by Scott Waldman
E&E News reporter
Barack Obama took a thinly veiled swipe yesterday at President Trump for his handling of the novel coronavirus pandemic — warning that future generations would face a similar catastrophe if climate change is left unchecked.
The former president doesn’t often criticize his successor in public, but Obama took issue with the Trump administration’s decision this week to subvert efforts to improve the fuel economy of passenger cars, a major climate initiative of the Obama presidency.
“We’ve seen all too terribly the consequences of those who denied warnings of a pandemic,” wrote Obama in a Twitter post. “We can’t afford any more consequences of climate denial. All of us, especially young people, have to demand better of our government at every level and vote this fall.”…
Trump is listening to health experts, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, but he’s also questioning their assessments, which will help him politically, said Steve Milloy, a member of Trump’s EPA transition team and a longtime opponent of climate policy.
Milloy praised Trump for being skeptical of coronavirus models, much in the same way the president has dismissed climate modeling.
“I think this whole thing has been blown way, way out of proportion, and I think that he is going to come out smelling like roses, he’s going to be the hero,” Milloy said. “Criticizing him for no matter what he does is just not going to work out well for them.”
