The Fox GOP Debate Melted Down When the Word “Climate” Was Mentioned

Morry Gash/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.Something incredible happened in Milwaukee tonight.
When GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy declared that the “climate change agenda is a hoax,” a crowd full of Republicans started to boo.
He was responding to a question posed by Fox News moderator Martha MacCallum, shortly after the network showed a clip of a Young Americans for Freedom member saying that climate change was the number one issue for young voters. “Do you believe human behavior is causing climate change?” MacCallum asked.
Most of the Republicans on stage fell short of completely denying that climate change is caused by human activity. Ramaswamy, perhaps taking a page out of the Trump playbook of making the most outlandish comment possible, came right out and said it.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie shot back, “I’ve had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT.” Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley went so far as to venture, “Climate change is real.”
But moderator Bret Baier seized not on Ramaswamy’s blatant denial of the scientific consensus on climate change, but on his claim that he was the only candidate on the stage who was “not bought and paid for.” Baier took turns asking candidates, “Are you bought and paid for?” In classic Fox News fashion, a moment that could have provided insight into how far Republicans are willing to go to please young voters concerned about the environment devolved into senseless crosstalk. Still, for a party that has spent years ignoring or denying the biggest threat to our planet’s future, tonight’s responses were actually, almost, a little bit refreshing.
Watch the moment below:

Someone’s having a melt down over climate change… pic.twitter.com/HUWQZCoZXK
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) August 24, 2023