The One Lie Trump's Team Won't Tell (Does He Think Climate Change Is a Hoax?)

Trump and his aides lie about everything — from crowd sizes and secret meetings with Russian officials, to whether the president is or isn’t actually playing golf on taxpayers’ dime on a given Saturday.

You’d be forgiven for assuming there’s nothing they wouldn’t lie about. But it turns out that even the Kellyanne Conways of the world have their limits.

Conway, Spicer, White House aides on background, even Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, won’t deny that the President of the United States thinks climate change is a “hoax” — an anti-science claim he’s made on numerous occasions over the years, including at least — one, two, three, four, five, six — six (!) times in tweets that are still up on his Twitter account.

Without further ado, here’s the Trump Administration’s latest hedging on his climate change beliefs…

First off, here’s Kellyanne Conway this morning (keep in mind this is the third time she was asked the question during the interview):

STEPHANOPOULOS: I’ll ask you one more time: Does [Trump] believe global warming is a hoax?

CONWAY: You should ask him that… and I hope you have the chance.

And then there’s Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who was asked a similar question on this morning’s CNN New Day:

CAMEROTA: The overarching question is: Does the president still think that climate change is a hoax? He had tweeted about that in the past. Does he believe it’s a hoax?

ZINKE: Well, I certainly don’t believe it’s a hoax.

But wait, there’s more. On a background briefing call yesterday, White House officials similarly refused to deny that Trump thinks climate change is a hoax.

REPORTER: Does the President believe human activity leads to climate change?

WH OFFICIAL: So I think that — I mean, the fact that the president in his speech today said that he wants to come back and renegotiate a better deal for the United States and for the world I think pretty much speaks for itself.

REPORTER: So is that a yes?

WH OFFICIAL: Again, I think — I think that speaks for itself.

REPORTER: It doesn’t speak for itself. […]

WH OFFICIAL: Whether he — you know, I have not talked to the president about his personal views on whether … I was not with the president on his trip. I have not talked to the president about his personal views on what is contributing to climate change. That’s not the point. Can we stay on topic, please?

The Trump Administration will lie about just about anything, but when it comes to saying that Trump believes climate change is real — and not a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Published: Jun 2, 2017