Kind of a new-ish thing among The Most Reasoned Centrist Minds of the Great American Punditry is to try to make Democrats ignore certain issues by claiming that they lose elections because they won’t shut up about it. We saw this about transgender people, and there were hot takes on how this cost Harris the election.
The problem was that Harris barely mentioned trans people at all, but this didn’t stop the Very Serious People from haranguing Democrats that they need to stop talking about the issue that they ignored. Now we have another example:
I can barely think of an elected Democrat who has said the words "climate change" out loud in the last two years, but of course the "Dems must eat shit" takes never stop, never change.
As if this is truly happening. It sure didn’t happen much in 2024. Nor did it in 2025.
Now, of course, the very definition of delusional is believing something that is clearly not true, and perhaps Matt Huber is dealing with a mental illness, because if you believe that Democrats focus on climate change during campaigns, you are either woefully underinformed or sick. This is a charitable thought. However, with Matt Huber, there probably is another motivation.
Hmmm…
By the way, this @nytimes.com op-ed had a #KochNumber of 2:Matt Huber -> Breakthrough Institute (thebreakthrough.org/people/matt-…)Breakthrough Institute -> Koch (cleantechnica.com/2026/03/29/p…)
— Michael E. Mann (@michaelemann.bsky.social) 2026-05-11T15:18:45.421Z
Trying to get the Democratic Party elite to pivot away from climate change is no doubt due to big money interests, and one doesn’t have to be a Bernie Bro to see it. For starters, anyone claiming that people don’t care about it is full of shit. The majority of Americans do care about it.
The idea that Americans want to talk about affordability and not climate change is also sort of ridiculous because it’s not like these two things are mutually exclusive. Especially now, what with Trump turning a trip to the gas station into a moment of very real economic anxiety for a lot of Americans. Also, the idea that somehow alternative, green energy is more expensive than fossil fuels is just no longer true. For example, Trump’s war on wind energy is spiking electricity prices.Â
It shouldn’t be difficult to tie affordability to climate change. It IS a kitchen table issue. I know there’s a movement among moderates to just focus on what polls say as far as what is popular and throw persuasion out the window, but this is doable.
Not to mention, there is also an upcoming weather event that might throw a lot of water, cold and otherwise, on the idea of climate change not being a big deal, and that’s the upcoming Super El Niño. A very strong El Niño, perhaps the strongest in recorded history, is likely to form by late summer.
The effects of an El Niño vary depending on where you live, ranging from increased wildfires to record high temperatures to record precipitation to extreme drought. It is still not certain how a very strong one will play out, but it’s probably not going to be good.
The problem with climate change and claiming it isn’t of concern to “the working class” is that the effects of it are felt the most by lower-income people. Just ask folks in rural western North Carolina about how they are still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Helene a few years later.
But anyway, Democrats have not put climate change on the front burner, or even on the stove. Anyone who says they are and should stop it needs to be treated with great suspicion.
The last word goes to OneRepublic.