The US Republican Party was criticized as a threat to the Earth, and the first televised debate sparked public outrage
According to Agence France Presse, environmental organizations and experts in the United States expressed anger on August 24th over the stance of Republican presidential candidates on climate change during the first televised debate the day before.
The report states that the theme of climate change has sparked one of the most exposed issues in this debate, with the host mentioning the topic only 20 minutes into the debate. The host said to the eight Republican candidates, "If you believe that human behavior is leading to climate change, please raise your hand.".
According to the report, Florida Governor Ron de Santis ranks second in the poll, only behind Trump, and is a climate change denier. Before someone raised their hand, he intervened and said, "We're not school children, let's start debating."
In this way, the candidates did not raise their hands. But one of them, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, seized this opportunity.
The 38 year old political newcomer said, "The climate change agenda is a scam. The reality is that more people die from poor climate change policies than from actual climate change." Ramaswamy did not provide evidence to support this claim.
According to reports, Democratic Party President Biden immediately responded on social media website X, "By the way, climate change is real."
![The US Republican Party was criticized as a threat to the Earth, and the first televised debate sparked public outrage](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/f8ecd6e2f0d47c52f27acb0c279f1cbd.jpeg)
The report states that climate experts have also responded strongly.
Michael Mann, a renowned climatologist at the University of Pennsylvania, said that the Republican Party "is not just a threat to the country. It is a threat to the Earth.".
The Climate Power organization called this television debate the "worst politics". It pointed out that after Ramaswami uttered the word "scam", the audience on site booed.
The organization said, "2024 will be a climate election - Republicans will face the real consequences they continue to deny."