JohnAnthony Barrasso is a US Senator from Wyoming and for the most part roughlywhat you’d expect from a Trump-promoting wingnut – not the apparently craziestof the lot, thoughhe did for instance promote theutterly discredited and moronic conspiracy theory of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidentialelection.

 

Barrasso has,however, a story as one of the staunchest and most quixotic climate changedenialists in the US legislature. In a hearing with the EnvironmentalProtection Agency director in 2011, for instance,Barrasso stated, apparently with a straight face,that “forty years ago, the same scientists that are predicting the end ofthe world now from global warming were predicting the end of the world fromglobal cooling”, a claim that is as common on climate change denialistwebsites as it iscomplete andutter nonsense. Asked, in 2014, whether humanactivity contributes to climate change,Barrasso said “the climate is constantly changing. The role human activity playsis not known.” Though that kind of claim surely flies withthe nuttier part of his electorate, it’s hard to believe that Barrasso isdisplaying complete intellectual honesty here – he is certainly not shy aboutengaging in somebald-faced lying about climate proposals he disagrees with. At least listening to Barrassotalk climate change makes for an easy game ofdenialist talking point bingo.

 

Barrassoopposed the CIA’s creation of its Centeron Climate Change and National Security in 2009, and two years laterintroduced a bill that would prevent theEnvironmental Protection Agency from limiting CO₂ emissions.

 

That said,he did, in December 2018, publisha New York Times op-edwhere he claimed that he believed thatclimate change was happening but was opposed toa carbon fee anddividend. He was, however, atthe same time a firm supporter of Trump’s plan towithdraw theUS from the Paris Agreement.It may be worth mentioning thathereceivedover $690,000 in fundingfrom oil and gas companies in2018 alone.

 

Diagnosis:Mostly an utterly spineless, dishonest liar and opportunist, we suspect. But itis probably safe to say that some of his nonsense statements reflect ideas hegenuinely endorses, too. Dangerous.