I have no doubt that it will eventually happen but I’m curious what twisted logic they will use to do it.
“No one ever warned us that climate change would be a problem! Why didn’t Biden and the Woke Democrats try to wake us up to this?!?”
That will no doubt be the message but they also have to show that Democrats also caused the problem.
Find a Democratic senator from the '30s who was friendly with the oil industry and hold him up as “proof” that “the Democrat Party is the party of pollution”, much like they dust off Robert Byrd’s corpse whenever they want to deny that the KKK is on their side.
“The Democrats knew that we would take an opposing view, so by trying to prevent climate change, they forced us to make it happen!”
This thread should probably be in MPSIMS or BBQ Pit.
I wasn’t sure what the appropriate forum would be. I don’t object to moving it.
Or, alternatively at the same time, “If those hippy environmentalist Democrats in the 70s had let us drill all the oil back then, we wouldn’t have any left to burn now! All the oil we’re burning now is their fault!”
I don’t think there will ever actually be a point when anyone has to accept that climate change is real. People’s memories are so short and the actual process so slow that all we’ll ever see is a continual “It’s always been this way” mentality. We’re already seeing it when “100 year storms” happen every year or so and more and more coastal cities getting flooded out by hurricanes. There won’t ever be a singular event, just worsening conditions for most people over the next century, and deniers will drift from “It’s not happening” to “Whatever might be happening isn’t our fault”
Thank you. I agree, it isn’t a good fit for P&E because it is a “poisoned well” OP. I think the Pit is a better fit than MPSIMS. I’ll move it.
That’s my guess too. People are already discounting their childhood memories of things being generally cooler as childish memories. Yet it was cooler then than it is now, both in winter and summer.
And the usual short-term divergences make people unable to perceive the longer-term trends, and they go “Durr… we had more 100 degree days back in 1980, this isn’t anything new” without realizing that the annual count is trending upwards steadily since the 1970s.
My guess is, by the year 2030 or so, they won’t blame Democrats for the climate change itself, nor will they deny that climate change itself is happening, but they will stubbornly insist that any measures taken to fight climate change are too costly.
Republicans: “We agree that the climate is getting worse and worse.”
Democrats: “Finally you agree. Now please vote for this $4 trillion plan that will reduce carbon emissions by 30%.”
Republicans: “TOO EXPENSIVE!”
“We wanted to draft legislation to mitigate climate change, but Democrats were too focused on stuff like abortion and trans rights and healthcare.”
Republicans will vehemently oppose any effort to curb or mitigate climate change but will whine and beg for federal aid when their district’s farmlands dry up and coastal areas flood. It’s already been happening with California’s central valley with farmers begging for water in dry years and Republicans promising to “open up the water” when doing so will be devastating to aquifers in the long-term. They’ll never admit these problems are due to climate change and certainly never admit that they’re due to human activity.
The closest a considerable portion of republicans will get to accepting climate change is here is when they “accept” that the end-of-days has begun.
Also Republicans: “Tax cuts for the top 5%!”
Drive along I-5 or CA-99 in the central valley and you will see signs in farmland like “Pelosi’s Drought”, “Newsom’s Drought” and “Congress-caused Drought” to the backdrop of a dead orchard. Their problems are always Democrat-caused.
This is already a solid plank of the Republican party.
“Forest fires are caused by too many trees - the Democrats have been preventing logging. Droughts are caused by lack of dams - the Democrats cancelled all new water storage projects - look at all the water getting wasted by flowing out to sea, just to save a bunch of fish! It’s always been this hot/cold/wet/dry - only the Democrat-controlled MSM is whipping up headlines about “climate change” while we all know it’s just “weather”. I don’t need some egghead in D.C. telling me what’s going on - look, it’s a beautiful day! - the Democrats are just trying to scare people into downgrading their lifestyle and destroy America with this climate change hoax!”
“Democrats don’t like nuclear power.”
“If the Democrats weren’t discrediting themselves by telling so many other lies, we would have believed them when they were telling us the truth about climate change.”
“If the Democrats hadn’t wasted so much money on their handouts to special interests, we would have had the funds to address real problems like climate change.”
And of course:
“The Republican party has always led the way in the fight against climate change. We’re glad the Democrats have finally decided to join us.”
“We’ve been trying for years to get the U.S.-based auto manufacturers to up their fleet’s MGP, and to move away from coal power plants to nuclear, but the Democrats have been fighting us all the way!”
“If we’d have kept out of all those international trade agreements the Democrats got us into, we’d have been able to keep American industry strong and better manage emissions here, but now we have to deal with polluting Jy-na!”
“We were always right because woke woke, wokety woke woke woke”