Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog
On Sunday's Velshi show, MSNBC invited the network's favorite kind of Republican -- the kind who votes for Democrats -- onto the show in the form of ex-EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman to join host Ali Velshi in trashing the Donald Trump administration over its opposition to global warming alarmism.
Velshi declared President Trump is "one of the biggest ecological disasters we are facing" as he also blamed global warming for recent weather and environmental disasters.
The MSNBC host began the segment by recalling the substantial wildfires in California before also informing viewers that, for the first time since 1959, there are two tropical storms headed for the Gulf Coast at the same time -- thus admitting that it's not the first time it's happened, although that point seems lost on him.
After portraying the disasters as unusual, he moved to tying them to global warming which he suggested would in future kill more people than the pandemic:
[video:https://www.mrctv.org/node/552944 align:center]
ALI VELSHI: The devastating wildfires and the threat of double hurricanes are really part of a larger story -- a story that, if we were living in normal times, would or should be all we ever talked about. While more than 177,000 Americans have died from COVID so far, the number of people who will die from unchecked global warming will dwarf that.
He then ignored arguments that better forest management would help mitigate California wildfires as he mocked President Trump's attempt to explain the issue:
VELSHI: We've got a President right now who refuses to acknowledge that either because he doesn't understand it, doesn't believe it, or is in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry. Here's him talking just last week about how to mitigate forest fires in California.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's starting again in California. I said, "You got to clean your forests -- you've got to clean your forests." They have many, many years of leaves and broken trees. And they're like so flammable -- you touch them, and it goes up.
VELSHI: Spoiler alert: Cleaning the forest floors will not stop wildfires. You probably knew that, but the President apparently doesn't because that is a President -- that's the President we have -- a President who is woefully ignorant to the gravest dangers to the health and safety of his fellow citizens.
Velshi's attempts to blame wildfires on global warming also ignores studies finding no such link.
After citing other examples to further mock the President over environmental issues, and listing several environmental regulations his administration has curtailed, the MSNBC host added:
We have a President who does not care about climate change. In fact, he's repeatedly called it a "hoax." It might be the thing that's getting the most news coverage right now -- it might not get any during this election season. But climate change is the single problem that is most important to our collective future, and this administration has no idea how to deal with it. So, right now, as natural disasters plague our world from pandemics to wildfires to double hurricanes, one of the biggest ecological disasters we are facing is Donald Trump himself.
He then introduced Whitman, and, after noting that the Republican Whitman has supported both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden against Trump, Velshi then cued her up to complain about her party on environmental issues:
You have argued for some time for this issue to stop being partisan. You've reminded people that the organization you headed, the EPA, was founded under a Republican administration in 1970. There was a time, and it is not illogical that Republicans and conservatives should care as much about the environment as anybody else.
This episode of Velshi was sponsored by Farmer's Insurance and Flex Paste.Their contact information is linked.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Sunday, August 23, Velshi on MSNBC:
8:50 a.m. Eastern
ALI VELSHI: The devastating wildfires and the threat of double hurricanes are really part of a larger story -- a story that, if we were living in normal times, would or should be all we ever talked about. While more than 177,000 Americans have died from COVID so far, the number of people who will die from unchecked global warming will dwarf that. We've got a President right now who refuses to acknowledge that either because he doesn't understand it, doesn't believe it, or is in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry. Here's him talking just last week about how to mitigate forest fires in California.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's starting again in California. I said, "You got to clean your forests -- you've got to clean your forests." They have many, many years of leaves and broken trees. And they're like so flammable -- you touch them, and it goes up.
VELSHI: Spoiler alert: Cleaning the forest floors will not stop wildfires. You probably knew that, but the President apparently doesn't because that is a President -- that's the President we have -- a President who is woefully ignorant to the gravest dangers to the health and safety of his fellow citizens. Maybe, as these tropical storms menace the Gulf Coast, we will see another sharpie-drawn map that will change their path because we have a President who also actually did that. We have a President who once suggested using nuclear weapons to stop hurricanes.
We have a President who has spent his time in office dismantling environmental protections apparently out of nothing more than spite for the President who established them, Barack Obama. A President who, just this month, rolled back a rule limiting methane leaks even though the gas industry that stands to benefit from the rollback didn't actually want it. A President who, just this week, had to pause his plan to greenlight a gold and copper mine in Alaska because of pushback from fellow Republicans, including his own son, who worry about the harmful effect on the environment.
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One of the more egregious examples of journalistic malpractice by the liberal media is the reflexive portrayal of questionable police violence as a racial issue by giving disproportionate coverage to African American victims while ignoring nearly all victims who are of other races -- even though about 75 percent of police shooting victims are not black. Such lopsided coverage unnecessarily stokes racial tensions by making it appear that it is commonplace for police officers to act recklessly towards black suspects while being more careful in the treatment of others, [[[even though this is not borne out by the numbers.]]]
A classic example illustrating this point is demonstrated by the large amount of time devoted to the botched police raid that resulted in the death of Breonna Taylor, a black woman in Louisville, Kentucky, versus a similarly questionable raid last year that resulted in the deaths of a white couple -- Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle -- in Houston during a no-knock warrant raid. The lead narcotics officer in the case, Gerald Goines, was arrested seven months later amid accusations that he lied to get a search warrant against the couple.
It is also significant that, even in cases when a white victim being shot is caught on bodycam video, the media are still likely to ignore it.
Just a couple of weeks ago, an Arlington, Texas, police officer was charged with accidentally shooting an unarmed white woman, Margarita Brooks, while she was simply lying under a tree resting, after her dog started chasing him. The shooting had actually happened more than a year earlier, but he was only just recently arrested. None of the networks has so far covered the story.
And, just last week, bodycam video was released showing an unarmed white autistic teen, Linden Cameron, being shot by police in Salt Lake City, which happened just a few weeks ago and received very little media attention. Last Tuesday, after bodycam video was arrested, CBS This Morning gave the story four minutes, and World News Tonight aired a mere 31-second brief as other shows ignored it.
By contrast, since May, up until Tuesday, September 22 -- the day before the grand jury decision not to indict the officers who killed Taylor - ABC's World News Tonight had already given the story more than 12 minutes of time, covering it on 10 separate episodes. The CBS Evening News gave it more than 13 minutes, also across 10 episodes; and the NBC Nightly News devoted more than 19 minutes across 12 episodes.
CNN's thee-hour morning news show, New Day, gave the Taylor case more than 51 minutes in the same time period. By contrast, according to Nexis, there is no sign that CNN ever covered the botched no-knock warrant in Houston that occurred in January 2019 and shined light on the controversial use of no-knock warrants.
In June of this year, during discussion of the Taylor case, CNN host Alisyn Camerota notably remarked that, "I don't even know that many of us knew that there was such a thing as a 'no-knock warrant' until Breonna Taylor was killed."
That, of course, is because media outlets like her did not cover the Houston case and do not find police-related violence involving all racial groups to be newsworthy.
ABC also ignored the Houston case while the NBC Nightly News gave it
and the CBS Evening News gave it a mere 31 seconds.
nd:
(41)
17
32
30
30
30
12
19
26
42
10
51
30
36
57
27
44
38
17
32
36
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616 --> 10:16 --> 51:16
wn
(7)
28
35
21
55
54
21
29
28
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20
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327 --> 5:27 --> 12:27
cn:
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12
15
11
22
11
50
35
28
53
23
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260 --> 4:20 --> 13:20
nn:
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58
11
14
50
56
15
8
45
19
32
26
43
-------
427 --> 7:07 --> 19:07
317 --> 6:17 --> 17:17
We have a President who does not care about climate change. In fact, he's repeatedly called it a "hoax." It might be the thing that's getting the most news coverage right now -- it might not get any during this election season. But climate change is the single problem that is most important to our collective future, and this administration has no idea how to deal with it. So, right now, as natural disasters plague our world from pandemics to wildfires to double hurricanes, one of the biggest ecological disasters we are facing is Donald Trump himself.
10/7/2015 03:30 5.00 - 3.75
Joining me now, former New Jersey governor and former EPA administrator during the Bush administration, Christine Todd Whitman. She is notably a Republican, but she has endorsed Joe Biden at the Democratic National Convention last Monday. She also endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016. Governor, good to see you again. You have argued for some time for this issue to stop being partisan. You've reminded people that the organization you headed, the EPA, was founded under a Republican administration in 1970. There was a time, and it is not illogical that Republicans and conservatives should care as much about the environment as anybody else.
CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN, FORMER EPA ADMINISTRATOR: Absolutely. I mean, "conservative" -- it's conservation. Those two things go together. And it used to be our issue -- we used to believe in it, and believed we needed to do something, and plus the fact is, as you point out, it's about public health -- it's about public safety -- it's not a partisan issue. These things that are happening -- these fires, the hurricanes, the COVID -- none of them care about what party you belong to.
None of them care about whether you're rich or poor or where you live. And so it's about all of us -- all of our health. And you were right -- I was laughing when I first came on because of what you said about our biggest natural disaster being the President. You're absolutely right. What he has done has been for short-term political gain at the long-term expense of our health and our environment.
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