and I suppose the climate question was inevitable. This is the same Jake Tapper that devoted the final edition of State of the Union in 2023 to the indulgement of climate hysteria, and to Al Gore’s wild attribution of “populist authoritarianism and dictatorships” to climate change.
Each of the candidates handled the question in their own manner, calling for innovation, energy independence, and a rollback of mandates. Tapper’s followups were minimal and non-combative.
Other than this one question, the CNN debate moderators largely kept their promise to ask questions that were more relevant to Republican primary voters.
Click here to view the full transcript of the aforementioned exchange as aired on the CNN Republican Debate on Wednesday, January 10th, 2024:
JAKE TAPPER: Turning to the topic of climate, 2023 was the hottest year ever recorded on Earth, and Americans are already feeling the impact. Just yesterday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that the U.S. experienced 28 weather and climate-related disasters that cost at least $1 billion last year, another record. Governor Desantis, here in Florida, ma-- I’m sorry, governor Desantis, here in Iowa, massive flooding left farmers underwater. In Florida, rising seas threaten coastal cities. You have taken action in your home state to mitigate the problems of rising seas. But as president, would you do anything to deal with the underlying cause which scientists agree requires cutting carbon emissions.
RON DESANTIS: So on Day One as president, we take Biden's Green New Deal, we tear it up and throw it in the trash can. It is bad for this country. We have to have reliable energy. And here’s the thing. You know, they talk about- Joe Biden said that global warming is worse than a nuclear war and I'm just thinking to myself, gee, John Kerry hasn't given up his private jet. Obama hasn't given up his Martha's Vineyard seaside mansion. I haven't seen Biden do anything to hold China accountable except making sure that Hunter gets his money. So these guys talk out of one side of their mouth and then they behave in another way, and I think that’s wrong. But I also think that those policies would devastate communities, particularly here in Iowa. I mean, for example, he wants to mandate electric vehicles. That's gonna be more costly. I think the car companies would go bankrupt but it’s going to hurt liquid fuels, which is very, very important. You’re going to end up having rolling blackouts if they kneecap reliable energy production in this country. Florida’s had a massive decline in emissions. Wasn't because of a single mandate. It was because of innovation, because a lot of natural gas has replaced coal. We do have market-based solar and it's a compliment, but we cannot walk away from reliable energy. And I think about- here’s what the left wants to do. They want to take away your freedom and they want you to pay more for everything. We need you to pay less for energy and we need to make sure people can innovate. We cannot have these mandates and they will be gone the day I'm president.
TAPPER: So, Governor, just a point of clarification, 15 seconds. Recent research at the University of Iowa ties these floods in Iowa to the rise in greenhouse gases.
DESANTIS: And here’s the thing --
TAPPER: Let me just ask the question. As president, would you do anything to deal with this underlying cause?
DESANTIS: Innovate. And here’s the thing. China is building two coal plants a week. You can do everything Biden wants to do, and you’re going to have way more of what China is increasing it. So why would we be cutting off our nose to spite our face? China is the problem here. And so, hold them accountable. But don’t hold the American people to less opportunity.
TAPPER: Thank you, Governor. Governor Haley, as president, would you do anything to deal with the underlying cause of the floods and other climate disasters which scientists agree requiring- requires cutting carbon emissions?
NIKKI HALEY: I mean, first of all, regardless of what party, everybody wants to have clean air, clean water. They want a world that they can pass on to their kids that will be healthy and all of that. But it’s, how do we do that? I think the first thing we have to understand is you don't deal in extremes. When I was at the United Nations, the reason I took us out of the Paris climate agreement was because president Obama had put all these mandates on our businesses but they didn't do anything to hold China and India to account. Those are the two countries we have to go to if we care about the environment that we go and make them be held accountable. The second thing is, we’ll roll back all of Biden's green subsidies because they are misplaced. Rather than putting anything towards innovation on what we can do on nuclear fusion and other things that reduce emissions, which there are things out there, to go and have everybody have to drive an electric car by 2035, that's not even smart. One, because which, by the way, Ron took Biden's stimulus money and did charging stations all throughout Florida. I wouldn't have taken the stimulus money. But what that does is basically we don't have the infrastructure. And I am not just talking about charging stations. Electric vehicles are heavy. Our roads and bridges wouldn't be able to handle that if we did that because they are heavy in weight. And so we have to be smart about the way we do that. Not to mention, 70% of the batteries in electric cars are made in China. So Biden gave this massive windfall to our number one national security threat. If we are going to do it, innovate it, transition, and do it the right way. Not in an extreme.
