On Sunday, Chuck Todd, host of NBC’s Meet The Press, used his bully pulpit to deny any opportunity for opponents of climate change activists to appear while he devoted his entire show to climate change, saying, “We’re not going to give time to climate deniers.”
Beginning by announcing his show would be devoted to the “climate crisis,” Todd played snippets from various people, some of whom have suffered from natural disasters and some who simply opined that there was indeed a crisis, then pontificated: “The evidence is everywhere.” “The science is settled.” “But the politics is not.”
Then he got down to business, stating, “This morning, we’ll report on the challenge of climate change, the science, the damage to our environment, the cost, and the politics. Welcome to Sunday and this special edition of Meet the Press.”
Todd’s opening monologue followed, and within it he demonstrated how unwilling he was to even permit an opponent of his position any air time on his show. He said:
Good Sunday morning, and a happy New Year’s weekend to everyone. This morning, we’re going to do something that we don’t often get to do, dive in on one topic. It’s obviously extraordinarily difficult to do this, as the end of this year has proven, in the era of Trump. But we’re going to take an in-depth look, regardless of that, at a literally Earth-changing subject that doesn’t get talked about this thoroughly on television news, at least, climate change. But just as important as what we are going to do this hour is what we’re not going to do. We’re not going to debate climate change, the existence of it.
He continued, “The Earth is getting hotter. And human activity is a major cause, period. We’re not going to give time to climate deniers. The science is settled, even if political opinion is not. And we’re not going to confuse weather with climate. A heat wave is no more evidence that climate change exists than a blizzard means that it doesn’t, unless the blizzard hits Miami. We do have a panel of experts with us today to help us understand the science and consequences of climate change and, yes, ideas to break the political paralysis over it.”
The choice of guests included a scientist at Columbia University who writes the Hot Planet column for Scientific American, President Obama’s FEMA administrator, an undersecretary of defense under President Obama, NBC chief environmental correspondent, a Republican Congressman from Florida, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and California governor Jerry Brown.
During the show, Todd also cut loose after the congressman, Carlos Curbelo, insisted, “We really do need national policy that will become international policy. That’s why, on a lot of these carbon-pricing bills –” Todd interrupted in order to sell the idea the government needed to get more involved, saying, “But when we make changes, as a country, we galvanize. Is there a way to galvanize?”
Todd has been quite vocal about his belief in climate change activism for some time; in 2012, speaking on MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown” after Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, Todd said, “Second year in a row the New York Metro area hit by this stuff. Let’s not bury our heads in the sand when it comes to — something has changed in the Atlantic. The climate has changed. It’s called climate change, folks.”
Video below: