June 14 update – The first Presidential debate of 2024 is in less than two weeks and we’ve got a big opportunity. Our friends at Climate Hawks Vote – a pro-climate action super PAC – have launched a new tool that lets you send suggested questions and debate topics directly to CNN’s Chief Executive. We’ll be delivering the nearly to 5,000 signatures on our petition next week, but we also wanted to give you a chance to put your two cents in. Click here to send your own message directly to CNN. Not sure what to say? Here are a few sample questions you can copy and paste into your message:
- For President Biden: “You said last year that you ‘practically’ declared a climate emergency. But you didn’t. With more and more deadly climate fueled weather killing more Americans every month, will you declare an actual state of emergency on the climate crisis?”
- For Donald Trump: “You’ve said you want to ‘drill baby drill’ on day one of your administration. But the US is already producing more oil and gas than ever before, and is the largest exporter of fossil gas in the world already. Where else would you drill for oil and gas that we’re not already drilling? Would you propose opening the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to drilling again, as you did in your first term?”
- For President Biden: “You often talk about growth of renewable energy – which is in fact surging under your administration. But so are fossil fuels – we’re producing more oil and gas than ever before in our nations history and exporting more of it than any other nation on earth under your administration. How do you reconcile all that new fossil fuel production and export with your commitment to lead the world in fighting climate change?”
You can also help us spread the word by sharing these actions online:
On June 27th, up to 100 million Americans will watch the first Presidential Debate of the 2024 election live on CNN. There is no bigger platform for the candidates to explain their positions and plans for the future to voters; And there is no bigger problem or greater threat to the nation than climate change and the fossil fueled fascists profiteering off the crisis.
Project 2025 is Trump and the fossil fuel industry’s scheme to remake America into a fascist state with Trump as the supreme leader. Project 2025 seeks to purge the government of non-partisan experts, replacing them with radical ideologues and climate deniers loyal only to Trump’s fossil fuel fascist movement.
We’ve told you before about about Project 2025 and its roadmap for fossil fueled fascism: A national ban on abortion; Separation of families at the border; Defunding the FBI and using the Justice Department to prosecute Trump’s political enemies; The end of birthright citizenship, and the creation of deportation camps; The end of all investment in clean energy and electric vehicles; and of course fossil fuel bailouts and funding in place of grants and investments to fight the climate crisis.
But the extreme plan has been getting some big corporate backers – including JP Morgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon, the #1 investor in fossil fuels that are killing the planet, as per the 2024 Banking on Climate Chaos report; Not to mention the “deal” Trump offered fossil fuel executives to roll back specific Biden Administration rules and regulations in exchange for $1 billion.
Four years ago, then-Fox news host Chris Wallace asked the first question about climate change in 20 years of Presidential debates. After more than an hour of chaos and cross-talk, Wallace asked Donald Trump: “What do you believe about the science of climate change and what will you do in the next four years to confront it?” The question reduced the existential threat to all life on earth to a he-said, he-said theory that was up for debate. Trump’s answer was, predictably, an erratic word salad about the color of water that barely addressed the question. In other words, not hard to beat.
This time it’s up to CNN to decide what questions to ask, and how to ask them. And we think it’s essential that CNN ask Trump specifically about Project 2025, that fossil fuel bribery deal, and climate change. Making that link is how anti-fascist climate groups like us connect the dots between fascist and authoritarian rulers – like Trump, Putin, and others — and the fossil fuel industry that powers their political campaigns. As Svitlana Romanko of Razom We Stand put it last week in a blog post about the connections of fossil fuels to fascism:
The impact of fossil fuels on politics creates a truly dystopian reality.
If you agree, sign on here and we’ll deliver all the comments and signatures to CNN before the debate in two+ weeks. We’ll also keep you in the loop about additional ways to take action and call out fossil fueled fascism on the campaign trail.