James Comeris a US congressman representing Kentucky’s 1st congressional district in the USHouse of Representatives, and an unsuccessful candidate for governor ofKentucky in 2015. And though Comer is for the most part what you’d expect froma conservative representative from Kentucky (repeal Obamacare, opposition togay marriage), we have to take a special look at Kentucky gubernatorialcandidates given that Kentucky is also home toKen Ham’sCreation Museum and Ark Park, and Kentuckygubernatorial candidates tend to have views on that. AndComer has views onthat, for instance supporting tax rebatesfor the ‘museum’ despite the museum’s declared intention to use religiousdiscrimination in their hiring processes.

 

To mostpeople, however, Comer is probably best known forhis explicitly partisan work as chair of the OversightCommittee from 2023,which has been controversial. He is also known for pushingvarious bogus accusations of voter fraud and election integrity violations inconnection with the 2020 election, and for criticizing investigations into theJanuary 6^th insurrection as “illegitimate”,trying to suggestthat former House Speaker Nancy Pelosiwas really responsible. ButComer is also a climate change denialist of the densest kind; as he put it,“I do not believe in global warming. I'm the one person whose business andlivelihood depends on Mother Nature, so I understand weather patterns.We'vehad a very severe winter this year with 12-inch snows, so there is noglobal warming.”Yeah,that weather-climate distinction: it’s not a particularlysophisticated distinction, but Comer is not a particularly sophisticatedthinker; fortunately for him, neither are a large part of Kentucky voters.

 

Diagnosis:Conspiracy theorist and ardent science denialist. In the current politicalclimate, there is perhaps nothing unusual or unexpected about Comer and hisviews, but you should really stop and think for a moment about how insane theyare.