Opinion | California can burn, but climate change is now a matter of opinion, not science
- Robert Delaney says the environment was a neglected issue in the US midterm elections, even as wildfires devastate lives and property in California
- With misinformation spreading easily via social media, scientific findings no longer carry as much weight with the public as in the past
Democrats, in particular, might surmise that Trumpism has reached its limits. Many of America’s moderate Republicans had had enough of the virulent anti-immigration messaging spewed as the party’s main strategy in key races.
The party might have at least cut their losses in the House by focusing on strong economic growth, spurred by their cuts in taxes and regulations, which the traditional Republican base and a large swathe of centrist Democrats approve of.
Concerns about health care, social security and other social benefits also figured prominently into the political ads and debates before the polling stations opened on November 6.
One issue largely absent from the discourse that fuelled the pitched political battles of the midterms was the environment, astonishing considering that, just weeks earlier, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a dire warning.
