Trump admin doubles down on denial when confronted with inconvenient facts

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

When U.S. President Donald Trump spoke at the 2026 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland in January, he angrily berated the United States' European allies for using green energy and claimed, without any evidence, that climate change is a "hoax." European countries get their energy from a variety of sources, including green energy (wind and solar), nuclear power and fossil fuels. But Trump was angry that they are using green energy at all.

European scientists and environmentalists were quick to push back against Trump's claims about climate change, arguing that Europe should be using more green energy — not less — and offering plenty of scientific data to back up their arguments. Trump and his allies, however, only doubled down on their claims about climate change, green energy and fossil fuels.

That type of doubling down is the focus of an article by The New Republic's Kate Aronoff, headlined "The Denialism Presidency" and published on April 16.

When confronted with facts about climate change, the war in Iran or the U.S. economy, Aronoff stresses, the second Trump Administration doubles down on "denial."

"It isn't unusual for members of the Trump Administration to deny and downplay climate change," Aronoff explains. "But climate denial — a mainstay of the GOP for most of this century — has also become something of an operating manual for the right as it reacts to other crises it would like to pretend are not happening. (Treasury Secretary Scott) Bessent, this week, likewise, dismissed the sprawling economic turmoil caused by the administration's decision to go to war with Iran, which now involves a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz."

Bessent argued that the Iran war is worth a "small bit of economic pain," but Aronoff notes that according to economists, the effects of the war will be much deeper than the treasury secretary is claiming. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), for example, is warning that an escalation of the Iran war could set off a global recession.

"At another event in Washington," Aronoff observes, "(Bessent) asserted that price spikes resulting from the war in Iran — which helped inflation rise three times faster in March than in February — were a passing fad, despite the fact that the Strait of Hormuz is not poised to return to business as usual anytime soon. Whenever it reopens, experts warn that the effects of its now-more-than-month-long closure will be felt for years."

Aronoff continues, "Whether it's climate change or a looming global recession, the script is the same: downplay, deny, and project confidence. This playbook works for Bessent and other members of the Trump Administration because they are wealthy enough to insulate themselves from the effects of both rising temperature and economic catastrophe."

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