Ramaswamy, who has called himself an environmentalist while also being a staunch proponent of fracking and using fossil fuels in addition to carbon-free energy like nuclear, explained his position on climate change and policies to address rising global temperatures, telling Davis in the interview on Monday night that he believes the “climate change agenda” is a “hoax … more about pushing global equity” and deferring to China.
“I think that with due respect … ‘Do you believe in climate change?’ is not really a meaningful question because climate change has existed as long as the Earth has existed,” he said. “Do I believe it is a fact that global surface temperatures are rising over the course of the last century of the last half century? Yes, I think that that is an established fact.”
But, as president, he would not take action to address the warming of the planet, he said.
Ramaswamy was pressed by Davis in light of past mass shootings by “self-identified white supremacists,” such as the gunman who attacked a predominantly Black church in South Carolina in 2015.
He has been vocal about what he contends is a counteractive focus on race, including through affirmative action and race-conscious policies that seek to address longstanding disparities in areas like university admissions.
Ramaswamy said in Iowa in August that Juneteenth, which marks the emancipation of slaves in the U.S., is a “useless holiday” federalized “under political duress.” Weeks earlier, he posted a video saying “Happy Juneteenth” and “we ought to celebrate how far we’ve come as a country.”
Whatever their flaws, as an ex-ruralite I have to disagree that the problem is just stupid rural people being stupid. It’s an oversimplification of the problem. Rural communities tend to be more tight-knit, more politically homogenous, and the risks of going against the grain can include ostracization and violence. In places where the church has influence, well-funded youth groups bring kids into a certain view of the world before they even have a chance to see it themselves, and enforce adherence to it through the same ostracization tactics. It’s a culture that breeds resistance to change and resentment of the unfamiliar. People caught by this often aren’t necessarily stupid, and in fact many, many smart people are victimized by it and then later reinforce it. They’ve internalized a bunch of ideological poison from a young age, and can’t step out of line or support others who step out of line, out of fear of losing their community.