“The Pompous John Kerry Tells Us We Need to Behave Like We Understand There Is A Climate Crisis”

“ No, there isn’t. He recently went to Harvard for a lengthy interview on the subject of climate and proceeded to demonstrate just how tone-deaf he really is.”

The Pompous John Kerry Tells Us We Need to Behave Like We Understand There Is A Climate Crisis

THOMAS J SHEPSTONE

NOV 28, 2024

Is there anyone more pompous than John Kerry, who insists on lecturing us about the need to support his view on climate change? No, there isn’t. He recently went to Harvard for a lengthy interview on the subject of climate and proceeded to demonstrate just how tone-deaf he really is.

Here is the interview; prompted to begin at 13:08, after the boring leadup to Kerry walking out on stage:

It’s hard to tolerate Kerry, who always comes across as the rich aristocrat is. The part of the interview that has gotten a fair amount of attention for the arrogance displayed by Kerry begins at 42:38 and here is the text:

I think personally, we are on the brink of needing to declare it climate emergency. Which is what we really have. We need to get people to behave as if this is really a major transitional challenge to all the planet. Everybody.

People in Africa don't have electricity. They need to choose the right kinds of electricity. We need to help them to be able to afford it and do it. We are the largest economy in the world; a $24 trillion economy. Maybe more by now. The next closest is China. At about 18 trillion. The next closest to the two of us; Germany and Japan. $4 trillion. That is how far it drops down.

You don't think we have some sort of obligation out of that to be responsible? I think we do. I'm just saying, our country needs to talk about this. We need to make it happen. Because we are paying huge sums of money, to make up the difference. We had more than 28 $1 billion or more climate extreme events in the United this last year. New Orleans. We rebuilt New Orleans. For the 50,000 people in New Orleans. Close to 270 billion in today's money. That is $500,000 per resident.

Are you kidding me? And we can't find $10-20 billion to do what we need to do to build out America's resilience? Move in the direction we need to move? This is an economic argument. This is what I want to emphasize to you. You have got to think about how you are going to be involved, to help make this difference. If we don't make that difference, I don't want to say this.

It is not that everybody is suddenly going to not be able to improve or everything. It is the rich that are going to have the best opportunity to make the difference in that. It is going to be the poorest people on the planet in most of the countries on the planet who pay the greatest price.

If you listen closely, you realize how little Kerry really understands about the climate issue.

Clearly, Kerry wants some sort of global declaration of a climate emergency so the ideas he cannot sell to the public via argument and persuasion can be forced upon it.

He falsely implies America has endured some 28 extreme weather events due to climate change when he knows there is no way to draw such a conclusion.

His patronizing “they need to choose the right kinds of electricity” comment about the citizens of poor countries is nothing less than imperialism dressed up as compassion.

His discussion of the "difference” is incoherent and he either has no idea how much money the US has already wasted on renewables boondoggles or doesn’t want to admit it. His $10-20 billion figure is nothing compared to what has disappeared.

Summing it up, there is one word that capsulizes Kerry’s remarks. Insulting!