GOP congressman says climate change is fake just like 'bloodletting'


Meanwhile, August 2019 is the hottest month in recorded history.

Rep. Ross Spano (R-FL) denied the reality of climate change and compared the scientific data proving the phenomenon to bloodletting.

On Sunday, Spano appeared on WFLA's "Politics on Your Side."

"Do you believe the climate is changing due to man-made activity?" asked host Evan Donovan.

"I do not," Spano replied. "I don't think there's sufficient evidence to show that."

Climate change is real; it has been observed, examined, and studied by scientists for decades. Republicans from Trump on down have repeatedly tried to deny the underlying science.

August 2019 is the hottest month ever recorded in human history.

Spano insisted that the evidence he's "seen so far" doesn't "prove to me that man has had the influence some people have said it has had."

When Donovan pointed out the global consensus with almost 98% of actively publishing climate scientists acknowledging the reality of climate change and its connection to mankind's actions, Spano would not budge.

"I've also seen reports that it's not true," he replied, and complained that "there's an inexorable push to force people to accept that it is true."

Donovan challenged him again.

"I'm not a doctor, either, but if my doctor tells me I have brain cancer, I'm not going to say, 'Yeah, you know what, 2% of brain cancer specialists say I don't have brain cancer,'" Donovan said.

"There was one time in the medical field where bloodletting was a form of treatment," answered Spano.

"There was one time when people thought the Earth was flat, and now we think those people are idiots," the host responded.

Bloodletting has not been seriously practiced for over 200 years because medical scientists recognized it isn't a real remedy.

Spanos has a track record of making ridiculous public statements and policy.

Opposing the House passage of the Equality Act in May, Spano opposed the legislation and invoked civil rights icon Coretta Scott King to try and make his point.

In 2017, when serving in the Florida House, Spano proposed a resolution that would have declared pornography a "public health crisis."

When running for his seat in 2018, Spano borrowed $180,000 from friends to finance his campaign. He claimed in his federal filings that the money had come from his own "personal funds."

Climate change is changing the very fabric of the world. Not only have Republicans been inactive on the crisis, but in their caucus are members like Spano, who insists on denying reality.

Published with permission of The American Independent.