Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is well-known for her polarizing Twitter persona. But one recent tweet was especially ludicrous, in which she wrote: “ … the GOP climate agenda is about as fictional as Spaceballs anyway.”
Are are many of Ocasio-Cortez’s claims about climate change, this is false. But sadly, it’s a view shared by many voters. If Republicans want to hold the White House, keep the Senate, and take back the House of Representatives in November, they need to stop hemorrhaging support from suburban voters, women, and young people. Lucky for the GOP, Democrats such as Ocasio-Cortez are squandering their hold on climate change, one of the key issues these voters care about.
Hey Senator! Would you like me to also take your comments out of context and pose them as your earnest position, as you have chosen to do with me?
I assume the answer is yes, especially given that the GOP climate agenda is about as fictional as Spaceballs anyway. https://t.co/42FKq4VMjW
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 15, 2020
Last year, grassroots groups and young activists turned up the heat on the climate change conversation. While some of their antics were childish and confused, the broader message was clear: Our politicians need to accept the science demonstrating the threat of climate change and take action. Among young people, the urgency around climate change crosses partisan lines: Two-thirds of Republican-voting millennials want to see their party do more on the issue.
While Democrats have enjoyed a monopoly on the climate conversation because of Republican silence, their party is now split on what to do about it. In one camp, liberal Democrats led by Ocasio-Cortez are placing their faith in a centrally planned fairy tale to fix the climate crisis. Not only does the Green New Deal spell economic disaster, its anti-innovation, top-down approach is riddled with unscientific assumptions that in reality will do more harm than good when it comes to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
Meanwhile, centrist Democrats quietly acknowledge that the Green New Deal represents a flawed approach. Unfortunately, rather than charting a new course, they are still leaning on climate policies that have proven ineffective, such as rejoining the entirely voluntary Paris climate accord — despite only a few countries being on track to meet their emission reduction targets.
The absence of practical, competent leadership on climate change presents a massive opportunity for Republicans. While the latest science proves Ocasio-Cortez’s apocalyptic premonitions are false, we are already seeing the dire consequences of a warming planet. Allowing the GOP to continue to be known as the party of climate denial is a political disaster in the making.
In 2020, Republicans must champion an innovation- and market-based approach to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, as well as promote adaptation in regions already facing rising sea levels and more frequent extreme weather events in part due to climate change. Developing and deploying technologies such as carbon capture and modular nuclear reactors can both energize our economy and drastically cut carbon emissions.
Thankfully, many Republicans are already doing this.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, for instance, have championed bills expanding nuclear energy and developing advanced battery storage. Meanwhile, as ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Greg Walden is pushing a package of bills that will cut emissions and expand our clean energy portfolio. And young leaders such as Reps. Elise Stefanik, Brian Mast, and Dan Crenshaw, as well as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have all been vocal about the need for conservative leadership on climate change.
To win in November, Republicans must lean into this narrative.
Democrats’ proposals are unrealistic and ineffective. Republicans have a better story to tell: We can have both economic prosperity and environmental sustainability. While Ocasio-Cortez tweets about Spaceballs and the Green New Deal, Republicans have an opportunity to lead on real climate solutions back here on planet Earth.
Quill Robinson is the government affairs director for the American Conservation Coalition.
