Trump, You Ignorant Fool

I’m exercising my First Amendment right to free speech. I never use AI in my writing.

Here in the US, we’ve been dealing with rising fascism during a massive winter storm, which brought extreme cold, snow, freezing rain, and power outages to most of the country.

A cold snap like this must mean global warming isn’t real, right? Trump “truthed” out this idiotic and thoroughly debunked notion on his stupid social media site:

Donald, you ignorant fool. Yes, I can explain. Before I do, though, let’s clear up one little thing. It’s true, I do care about having a livable planet, but you’re the insurrectionist here, not me. You know it, I know it, we all know it. Jack Smith powerfully testified about your literal insurrection a few days ago, but let’s be real, we already knew. Also, you and your ICE-gestapo are the actual “domestic terrorists,” not the innocent people you murder. Because you have no ability to empathize, your accusations are confessions. You are fascists, you are traitors, and you will pay for your crimes.

Now let’s address your question: “WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???”

How can you be so obtuse? Climate and weather are two different things. Climate is the average of weather over a long time and a large region. An average, you imbecile, is a typical value in a set of data, often calculated by dividing the sum of the values in the set by their number. Weather is like a single turn at bat, while climate is like a player’s lifetime batting average. Since weather is variable and we have seasons, we still get cold days from time to time and from place to place even as the planet as a whole gets hotter and hotter from burning coal, oil, and gas.

Unfortunately, nothing has “happened” to global heating. In fact, it may be accelerating. The last 11 years included the 11 hottest on record. Last year was the third hottest year ever recorded, after 2024 and 2023, and 2024 was the first year above 1.5°C. Here’s a plot of global average surface air temperature over the last 175 years:

Interestingly, it’s possible that extreme winter storms could intensify as the planet warms, at least in the near term. The Arctic is warming about four times as rapidly as the rest of the planet, causing a reduction in the thermal gradient between the pole and latitudes to the south. This could cause the jet stream to weaken and meander far to the south, causing frigid Arctic air to cover much of the U.S. as it’s doing right now.

Additionally, hotter oceans and a hotter atmosphere means warmer, moister air can come up from the Gulf of Mexico leading to extreme wintry precipitation.

It would be wise for us to improve our understanding of how Earth systems like this work, since we all live on Earth and burning fossil fuels is changing everything so rapidly and dangerously. Climate scientists are working on these and other crucial questions, and it’s incredibly short-sighted to slash science funding and destroy leading research institutions. Of course, it would be even more wise to ramp down fossil fuels and transition to solar as quickly as possible. We already have more than enough science to know that we urgently need to do this.

Indeed, Mr. Trump, despite all the evil and damage you’re currently doing in so many ways, your most enduring legacy to humanity will be a needlessly hotter Earth. You’re taking us all to a higher maximum temperature than if your fool ass had never sat in the White House, and the damage is effectively irreversible. Planetary overheating is causing the intensification of flooding, fires, droughts, and heatwaves. These increasingly horrific impacts will continue to get worse so long as fossil fuels continue to be used, undermining food systems, creating geopolitical chaos, and threatening all of life on Earth.

One last thing: I’m not scared of you, and I will keep speaking out. There’s too much at stake. I have too much empathy and love for other beings to ever silence myself.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!

With love and rage,

Peter