GOP Sen. Tuberville Thinks You’re Complaining Too Much About the Heat

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.The extraordinary heat stifling the country—and much of the globe—this summer continued to grind on Saturday, with nearly one-third of Americans under some type of heat advisory or warning. But GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), whose previous work experience before being elected in 2020 was as a college football coach, mocked the idea anyone might be suffering.
“There is a very scientific word for this: It’s called summer,” Tuberville told the Huffington Post on Thursday in an interview. “It’s no hotter right now than it’s ever been. I’ve been in this heat all my life in July and August as a football coach. This world’s not heating up, come on.”
Tuberville only needed to check with people who keep track of the temperature to find out that he is wrong—it is more than just summer. In fact, the World Meteorological Organization said this month will be the hottest month ever on the planet since records have been kept, with the global mean surface temperature at 62.5 F for the month. While not as blazing hot as most of the United States is right now, that includes the half of the globe that is in the depths of winter right now. 
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 111 million Americans were under some sort of heat advisory on Saturday morning, including 2.4 million people under an excessive heat watch, which is when temperatures are predicted to exceed 105 degrees. And the danger from the extreme temperatures is not abstract, with heat-related deaths rising around the country. In Phoenix, where brutal summer heat isn’t unusual, the extremes have led local medical examiners to order 10 additional refrigerated units to hold an expected surge in bodies from heat-related deaths.