'It's a pretty easy read ... there are pictures': CNN's Anderson Cooper throws serious shade at Trump after new climate-change report
- In a lighthearted segment on Monday night, CNN host Anderson Cooper targeted a series of tweets in which President Donald Trump appeared to conflate the weather with climate.
- Trump and his advisers have refrained from unequivocally associating climate change with human activity, and have thrown cold water on the latest findings from a new federal assessment.
- Cooper advised Trump to visit a child-friendly NASA website for an explanation in the differences between weather and climate.
- Cooper handed off his program to CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, who also piled on with the shade.
CNN host Anderson Cooper responded to President Donald Trump's comments on climate change, after the release of a new federal climate change assessment that gave a harrowing view of an unmitigated climate.
In a light-hearted segment on Monday night, Cooper targeted a series of tweets in which Trump appeared to conflate the weather with climate.
"Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS - Whatever happened to Global Warming," Trump tweeted last week, adding later that it was "the coldest weather in the history of the Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC, and one of the coldest Thanksgivings on record!"
"Give me clean, beautiful and healthy air - not the same old climate change (global warming) bullshit," Trump also tweeted in 2014. "I am tired of hearing this nonsense."
"The President of the United States seems to be honestly believing that Global Warming means it never gets cold anywhere," Cooper said, trying to hold back his laughter as he continued his segment.
Throughout his presidency, Trump and his advisers have refrained from associating climate change with human activity, and have thrown cold water on the latest findings of the newest federal report: "I've seen it, I've read some of it, and it's fine," Trump told reporters on Monday, adding later, "I don't believe it."
Cooper advised Trump to visit a child-friendly NASA website for an explanation in the differences between weather and climate. Climate is defined as "big picture" conditions over a period of time for a location, according to NASA's ClimateKids, while weather is considered to be specific conditions for a set time and place.
"We're just suggesting, Mr. President, if you don't want to believe science or the 1,600-page report your team tried to slip past the American public on Friday, maybe just start with ClimateKids.nasa.gov," Cooper said.
He also quipped, "it's a pretty easy read, it's fun, there are pictures."
"But we're not going to hold our breath," Cooper added. "Because unlike the climate, some things never actually change."
The National Climate Assessment, authored by hundreds of leading climate scientists, is a 1,656 page report released by the Trump administration on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. The report, which was mandated by Congress and produced by 13 federal agencies, assessed both the current climate and future impacts.
Some of the effects, including flooding and warming oceans, "could affect the economic stability of local governments, businesses, and the broader economy," the report said.
Cooper handed off his program to CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, who referenced Trump's deceased uncle, John Trump, in a quip. Trump repeatedly mentions John, a former electrical engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in defense of his views on climate change.
"Anderson, you forgot uncle John," Cuomo said. "You forgot Trump's uncle John...at MIT. Very smart, a scientist."
"You're right. The very smart uncle," Anderson said, smiling. "Right. I totally forgot it."