Greta Thunberg drops fact-hammer on Steve Mnuchin after he tells her to get a degree
The feud between the President of the United States and 17-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg is one of the more embarrassing sideshows of the Trump era. Disregarding the obvious and substantial gap in age and power between the two of them, the worst part is that Trump is so clearly wrong on this issue and Thunberg so clearly right. Climate change represents an existential threat to mankind and a mere child is doing more to fight it than the ostensible leader of the free world, a man who in the past claimed that climate change was nothing but a “hoax” propagated by the Chinese.
Earlier today, Treasury Secretary and all-around execrable Trump toady Steven Mnuchin fired the latest administration volley at Thunberg. While speaking to reporters at the Davos World Economic Forum, he jokingly pretended to not know who she was in an effort to dismiss her and her movement.
“Greta Thunberg has called for a public and private sector divestment from fossil fuel companies. Does that pose a threat to US economic growth?” asked a reporter, according to CNN.
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“Is she the chief economist, or who is she? I’m confused,” mocked Mnuchin. “It’s a joke. After she goes and studies economics in college she can come back and explain that to us,” he added, mustering a staggering level of arrogance for a man serving in the most disastrous White House in American history.
Never one to cower in the face of power, Thunberg quickly responded on Twitter, showcasing the wit that she has brought to bear time and again against Trump and his lackeys.
“My gap year ends in August, but it doesn’t take a college degree in economics to realise that our remaining 1,5° carbon budget and ongoing fossil fuel subsidies and investments don’t add up,” she tweeted.
To drive her point home, she attached a video from Carbon Brief showing the effects of emissions on global temperature over time. It’s a sobering graphic and one which the Trump administration would do well to study until they get the message through their collective thick skull: the world is in serious danger.
My gap year ends in August, but it doesn’t take a college degree in economics to realise that our remaining 1,5° carbon budget and ongoing fossil fuel subsidies and investments don’t add up. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/1virpuOyYG
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) January 23, 2020
Thunberg followed the first tweet up with a challenge.
“So either you tell us how to achieve this mitigation or explain to future generations and those already affected by the climate emergency why we should abandon our climate commitments,” she added.
As usual, Thunberg comes out of a tangle with the Trump administration the clear victor. Republicans have been wrong or lying about climate change for decades so as to appease their fossil fuel donors. It will require the mass voting in of Democrats in 2020 to turn things around. Only then will the U.S. government start to treat dire warnings like those espoused by Thunberg with the seriousness they so clearly deserve.
Graph from @CarbonBrief by @hausfath and @robbie_andrew based on United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) emissions gap report. 3/3
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) January 23, 2020
