Rising sea levels have caused Donald Trump to undergo another sea change when it comes to his views on global warming.
The notoriously fickle Republican huckster, who at various times has labeled climate change a “con job,” a “hoax” and “b——t,” has reportedly applied to build a wall along a luxury golf course that he owns in Ireland that is threatened by rising seas caused by climate change.
Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, in County Clare, Ireland, explicitly cited the threat of global warming in its attempt to secure a permit for a two-mile stone wall that would section off the sprawling resort from the Atlantic Ocean, according to the company’s application, first reported on by Politico and filed earlier this month in Ireland.
The application also cited local regulations in County Clare, a scenic and rocky stretch along the Emerald Isle’s western coastline, regarding “rising sea levels and increased storm frequency and wave energy associated with global warming,” according to Politico — a stunning acknowledgement of the worldwide climate threat that Trump has vehemently denied.
Officials at the Trump-owned course have said the beach area by the resort’s 18th green has been disappearing by about three feet annually due to the rising waters.
In an environmental impact statement attached to the company’s application, officials with the resort further claimed that most of the dunes in western Ireland have retreated “due to sea level rise and increased Atlantic storminess.”
The application is line with most predictions climate scientists have made regarding the relationship between rising sea levels and global warming, but is nevertheless ironic, considering the harshly dismissive declarations the presumptive GOP nominee has made about climate change.
He has repeatedly expressed skepticism that humans are causing global warming, which scientists say aides in the melting of polar ice caps, which, in turn, causes sea levels to rise.
Trump has vowed, if elected, to renegotiate the global pact President Obama created last year with other world powers to cut global warming-causing carbon emissions and has tweeted that the entire “concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”
“The entire country is FREEZING — we desperately need a heavy dose of global warming, and fast! Ice caps size reaches all time high,” Trump tweeted in 2014.
Trump’s stunning apparent evolution on the issue is just his latest on a growing list of prominent subjects on which he has spoken out of both sides of his mouth, including abortion (“I’ll do far more for women than Hillary Clinton will ever do” versus saying women who undergo illegal abortions should face “some form of punishment”), torture (saying U.S. military should “take out the families” of suspected terrorists versus admitting that the U.S. “is bound by laws and treaties”), nuclear proliferation (“the biggest problem in the world” versus claiming he wanted to see South Korea and Japan possess nukes), minimum wage (against raising it versus supporting a raise) and allowing teachers to carry guns in classrooms (in the same sentence Trump said just this past Sunday, “I don’t want to have guns in classrooms. Although, in some cases, teachers should have guns in classrooms”).
Alan Garten, who serves as general counsel to the Trump Organization, did not respond to questions about the application for the wall at the Ireland resort.
The Trump campaign also did not respond to questions about the application for the wall.
Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), one of Trump’s advisers on environmental issues and himself a self-proclaimed “climate change skeptic,” remained mum as well after The News sent his office questions about Trump’s application for the wall.
The mogul himself, however, may be forced to reckon with his double speak soon: He is slated to address an oil conference in North Dakota on Thursday.
Sen. Barbara Boxer said it’s evident Trump is taking care of himself without regard for anyone else.
“Trump says climate change is ‘pseudoscience’ but when it comes to protecting his own property he has a different view,” the California democrat tweeted. “A President has to act to protect ALL the people — not just his own property!”
Environment advocates blasted Trump.
“Trump’s move to literally shield himself from the impacts of climate change while denying the problem even exists reveals one of his fundamental flaws. He’ll do whatever it takes to protect his own profits, but shows little interest in protecting the rest of us,” League of Conservation Voters spokesman Seth Stein told the Daily News.
Sierra Club spokesman Adam Beitman said the apparent inconsistency shows Trump “clearly cares more about the fate of his golf courses than the health of the millions of families already affected by the climate crisis.”
“Everyone who experienced the devastation of hurricane Sandy knows that we can’t afford a President who would ignore the biggest challenges facing us, but must tackle them head on,” Beitman added.
Ironically, it wouldn’t be the first wall that candidate Trump has proposed building.
He has made a cornerstone of his campaign his plan to build a massive wall along the southern U.S. border that Mexico would pay for, injecting extraordinary heat into the national conversation over immigration reform.
With News Wire Services
With Cameron Joseph
