The Stealth Climate Villains Of 2020 - I Particularly Like The Ones Who Talk Green

[hatrack]

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Not all heroes wear capes, and not all climate obstructionists carry snowballs on the Senate floor. Yes, we are in this dire climate situation because of people like the Koch brothers, the Mercers, the Murdochs, who funneled hundreds of millions to groups explicitly pushing climate denial and inaction. But we’re also in this situation because of people who lived through one of the most devastating climate disaster years in U.S. history; heard warnings from scientists that emissions reductions can’t wait much longer; saw the near-consensus that a McConnell-controlled Senate would doom those efforts; and decided that Senate was still worth keeping. Here are the billionaires who have given the most money to McConnell’s Senate Leadership Fund since Election Day, per Bloomberg, with some fun (I guess?) facts for each:

Stephen Schwarzman, co-founder of Blackstone Group

Gave $15 million to McConnell’s Senate Leadership Fund on Nov. 12 in last-minute attempt to keep Senate red. Schwarzman is the biggest donor to Republican Senate Leadership Fund since Election Day, which is funny considering the billionaire founder of the private equity giant Blackstone is the only one of the bunch who publicly claims to care about climate change.

Schwarzman in January, per the Wall Street Journal: Blackstone Group Inc. Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman said it is clear that the climate is changing, and businesses need to take action. “You can’t watch the news literally anywhere without seeing giant fires and storms happening on a regular basis,” Mr. Schwarzman said at a Wall Street Journal event at the World Economic Forum. “There’s little doubt that something very profound appears to be going on, and it ought to be addressed.” I hear a good way to address climate change is to keep Mitch McConnell in charge of the Senate.

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Joe Ricketts, founder of TD Ameritrade

Gave $1 million to McConnell’s Senate Leadership Fund after Election Day in last-minute attempt to keep Senate red. The billionaire owner of the Chicago Cubs has a blog where he once wrote about climate change and, in the span of four paragraphs, managed to use the tropes “the climate has always changed” *and* “I’m not a scientist” while questioning human contribution without evidence and deriding the “violent and hostile” people (re: scientists) who say that question has been answered for over 30 years.

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https://heated.world/p/the-stealth-climate-villains-of-2020