Climate Change Denial Gets a Trump Twist

For years, President Donald Trump has denied the science behind global warming. Since the start of his second term, however, his administration has leaned less on climate denial and more on what might be called climate dismissal: diminishing, ridiculing or rejecting the idea that climate change is worth any effort to study or try to slow.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, President Trump, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

Photo illustration: 731; Photos: Getty Images; Bloomberg

They’ve engaged in what Jennifer Mercieca, a professor of communication and journalism at Texas A&M University, calls “frame warfare”—dramatically recasting the words used to describe a topic in an attempt to change people’s perceptions. Whether the evidence for global warming is called “unequivocal,” as ...