Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on Monday that he believes climate change is caused by abortions, not burning fossil fuels.
Speaking on a podcast with former Trump campaign strategist and fellow Trump ally Stephen Bannon, who was just released from prison, Carlson denied the scientific consensus that fossil fuel use is behind global heating, and that this in turn fuels hurricanes like those which recently struck the American Southeast. Striking a religious note, Carlson attributed continuously rising temperatures to the supposed moral failures of American women.
“It’s probably abortion, actually,” Carlson said, later describing the practice as “human sacrifice.” After conceding that he will be “attacked” for his opinion, Carlson added “I really believe it.”
While hurricanes are a natural phenomenon, they have become more frequent and more intense over the years. Scientists have provided strong evidence that the dynamic behind this is an increase of greenhouse gasses from human industry that trap heat, cooking the oceans to extreme levels that cause greater evaporation. Additionally, the increase in CO2 allows more vapor to form in the air. This supercharges these tropical storms — and obviously it has nothing to do with health care or reproductive rights.
Carlson’s comments are part of a broader trend of spreading misinformation about both climate change and the pair of recent hurricanes, Helene and Milton, that struck millions of Americans. A recent report by the London-based think tank the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) found that when those hurricanes struck in October, social media accounts linked to Russian state-affiliated media spread misinformation that promoted right-wing themes. They inaccurately claimed relief organizations such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were incompetent or actively trying to harm ordinary Americans. Many hurricane victims were told FEMA would only pay them up to $750 or that accepting relief money could get their land seized. Trump spread some of this misinformation himself, particularly regarding the relief efforts.
On one occasion, the Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti shared an AI-generated image of Florida's Disney World being supposedly destroyed by Hurricane Milton, which quickly went viral on Elon Musk’s social media platform X. Some of the conspiracy theories claimed the hurricanes had been created by Jews to help Vice President Kamala Harris win the upcoming election.
“This type of content is especially prominent on X (formerly Twitter), in line with other recent moderation failures identified by ISD” the authors write. Their views are echoed by other scholars who specialize in climate change denial. Speaking to Salon in April, University of Pennsylvania climatologist Dr. Michael E. Mann said that “Twitter has become a cesspool for the promotion of misinformation and disinformation; Elon Musk is not an honest actor. By some measures, he has engaged in criminal behavior, and I think it's pretty clear that he has to be reined in and we are going to need much tougher regulatory policies.”
