Last Thursday, the Austin Herald's Eric Johnson reported in Hagedorn town hall meeting turns contentious:
It was clear early on that Wednesday night’s town hall meeting, hosted by Minnesota 1st District Rep. Jim Hagedorn at the Hormel Historic Home, was going to be lively.
The meeting, which ran a little over an hour, covered a number of different subjects ranging from health care to climate change, was often times rife with contention from an evenly split room. . . .
For most of the night, things went back and forth drawing both applause and condemnation throughout.
Towards the end, talk moved to the subject of climate change, which again became decisive [sic] between those supporting the idea of man-made climate change and Hagedorn. . . .
We grew curious about the exchange about the climate emergency, and reached out to see if video was available of the town hall. Here's the video:
First, the question asked: "Considering the report commissioned by the Pentagon the US military could collapse within 20 years due to climate change . . .what is your plan to combat climate change?"
That's the question, though the moderator was interrupted. The report? At Vice, Nafeez Ahmed wrote about it in U.S. Military Could Collapse Within 20 Years Due to Climate Change, Report Commissioned By Pentagon Says, published on October 24. The report itself, Implications of Climate Change for the U.S. Army, was published by the Army War College.
Ahmed's lede:
According to a new U.S. Army report, Americans could face a horrifically grim future from climate change involving blackouts, disease, thirst, starvation and war. The study found that the US military itself might also collapse. This could all happen over the next two decades, the report notes.
The senior US government officials who wrote the report are from several key agencies including the Army, Defense Intelligence Agency, and NASA. The study called on the Pentagon to urgently prepare for the possibility that domestic power, water, and food systems might collapse due to the impacts of climate change as we near mid-century. . . .
Perhaps Hagedorn wasn't familiar with the document. His answer to "What is your plan to combat climate change?":
Hagedorn: Climate has been changing since God created the world. [claps and raucous laughter] It used to be under an ice sheet here, so things have been changing. Some people believe that the things mankind does--it's really one percent of all the emissions when you get right down to it, is creating the problem.
I don't believe that and I'm not willing to risk the U.S. economy or our way of life over it. My position is this: there are a lot of people who believe that if that's true, the better way to mitigate it would be to deal with the effects and move people around rather than to turn our economy upside down.
What I don't believe is the Green New Deal. I'm not going to support the Green New Deal. The Green New Deal is going to change our way of life as we know it. It will drive up the cost of energy in all the sectors and when you have higher costs for energy, that's the worst thing you can do for your economy because you're pay more for the same stuff and you have less money...
He goes on for another five minutes or so, mouthing the standard "all of the above energy sources" talking points typical of pro-fossil-fuel-funded-marketing groups, after first putting climate change on God.
Watch the rest on your own, and realize that the freshman congressman has done worse at other town halls, including the time he said People who commit suicide 'go to hell' [VIDEO], when asked about "red flag" laws for guns.
With God and the Devil to take the blame, why suss out coherent policy--for our military or civilian populations?
Image: Calvin Shen for Vice.
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