This segment from CNN's The Lead takes aim at Donald Trump's statements during a Piers Morgan interview regarding climate change and global warming. The clip starts with Morgan asking Trump about his stance on climate change, leading into Trump's assertion that global warming was rebranded to climate change because temperatures were getting too cold all over the place. To fact-check these claims, the report brings in Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel, a senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. At 00:44, she deadpans that questioning climate change is like asking if you believe in gravity, before breaking down the scientific distinction between overall climate trends and rising global average temperatures.
The package continues by confronting Trump's specific claims about global temperatures and melting ice caps. A NASA heat map visualization around 01:35 tracks temperature anomalies from 1884 through 2016 to support the point that 16 of the 17 warmest years on record occurred in the preceding two decades. When Trump insists that ice caps are setting records, Ekwurzel dismisses the claim as gobbledygook at 02:22, pointing to NOAA data showing historic lows in sea ice extent. Host Jake Tapper closes the segment at 02:28 by noting that NASA declined to provide a climate expert for the story, suggesting potential political pressure on federal science agencies.
It is a tightly edited news piece that effectively contrasts political soundbites directly against scientific data and expert opinion. What stands out most is Tapper's candid closing remark about NASA's refusal to participate, which highlights the broader tension between journalistic fact-checking and government agency communication during that administration.