Trump can keep on claiming that global warming isn’t a thing for the benefit of his base, but that doesn’t make it a fact. After all, if a deranged troglodyte tells you that, say, energy-saving light bulbs can give you cancer, that doesn’t make it so – it makes it nonsense.
Depressingly, it’s not just climate change the Republican nominee is denying. Trump has an unprecedentedly poor grasp of basic scientific facts and policy, from vaccinations and sleep to energy policies. You can peruse through his embarrassing array of scientific misunderstandings in one of our previous features, or on this detailed Q&A session over at Scientific American.
However, it’s clear he simply doesn’t care. Trump and his supporters are continually conflating “feelings” with facts. As one notable Trump surrogate pointed out, he trusts people’s feelings over data anytime.
This is why pointing out Trump’s blatant lies – in this case, his scientific falsehoods – in this way is so important. The US cannot afford to be led into a post-factual age where objective information becomes irrelevant. The stakes are simply too high this time around.
A more informed electorate is more likely to make a more sensible choice when it comes to the ballot box. Descartes’ famous proposition was “I think, therefore I am” – and critical thinking could stop a terribly dangerous, unscientific man from occupying the Oval Office.
Be careful what you wish for. Vacclav/Shutterstock