# Louie Gohmert is listening to the wrong Q **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 9, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916 "2021-06-09T18:53:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/1 "2021-06-09T18:53:21Z")
He has decide that the solution to climate change is simple–just have the Forest Service change the gravitational constant of the universe. > **[GOP Rep Louie Gohmert ridiculed for asking whether US gov’t can change...](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/louie-gohmert-earth-orbit-moon-climate-change-b1862732.html)** > > ‘I would have to follow up with you on that one’ a US Forest Service official says in response to congressman ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/2 "2021-06-09T19:23:09Z")
The Independent doesn’t want to play nicely but Rolling Stone also covered this. I love the opening quote: > Rep. [Louie Gohmert](https://www.rollingstone.com/t/louie-gohmert/) (R-TX), who admitted recently that some consider him “[the dumbest guy in Congress](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/louis-gohmert-dumbest-guy-congress-b1851356.html),” appears intent on proving those people right. > **['The Dumbest Guy in Congress' Asks U.S. Forest Service If It Can Change...](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/louie-gohmert-moon-orbit-nasa-climate-1180092/)** > > Rep. Louie Gohmert asks U.S. Forest Service whether it could "change the course of the moon's orbit, or the Earth's orbit around the sun?" This quote sums up his ignorance though: > We know there’s been significant solar flare activity, and so — is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM can do to change the course of the moon’s orbit, or the Earth’s orbit around the sun?” Gohmert inquired. “Obviously that would have profound effects on our climate.” ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/3 "2021-06-09T19:25:50Z")
I honestly don’t know what dumber, the thought that we could just change our orbit, or that the _Forest Service_ would be the ones to do it. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/4 "2021-06-09T19:28:39Z")
How many kinds of idiot can one person be at a single time? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/5 "2021-06-09T19:36:01Z")
People get dumber from standing too close to him. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/6 "2021-06-09T19:42:35Z")
Bravo to the OP for the Star Trek reference. Perfect! ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/7 "2021-06-09T19:44:22Z")
Gohmert is WAY too much of a dumbass to hang with Q. Q would have transformed him into a block of concrete or something, within an instant of meeting him or possibly millenia before. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/8 "2021-06-09T19:52:55Z")
Texas isn’t exactly sending us their best and brightest, are they? ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/9 "2021-06-09T19:55:28Z")
Gohmert’s point, not that I agree with it, is that climate change is not being caused by man, but by the natural change in the orbit of the earth and the moon and is therefore not something to be dealt with by “green energy.” He is not seriously suggesting that the Forest Service, or anyone else alter the orbits. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/10 "2021-06-09T20:00:24Z")
The hell he isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/11 "2021-06-09T20:00:33Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > Texas isn’t exactly sending us their best and brightest, are they? I think they are. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/12 "2021-06-09T20:06:18Z")
**Rep. Gohmert (R-TX):** _"I understand from what’s been testified to by the Forest Service and the BLM, you want very much to work on the issue of climate change understand that you want to work on the issue of climake change. I was informed by the immediate past director of NASA that the Moon’s orbit is changing slightly and so is the Earth’s orbit around the sun. And we know there has been significant solar flare activities. Um, and so, is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM can do to change the course of the Moon’s orbit or the Earth’s orbit around the sun? Obviously they would have profound effects on our climate._ " Do you think he is so dumb that he believes that BLM can change the orbits? Or is he being sarcastic, even if that sarcasm fails? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/13 "2021-06-09T20:09:11Z")
What leads you to believe he _isn’t_? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/14 "2021-06-09T20:13:33Z")
At least as far as I am concerned, because first and foremost to me he has always been clearly (among many other foolish things he is) a climate science denialist who wants to keep reaffirming that it’s just impossible and pointless for any human action to affect it for good or ill. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/15 "2021-06-09T20:16:29Z")
Indeed. And he is attempting, in his own silly way, to make the point that there is nothing that can be done about climate change. That man has nothing to do with it and the only way to stop it is to change the orbits of the earth and the moon…and you can’t do that, Ms. Forest Service representative, nor can your liberal buddies in BLM, can you? He doesn’t give two hoots about climate change in the first place, so he isn’t looking for some grand solution. It is a great hit piece for the liberal websites and newspapers, but on a board for fighting ignorance, we shouldn’t be passing it around as if he actually believes that these orbits can be altered. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/16 "2021-06-09T20:18:17Z")
So the alternative to the proposition that he’s an idiot, is that, no, he’s not, he’s just an idiot? Because even if he is trying to be sarcastic with that soundbite, doing so is incredibly politically stupid, because it’s so easy to use that soundbite to paint him as an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/17 "2021-06-09T20:22:46Z")
There is a gulf between the levels of idiocy that cause one to make a stupid political statement that causes negative press by the left wing rags of the world and the level of idiocy that causes one to believe that BLM can alter the orbits of the earth and the moon. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/18 "2021-06-09T20:25:47Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > There is a gulf between the levels of idiocy that cause one to make a stupid political statement that causes negative press by the left wing rags of the world and the level of idiocy that causes one to believe that BLM can alter the orbits of the earth and the moon You know, I think I’ll stick to what he directly says, rather than your interpretations that seem to directly contradict what he says-Thanks anyway. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/19 "2021-06-09T20:27:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So the alternative to the proposition that he’s an idiot, is that, no, he’s not, he’s just an idiot? Because even if he is trying to be sarcastic with that soundbite, doing so is incredibly politically stupid, because it’s so easy to use that soundbite to paint him as an idiot. Well, yes. @UltraVires is so clearly right here, I’m seriously having trouble understanding why anyone is arguing with him. As to whether Gohmert’s question was _politically_ stupid…maybe, maybe not. He doesn’t _care_ if the lamestream media portrays him as an idiot. To the extent that he cares, he probably views it as a badge of honor. Do a majority of likely voters in his district think his question is idiotic, or do they think he’s ridiculing what they view as pseudo-science? How about campaign donors? _That’s_ what he cares about. And I suspect he’s actually scoring points with them with stunts like this. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916/20 "2021-06-09T20:27:56Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Gohmert’s point, not that I agree with it, is that climate change is not being caused by man, but by the natural change in the orbit of the earth and the moon and is therefore not something to be dealt with by “green energy.” He is not seriously suggesting that the Forest Service, or anyone else alter the orbits. This is pretty obviously the correct read. It’s the difference between garden variety stupid, and cartoon stupid. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/louie-gohmert-is-listening-to-the-wrong-q/943916.md?page=2)