Politics

Trump says environmentalists ignore how China is ‘spewing crap’

President Trump on Friday said that Democrats concerned with the environment are misguided in focusing on US energy use as China and other countries are “spewing crap” into the atmosphere.

“They want our air clean, but they don’t talk about China, Russia, India, these other countries where the pollution is massive and going up,” Trump said during a “virtual rally” with radio host Rush Limbaugh.

“So we have a clean spot on the massive planet. We have a clean spot, which is a small percentage of the planet, a very small percentage of the planet, and then China’s spewing crap and Russia and, and all of these other — India.”

Trump withdrew the US in 2017 from the Paris Climate Agreement using similar justifications.

“Did you ever see what they dumped into the ocean and floats into California? It’s unbelievable,” he added. “And we end up cleaning it up. And then they say, ‘Well, you know, the environment, the environment.’ I could tell you hundreds of stories. You know, a lot of what you and I talk about is really based on common sense. You know, people say, ‘Are you a conservative?’ I say, ‘Nope, I’m common sense.'”

Trump said during the radio interview that “I want clean air and clean water,” and also praised the US becoming the world’s top producer of oil — while slamming Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s mixed messaging on whether he would ban fracking.

“America has tremendous potential when you look at what we’ve done with energy, and they want to take that advantage away and give it to these other countries,” Trump said.

The increase in US oil and natural gas production is attributable largely to fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, which uses high-pressure water and chemicals to release the fossil fuels from stone deep in the ground.

Beijing, China
Beijing, ChinaChina News Service via Getty Ima

Trump has slammed Biden, particularly in Pennsylvania, for flip-flopping on fracking after promising to eliminate fossil fuels and prohibit “new fracking” — which Biden recently walked back.

Although Trump has slammed Biden’s stance on fracking, he recently banned oil drilling off the coasts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia — catching the oil industry off guard.