Trump does not do hurricanes well. In fact it would be fair to say that Trump relates to hurricanes the way oil mixes with water. Maybe it has something to do with his lack of empathy, perhaps it has to do with the fact that every extreme weather event exposes the irrationality of his rejection of climate science and highlights the insanity of this administration's energy agenda.  A succession of once in a lifetime storms provides tangible support for the veracity of climate change.  However, Trump is not one to accept reality unless it suits him. When he is confronted with the facts Trump does what he does best, he lies.

Extreme weather wreaked havoc in Asia this year. This includes extreme rainfalls, flooding and landslides in Japan, Vietnam, and China. At least 78 were killed by Typhoon Mangkhut. But these events did not seem to register for Trump, which given his America First policy should come as no surprise.

In the span of ten days two hurricanes slammed into the heart of Trump country. Hurricane Florence drenched the US East Coast and killed 53 people, Hurricane Michael made landfall in the Florida panhandle and is known to have killed 36 so far. Florence brought devastating rains and Michael turned out to be one the strongest storms ever to hit Florida with wind speeds surpassing 155 miles an hour.

"They say that we had hurricanes that were far worse than what we just had with Michael," Trump told 60 Minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl who went on to ask, "What about the scientists who say it's worse than ever?" the president replied, "You'd have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agenda."

Casting aspersions on the scientists who point out the link between hurricanes and climate change is an example of Trump's deflection, one of the many ways he obfuscates. Trump completely ignores attribution science including the most recent research that links climate change to Hurricane Florence.

In a move that speaks to Trump's insensitivity he held a rally as Hurricane Michael ravaged parts of northern Florida. A day after Hurricane Michael made landfall Trump met with Kanye West in a surreal White House spectacle. When Trump visited a FEMA aid distribution center in Lynn Haven the next day he proclaimed, "we've called for maximum relief." He also made a number of confusing comments including his conviction that those involved in the recovery efforts are "doing more than anybody would have ever done" and Trump called Hurricane Florence "very wet, in terms of water". It all reads like a comedy and it would be laughable if these were not comments uttered by a man who is the leader of the world's most powerful nation.

Trump is perhaps most disliked for kicking people when they are down as he did to San Juan's Mayor Carmen Yulin, Cruz. After Hurricane Maria hit San Juan was devastated and Mayor Cruz pleaded for help Trump responded by calling her "totally incompetent". He did something similar recently when he attacked Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum just before Hurricane Michael slammed into the Florida Panhandle.

Polls show that Gillum is poised to beat Trump's candidate Ron DeSantis in the forthcoming Florida Gubernatorial election. Trump is the kind of man who is not above trying to score political points by attacking people who are facing calamity. This flagrant disregard for the suffering and death of Americans does not offer very good optics.  

Some Republicans may respond well to Trump's callousness and his resistance to the science, some may even mistake it for strength. However, the polls suggest the majority of Americans are not impressed.. Those outside of his base see him in a far less flattering light. With a 60 percent disapproval rating, he is one of the most unpopular presidents in history. His propensity for being insensitive colors the way Trump is seen by broad swaths of the American public.

These negative perceptions are corroborated by Trump's actions on the ground. Some of his most insensitive remarks were directed at Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Trump is infamous for handing out paper towels as Puerto Ricans were trying to cope with the widespread devastation caused by two successive hurricanes. With total losses estimated at upwards of  more than $91 billion Hurricane Maria is one of the most costly storms on record, it is also one of the most lethal. As people were dying last October Trump was quick to commend his administration for doing a  "tremendous job". He even had the audacity to brag about the low death toll.

According to a George Washington University study commissioned by the governor of Puerto Rico, there were 2,975 fatalities attributed to Maria. Another independent analysis from public health experts at Harvard University estimates that 5,740 people likely died as a result of the hurricane. The official death toll now stands at 3,057.

Trump demonstrated that his insensitivity knows no bounds when he continued to tout his administration's hurricane relief efforts even after it became clear that the death toll in Puerto Rico was far worse than he had originally claimed. Trump and the White House simply refused to accept the facts. Press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump "remains proud of all of the work the Federal family undertook to help our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico."  To which Mayor Cruz responded, "what is there to be proud of? 2,970 dead. Is that what he's proud of?"

Mayor Cruz pulled no punches saying the administration led her to believe they were helping when they weren't. She blamed Trump, the federal government and Puerto Rican officials for failing to provide adequate assistance in the aftermath of Maria. "Many of them died because of what was done by the administration and that was silently approved by most of the political class in Puerto Rico," Cruz told CNN. "The administration killed the Puerto Ricans with neglect," Cruz said, adding "Shame on President Trump."

Trump's most recent  statements reinforce the view that in addition to being dishonest he is woefully misguided.  He made ridiculous statements about climate change and touted his "instinct" for science, he even called himself an "environmentalist". Although these comments may seem outlandish, this should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the seemingly endless succession of lies streaming out of his administration.

Later in the same interview he said Washington is, "the most deceptive, vicious world. It is vicious, it's full of lies, deceit and deception." This is how Trump rolls-out from underneath his mountain of subterfuge. He tries to deflect attention away from his dishonesty by saying others are doing what he himself is guilty of. His go to move is a twisted game of, "I know you are but what am I".  The fact that this kind of schoolyard banter is coming from the man who occupies the Oval Office is troubling to say the least. Trump's callousness makes his puerile behavior that much more unsettling.

Trump is a painful combination of ignorance and insensitivity. Trump is a nightmare and not just for climate action. Rather the combat the conditions that fuel these hurricanes, this president is stoking the fires of climate change and adding to the likelihood of even more devastating storms.

President Obama seamlessly assumed the role of comforter-and-chief whereas Trump's response has added insult to injury. Presidents like Calvin Coolidge and George W. Bush were hurt by their response to extreme weather events and Mitt Romney's presidential bid was hobbled by Hurricane Sandy.

When it comes to the connection between hurricanes and climate change it is a contest between the facts and the world's leading purveyor of fake news.  It remains to be seen whether Teflon Don can manage to avoid being singed by the encroaching heat.

The Implications of Trump's Reprehensible Rejection of Climate Science

Like the Republican party he now owns, Donald Trump derides science because it exposes his ignorance. The enormous body of scientific evidence makes it impossible for thinking people to deny the veracity of anthropogenic climate change. Those who seek to malign climate science are guilty of an egregious lie that jeopardizes national security and compromises people's health and well being. It also exacerbates divisions by fraying the unifying fabric rational thought.

Trump rejects science for the same reasons he maligns the press. Eradicating fact based narratives give him license to enact an agenda that is at odds with the national interest. His obfuscation serves corporate interests, especially that of the fossil fuel industry which is the single largest industrial contributor to the climate crisis.

Republicans are complicit in the fossil fuel industry's climate denial because they are handsomely rewarded for their rejection of science. Aided by the Citizens United ruling the fossil fuel industry gives Republicans vast sums of money to propagate lies that protect their interests. The facts are a threat to their multi-trillion dollar business.  Embracing science means rejecting this form of dirty energy.

The goal of their disinformation is to muddy the waters of scientific research and ultimately undermine the perceived veracity of scientific findings. 

Trump recently made a series of clearly inaccurate comments about climate change. When asked about whether he still thinks climate change  is a hoax Trump appeared to modify his position bringing him in line with many other Republicans who question its anthropogenic origins. "I think something's happening. Something's changing and it'll change back again," Trump said. "I don't think it's a hoax. I think there's probably a difference. But I don't know that it's man-made." He completely ignores the vast body of research that demonstrates the anthropogenic origins of climate change.

Trump also said, “I want to look at who drew it—you know, which group drew it."  The answer seemed to indicate that the President had never heard of the IPCC, the world's leading climate science organization. This represents a level of ignorance that is more concerning than surprising.

When the Associated Press asked Trump about the report he gave an even crazier response.
"And you have scientists on both sides of the issue. And I agree the climate changes, but it goes back and forth, back and forth." When the interviewer pointed out that this is not in fact true Trump said:
"My uncle was a great professor at MIT for many years. Dr. John Trump," he said. "And I didn’t talk to him about this particular subject, but I have a natural instinct for science, and I will say that you have scientists on both sides of the picture." He even had the audacity to call himself an "environmentalist".  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Trump's lies with predictable regularity and he is infamous for his doublespeak but to say that he is an environmentalist or that there are scientists on both sides of the climate issue is patently false. His suggestion that he has an instinct for science is a bizarre oxymoron even for the liar-and-chief.  Science is a meticulous methodology, it is premised on procedures not instinct.

The few scientific findings that purportedly question the veracity of climate science have been all proven to be incorrect. There are only three papers that deny climate change and they have all been found to be flawed. Replication is a corner stone of the scientific method and the findings of these three papers cannot be replicated.

Other pseudo-scientific right-wing front groups have developed elaborate disinformation campaigns. Some have been exposed for falsifying data.  Groups like the fossil fuel funded Heartland Institute are going into schools and depriving children of a fact-based education by handing out fake science textbooks that downplay the importance of anthropogenic climate change.

Trump may be the laughing stock of the world but his actions still bite. His withdrawal from the Paris Climate agreement makes it that much more difficult to achieve emissions reduction targets that will keep the earth from warming beyond the upper prescribed limit. His actions have global significance. According to the most recent IPCC report we are quickly approaching the point of no return. We are on the cusp of climate tipping points from which we will not be able to recover.

Trump is making an already perilous situation even worse. Even if all nations on earth honored the emissions reduction pledges they made as part of the Paris Climate Agreement we will not be able to keep the planet from dangerous levels of warming. Improving on these commitments is a daunting task in the light of Republican climate denial and Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the agreement.  To make matters worse Trump has adopted an insane energy policy and embraced what can only be described as a national policy of energy inefficiency.

"Unfortunately, the Trump administration has become a rogue outlier in its shortsighted attempt to prop up the dirty fossil fuel industries of the past. The administration is in direct conflict with American businesses, states, cities and citizens leading the transformation." Climate guru and former Vice President Al Gore said.

Trump's resistance to crafting policy based on science allows him to execute an insane energy agenda. It also facilitated the deregulatory orgy of the former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt who waged war against science during his stint at the EPA.

Pruitt not only purged scientists, according to the Washington Post he excluded them from participating in the rule-making on the use of scientific studies. The goal of the rewrite was to find a pretext to reject valid data that contradicts his agenda of radical deregulation. The Post reports that almost 70 prominent scientific, medical and academic organizations challenged Pruitt's proposal. Pruitt ignored his mandate while at the helm of the EPA and in so doing he compromised the health of Americans.  He turned a blind eye to things like fine particulate pollution which is know to put people at risk for coronary heart disease and respiratory illnesses. The EPA panel that was working on airborne particulate matter has been disbanded.

The acting EPA director Andrew Wheeler has already replaced five of seven members on the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee with industry supporters. Now he is setting his sights on stacking important agency science advisory bodies with insiders who will support radical deregulation. 

As reported by Climatewire, some of the finalists for the EPA's Science Advisory Board include people from the fossil fuel industry and leading climate denial advocacy groups. This includes an economist from the Heritage foundation and scientists who work at Exxon Mobil and Chevron. These people all have a track record of opposing mainstream science and environmental regulations. These people make wildly inaccurate statements including one who downplays the impact of air pollution on human health and another who argues that carbon is good for the planet. More than one finalist hails from the Heartland Institute.

Anthony Lupo, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Missouri, Columbia is one of the contenders who subscribe to the factually inaccurate view that while the earth may be warming humans are not to blame. He takes it one step further when he makes the wildly erroneous claim that increased levels of carbon are actually good for the planet.

To make matters worse the international cooperation that is required to combat climate change is being undermined by Trump's assaults on international institutions like the United Nations. The departure of Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the UN may signal an even harder line.

The Trump administration and his Republican minions use science as a political football to further their destructive agenda. Both Republican legislators and the Trump administration are virulently opposed to science. They have made an already daunting situation far more difficult. Their mendacity in the face of this civilization altering crisis is unconscionable. History will not be kind to this generation of Republicans, nor will it be kind to this president.

* Updated on October, 21, 2018 at 9:25 am