On Tuesday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vented her anger at “MAGA Republicans,” whom she held responsible for the current nationwide heatwave in a series of furious tweets.
Clinton’s Twitter rant was sparked by an article from the liberal Center for American Progress, which claimed that “MAGA Republicans” were to blame for escalating the climate problem. In the tweet, we see a smattering of news articles on the recent spike in high temperatures around the United States, and we learn the Republicans voted against the Democrats’ $739 billion climate program, the Inflation Reduction Act, signed by President Biden in 2022.
“Stuffy from this heatwave? Please thank a conservative who believes in “Make America Great Again.” Clinton’s tweet stoked the political fire by encouraging people to “or better yet, vote them out of office.”
Her comments surface as Democrats are ready to blame rising global temperatures on human-caused climate change for the unusually hot summer. The claim that heatwaves are completely unprecedented has been contested by certain climate specialists, including Ryan Maue, the former chief climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
On Tuesday, Maue responded to those who argued that July’s heat in the U.S. Southwest was an exception and not the result of climate change by tweeting, “July’s summer heat would have been ‘virtually impossible’ without climate change.” He disproved the idea that this climate disaster was unprecedented by noting that similar heatwaves had occurred in the past in years such as 1925, 1930, 1950, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2012, 2020, and more.
Interestingly, Maue also noted that Clinton’s tweet was timed with a New York Times editorial from just eight days earlier, pushing leaders to “politicize the weather,” adding a touch of irony to the political climate conversation.
An atmospheric change brings deadly heat and humidity to the East Coast, and the FOX Forecast Center says this week could be the warmest of the season.
Over 260 million Americans, or about 75% of the country, will be affected by warmer-than-average temperatures on Wednesday and Thursday. While the United States prepares for a hot summer, residents can take comfort in the fact that record-breaking heat is not expected.