The Greatest Con-Job in the World - Cass Bradford

"This 'climate change,' it's the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion," Trump said. "All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong. They were made by stupid people that have cost their countries fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success. If you don't get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail"

President Donald J. Trump

On September 23rd, 2025, Donald Trump, current president of the U.S., declared that ‘climate change’ is the greatest con job in the world. This declaration was made at the U.N. almost one year after Hurricane Helena hit Florida, a category four storm that killed over 250 people. Despite this and the increasing evidence that human driven climate change is exacerbating the power of natural disasters, the Trump administration holds strong in their belief. To them, climate change is nothing but a scam. President Trump employs a few of the key terms that Genevieve Guenther describes as dominating “The Language of Climate Politics”, the title of her book. The first two chapters are titled “Alarmist” and “Cost”, the two terms that Trump wields in his flippant comment. It was not the first time President Trump has criticized climate activists. Nor will it be his last play to overrule any progress the U.S. has made towards reducing its climate impacts, according to his recent eliminations (endangerment findings). 

The aftermath of Hurricane Helena near Horseshoe Beach, Florida (Photo:  Chandan Khanna—AFP/Getty Images)

While President Trump perpetuates his beliefs and plans, Hawaii, as of March 28th, is beginning to rebuild after its worst flooding in decades. This flooding has only brought more attention to how devastating rising sea levels can be to island nations, causing disasters so terrible their future is at risk. Countries like Tuvalu are in danger of drowning out of existence. Real consequences, the loss of human lives, have already happened due to the effects of climate change and yet, when people advocate for change, they’re told they’re making it up. Alarmist, doomer, and stupid, are used against the most prominent advocate to someone who chooses to be more mindful of their gas use.

Flooding in Hawaii 03/24/2026 (Photo:Tutehau Hunkin)

Tuvalu's Foreign Minister, Simon Kofe (Photo:Tuvalu Foreign Ministry/Reuters)

With these disasters in mind, the Trump administration's comments surrounding climate change seem far more devious than beneficial. What good does it do the American people when their president tells them they aren’t drowning as the water rises to their chests? More importantly, why? How does ignoring a climate crisis benefit the U.S.? 

The short answer is, it doesn’t, at least not for the majority of U.S. citizens. However, it is extremely beneficial to large corporations and the government's pockets. Ignoring climate issues and denying the human impact takes the weight off of the government's shoulders. The administration has also cut billions in clean energy grants while increasing subsidies for gas and oil. Collin Reeves, United States Campaigns Manager at Oil Change International, said “The Trump Administration uses ‘free market’ rhetoric to disguise its preferential treatment of the fossil fuel industry,” Rees said. “Trump doesn’t want the public to understand that he’s using our money to enrich the fossil fuel CEOs and investors who drive the climate crisis.”. Trump's own administration has taken to pointing out the need for federal tax breaks in solar and wind energy while forgetting to mention the extra 4 billion a year in tax dollars that they’d given to the fossil fuel industry.

 The hypocrisy is evident, complaining that countries have spent too much on climate change while giving billions to gas and oil companies. Blatant lies and specially picked terms are used by Trump and his administrations to spin climate change into a fantasy made up by activists to cost taxpayers more money while propagating the thought that fossil fuels are the way to go. However, they won’t be around forever and as us in the U.S. are learning today, gas won’t always be affordable either. As Guenther states on pages 67-68, “To help neutralize this propaganda, you can emphasize instead the costs of climate damages, using alarming examples from the extreme weather that is already emerging all around us. And you can connect these examples to the broader economic point that if the world does not phase out fossil fuels, the cost of climate change will potentially be infinite, inasmuch as unchecked global heating threatens to end the human adventure on this planet.”