It began early. In a candidate questionnaire in March 2016, Trump answered two key questions presented by the free-market American Energy Alliance:

“8). Do you support a carbon tax? Do you support the Obama administration’s use of the social cost of carbon in rulemakings?

A. No and No.

 9). Do you think federal agencies have abused the cost-benefit process to suit their political agenda? Would your administration end the process of underestimating costs and inflating benefits of agency regulations?

A. Yes and Yes.”

And in his first energy speech in May 2016, Trump stated:

“And if Crooked Hillary can shut down the mines, she can shut down your business too.”

“These actions have denied millions of Americans access to the energy wealth sitting under our feet. This is your treasure, and you – the American People – are entitled to share in the riches.”

“Climate change, for many conservatives, is associated with fringe environmentalism and a political nemesis, [Al] Gore.”

“Climategate showed us what was behind the curtain,” said Robert Bradley…. There’s a whole lot of alarmism and a whole lot of scientific intolerance toward other views.”

– Eric Berger, Houston Chronicle, January 24, 2010.

Think back ten years ago, when a federal cap-and-trade bill passed the House and was before the Senate. And Climategate was just a few months old.

Today? Cap-and-trade remains dead as federal policy, and proposals for a carbon tax are not being pushed by Biden/Harris (Harris/Biden?) in the current debate. Climagate? Its ten-year anniversary last year brought forth numerous retrospectives, apologetic, critical, and harshly critical.

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All this brings me to a January 2010 piece by Eric Berger of the Houston Chronicle, Climate Change Activists Work to Regain Momentum.…

The statement that “the science is settled” is an assertion of imagined consensus deployed by climate activists as a substitute for science.

Society expects that science plays a major role in solving the big problems on our planet. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the scientific community is honest about the limitations of their theoretical models.

CLINTEL (Climate Intelligence), previously highlighted at MasterResource (here and here), has published a Great Charter of Universities for Research Freedom (Magna Carta Universitatum 2020). David Wojick summarized its importance, drawing on history:

The first Magna Carta Universitatum was issued in 1988 and to date at least 889 universities have signed on to it. CLINTEL notes that it is building directly on this precedent, to fit “the special challenges of today”.

“[This paper is] the most important climate science paper that’s come out in several years…. [It’s] really moved the game away from these questions about the physics of the climate system into questions about how are humans going to react to climate change.”

– Andrew Dessler. Quoted in “Groundbreaking Study: Earth Will Warm 4.9 to 7 Degress F.” E&E News, July 23, 2020.

“During the period of strongest greenhouse gas forcing (since 1979), the latest CMIP6 models reveal 50% more net surface warming from 1979 up to April 2020 (+1.08 deg. C) than do the observations (+0.72 deg. C).”

– Roy Spencer, “CMIP6 Climate Models …” June 25, 2020.

An alleged breakthrough, hold-the-presses moment has arrived–right during the summer heat and just in time for a Presidential election to give the problematic Green New Deal veneer.…