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MSNBC’s Tur Eager for Economy-Killing Climate Regulation

Posted on 13 November 2020

On her 2:00 p.m. ET hour show on Thursday, MSNBC anchor and left-wing climate change activist Katy Tur was salivating over the incoming Biden administration’s plans to implement economy-killing climate regulations by executive fiat. She lead off the segment by hailing: “Four years of climate change denial will come to an end on January 20th when President-Elect Joe Biden takes office.” Tur excitedly touted how Joe Biden was “planning a flurry of climate-focused executive actions on day one, including rejoining the Paris Accords, implementing the already-existing Clean Air Act, and requiring public companies to disclose their operational climate risks and greenhouse gas emissions.” Cheering how Democratic hacks crafted “a 300-page blueprint on how to quickly and holistically approach the climate crisis,” she proclaimed: “It begins with reinstating many of the climate regulations that President Trump systematically rolled back.”     Turning to far-left Penn State University professor Michael Mann, Tur continued to revel in the chance to force through a radical agenda: So, Michael, we have had this conversation multiple times about the number one priority for getting back in the fight against climate change. And you’ve always said step one is getting Donald Trump out of office. Okay, step one seems to be down. What does Joe Biden need to do now to make sure that we are not in a bad situation 25, 50 years from now? Mann demanded: “...we’ve got to undo first all of the damage that was done by four years of Trump. And that means restoring regulations against polluters....We have to tighten regulations on carbon and methane emissions, improve fuel efficiency standards.” He urged Biden to dictate such massive policy changes from the Oval Office rather than try to garner support for legislation in a likely divided Congress: We need to tackle this problem using every avenue we have available to us within the executive branch because we may very well see two – at least two more years of inaction when it comes to the legislative branch. And so it’s all about executive action, taking advantage of all of the departments of the administration to attack this problem in a multi-prong fashion. However, Tur fretted that such a strategy could lead to regulations being overturned by a later administration: “How do you get past a seesawing of Democratic president goes for climate change or fights against climate change, Republican president denies all of it and rolls back regulations? What needs to be codified? What can be codified?” Former Obama administration climate crusader Jake Levine tried to reassure her: “President [Biden] is going to be focused on creating an administration with climate expertise in place at every single agency and with a whole-of-government approach.” Tur interrupted: “But what do you do so the next president that comes around doesn’t roll it back, Jake?” Levine clearly didn’t have an answer and just insisted: This is an incoming president who campaigned on this issue. The American people voted for that. And you know, the hope is that it will continue to be strengthened as federal policy over time because, you know, the politics will demand, you know, that we have a government that actually responds to this crisis.   MSNBC has already proven that it’s ready to be a state-run propaganda machine for the incoming Democratic administration, but segments like this prove that the network will also be working on behalf of the far left to demand Biden push an extreme agenda. This climate change lobbying was brought to viewers by Philadelphia Cream Cheese. You can fight back by letting this advertiser know what you think of them sponsoring such content.   Here is a full transcript of the November 13 segment: 2:50 PM ET KATY TUR: Four years of climate change denial will come to an end on January 20th when President-Elect Joe Biden takes office. He is planning a flurry of climate-focused executive actions on day one, including rejoining the Paris Accords, implementing the already-existing Clean Air Act, and requiring public companies to disclose their operational climate risks and greenhouse gas emissions. His transition team has a 300-page blueprint on how to quickly and holistically approach the climate crisis, gifted to them by a team of former Obama administration officials, scientists, and climate activists. It begins with reinstating many of the climate regulations that President Trump systematically rolled back. It also details how a Biden presidency can avoid the pitfalls that prevented President Obama from accomplishing his goals. Joining me, former energy and climate aide to President Obama, Jake Levine, and Penn State University Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science, Michael Mann. He’s also the author of the new book, The New Climate War. So, Michael, we have had this conversation multiple times about the number one priority for getting back in the fight against climate change. And you’ve always said step one is getting Donald Trump out of office. Okay, step one seems to be down. What does Joe Biden need to do now to make sure that we are not in a bad situation 25, 50 years from now? MICHAEL MANN [PENN STATE UNIVERSITY]: Yeah, thanks, Katy, it’s good to be with you. And so there is reason now for cautious optimism that we can see some real progress here. And the first thing, of course, that we have to do is to re-establish global diplomacy. We have to once again reassert leadership in the world. We were once leaders on this issue under Barack Obama. We need to bring the rest of the nations to the table because we’re gonna have to go well beyond what we’ve already accomplished. Paris alone doesn’t get us to where we now need to be. So establish diplomacy, re-engage our global partners, demonstrate leadership. And then we’ve got to undo first all of the damage that was done by four years of Trump. And that means restoring regulations against polluters. That means once again reinforcing our existing policies. We have to tighten regulations on carbon and methane emissions, improve fuel efficiency standards. That’s job one. But again, we’ve got to go well beyond that. And what’s exciting about this Project 21, this new report, is that it really looks at this problem from an interagency standpoint. We need to tackle this problem using every avenue we have available to us within the executive branch because we may very well see two – at least two more years of inaction when it comes to the legislative branch. And so it’s all about executive action, taking advantage of all of the departments of the administration to attack this problem in a multi-prong fashion. KATY TUR: So, Jake, you worked in the last administration on climate change, the administration before Donald Trump, the Obama administration. He used a lot of executive actions to get what he wanted to get done to fight climate change. Donald Trump rolled them back when he came into office. How do you get past a seesawing of Democratic president goes for climate change or fights against climate change, Republican president denies all of it and rolls back regulations? What needs to be codified? What can be codified? JAKE LEVINE: Sure, and thanks for having me, Katy. And you know, it’s great to be here talking about the hopeful future that we can now begin to have – [audio cut out]. And look, this report that you mentioned, it’s terrific, it does a lot of really great things. And I think it’s important to take a step back here and remember that this new incoming president, Joe Biden, as a candidate, from day one, has been focused on climate change. And I think that the best response to your question is that what we have so badly needed and lacked in our climate policies is real leadership. And that is something that we now have at the very top. You know, as we now see, the President-Elect rolling out his transition team and naming his chief of staff, Ron Klain, somebody who has gotten all the approvals from the most progressive sides of the Democratic Party based on his experience in terms of not just climate, but a whole host of policies that bear on climate. You know, he – the President is going to be focused on creating an administration with climate expertise in place at every single agency and with a whole-of-government approach. TUR: But what do you do so the next president that comes around doesn’t roll it back, Jake? LEVINE: Well, look, you know, Professor Mann, you know, aptly pointed out there may be limits in terms of the legislative landscape that President Biden will be dealing with. But what is totally unique about this strategy and different, frankly, from, you know, what we had in place in the Obama administration is that climate change is going to be elevated at every single agency of the federal government and there are going to be really strong connections, linkages formed in the interagency so that every policy that gets rolled out – you know, take a look at something like infrastructure, take a look at something like the, you know economic stimulus that we may be at the precipice of implementing in response to the COVID recession. You know, you’ve got a chief of staff who was responsible for implementing more than $90 billion of clean energy spending in the previous recession stimulus plan and now we will have a situation where the entire federal interagency is coordinated on this approach. And you know, that’s the type of strong bonds that we need to be able to withstand the swings of politics that go, you know, up and down from administration to administration. But I think that, you know, one thing that... TUR: Got it. Jake, I’m so sorry to –   LEVINE: ...will be clear is providing leadership and really reinforcing what the American people have voted for. This is an incoming president who campaigned on this issue. The American people voted for that. And you know, the hope is that it will continue to be strengthened as federal policy over time because, you know, the politics will demand, you know, that we have a government that actually responds to this crisis.   TUR: Jake Levine. Jake, thank you very much. Michael Mann, thank you as well.