Almost Everything Trump Said in His Environment Speech Was a Lie

On the same day that Washington, D.C. was hit by a deluge of dangerous rain and flash flooding, President Trump gave an hour-long speech meant to convince voters he isn’t totally fucking up the environment. According to the New York Times, almost everything Trump said in the speech was a lie.

In his speech, Trump bragged about his administration “being good stewards of our public land,” and the “cleanest air” and “crystal clean” water he’s apparently helped preserve.

“These are incredible goals that everyone in this country should be able to rally behind,” Trump said. “I really think that’s something that is bipartisan.”

Trump didn’t mention climate change at any point in the speech.

As the Times pointed out, this is all nonsense:

Mr. Trump called himself a protector of public land, but he has taken unprecedented steps to open up public lands to drilling, including signing off on the largest rollback of federal land protection in the nation’s history, and lifting an Obama-era moratorium on new coal mining leases on public lands.

He repeatedly cited his desire for clear water, but the Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of rolling back an Obama-era clean-water regulation of pollution in streams and wetlands.

He described himself as a champion of the oceans, while he and Mary Neumayr, the head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, have promoted policies that the United States has advanced to reduce marine debris, particularly plastic drinking straws. But Mr. Trump did not mention that his administration has proposed opening up the entire United States coastline to offshore oil and gas drilling.

Environmentalists and other observers were similarly aghast, pointing out that another Trump claim—about carbon emissions—was also a lie.

Democrats also rejected the premise of the speech.

“Try as he might say otherwise,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in the Senate after the speech, “President Trump has proved himself probably the staunchest ally of the worst polluters, of any president we have ever had.”

“President Trump’s record on the environment is pathetic and an embarrassment to the world. This is a man who still thinks climate change is a ‘hoax,’” Sen. Bernie Sanders said on Twitter. “He better start listening to scientists and not his friends in the fossil fuel, chemical, and big agribusiness industries.”