Trump says rising sea levels just ‘give you slightly more seafront property’

Former president Donald Trump brushed off concerns about climate change, saying that rising sea levels cause by rising temperatures could lead to more seafront property.

Mr Trump made the remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday evening as he derided liberals and threw political red meat to ardent supporters.

In one part, he said that liberals and Democrats make the United States weak. He specifically criticised President Joe Biden for saying that Americans had to sacrifice during the crisis in Ukraine via higher energy prices and derided his climate envoy John Kerry for not pushing for more gas or energy.

“No, no, no. Global warming,” he said. “We have a world that’s ready to blow up and disintegrate over energy and he’s talking about global warming.”

Mr Trump brushed off the fact that ocean levels may slightly rise one one hundredth of an inch, saying a result would be “giving you slightly more seafront property”.

“And this is his problem. He’s not thinking about the nuclear warming,” he said. “He’s thinking of other types of warming. These people are not living in a world of reality.”

The Trump administration largely criticised efforts to curb climate change, pulling out of the Paris climate agreement at the start of his presidency. Similarly, he appointed numerous figures who were friendly to the energy industry, such as former Exxon Mobil chief executive Rex Tillerson, whom he named as his secretary of state, and Scott Pruitt, who led the Environmental Protection Agency during his administration.