Former President Donald Trump took to the social media platform Truth Social on Thursday to ask “Whatever happened to Global Warming?” in the aftermath of a devastating winter storm that has left 37 people dead in Western New York.
Mr Trump, who is running for president again, has long denied the science of climate change and spewed misinformation about the danger it poses. His administration gutted envrionmental protections, favouring the concerns of oil and gas companies.
The former president was, predictably, criticised for his take on the storm that dumped snow on the Buffalo area and affected travel throughout the country during the Christmas period.
“checkmate, libs,” the journalist Aaron Rupar mockingly responded on Twitter.
“Buffalo might like a word,” another user tweeted.
Other Twitter critics sought to educate Mr Trump on the realities of global warming - a term he seems to be taking very literally.
“Ummm, its called science dude. Global warming is the average over the whole earth, not specific areas. Global warming is one aspect of “climate change” - which encompasses a whole host of changes. Of course you could have just Googled that, but...” a critic wrote.
“We had to rename it climate change for simple minds like his,” another added.
This is not the first time that Mr Trump has suggested that isolated cold weather is evidence that climate change is not actually happening.
Mr Trump’s third campaign for the presidency has gotten off to a slow start, with the former president making relatively few campaign appearances amidst a number of legal difficulties stemming from his conduct leading up to and on January 6 of last year and his handling of classified documents after leaving the presidency.
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection released its final report last week and recommended that Mr Trump be barred from ever holding office again.
That recommendation does not carry any legal weight, but it further underscores the extent to which the committee felt that Mr Trump was responsible for the attack on American democracy that has been characterised by some academics as an unsuccessful self-coup.
The committee also referred Mr Trump to the Justice Department on four separate criminal charges related to his conduct. The Justice Department may still bring criminal charges against Mr Trump and a number of his advisors, though it’s not yet clear when that may or may not happen.
