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Donald Trump has sparked controversy for declaring that climate change is “one of the great scams” after Hurricane Helene left a trail of destruction, killing more than 100 people, across the southeast US.
Speaking at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday afternoon, the former president pushed a conspiracy theory that man-made climate change is a myth.
“Do you ever notice, this was such a big deal, the environmental stuff,” he told rallygoers in a rambling address.
“I haven’t heard the environmental stuff mentioned in six months. I was saying the other night: ‘What the hell happened to the environment?’”
Calling out to David McCormick, the Pennsylvania GOP Senate challenger, Trump added: “David, will you figure this out?”
“No but think about this,” Trump continued. “They never talk about the environment anymore. You know why?”
He concluded: “It’s one of the greatest scams of all time… people aren’t buying it any more. I don’t want to use bad language, my wife said, ‘Please don’t use bad language.’”
At least 116 people have so far been killed and hundreds more remain missing after the devastating hurricane made landfall in Florida last week, bringing catastrophic flooding to communities and plunging thousands into darkness.
On Sunday, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Deanne Criswell told CBS News’s Face The Nation that the severe flooding and subsequent devastation caused by Hurricane Helene is linked to the climate emergency.
Scientific evidence has also long revealed that global warming enables hurricanes to rapidly intensify.
Despite claiming that climate change is a “scam”, Trump is planning to make a campaign stop in Georgia on Monday, one of the states hardest-hit by Hurricane Helene.
He has also tried to turn the disaster into a campaign issue, condemning both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s response.
The Harris campaign, meanwhile, has accused Trump of being insensitive when he said those impacted by Helene will be “okay” during a campaign rally in Walker, Michigan, on Friday – despite the mounting death toll.
“We’re with you all the way, and if we were there we’d be helping you,” he said. “You’ll be okay.”
Resharing the clip on X, the Harris campaign repeated the three-word phrase, with an addition: “(Dozens of deaths have already been reported).”
Democratic critics also tied Trump’s comments to Project 2025, the 900-page Heritage Foundation manifesto for a prospective Republican administration. The document contains proposals to slash funding for hurricane monitoring and relief agencies and privatize weather forecasts by federal agencies.
In response, Trump’s campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told The Washington Post that “as President Trump has repeatedly said, Project 2025 has nothing to do with him or his campaign”.
