Climate Deniers Moved Rapidly to Spread Misinformation During and After Attack on US Capitol – DeSmog

Prominent climate science deniers moved rapidly to spread false and misleading conspiracy theories online during and after the attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters thisweek.

Some climate deniers, including some with ties to the Heartland Institute and other organizations that have historically helped to create the false impression that there is sizeable scientific disagreement on climate change, also directly expressed support for the attackers and called for more violence.

Striking fear in politicians is not a bad thing, the @ClimateDepot Twitter account tweeted on the afternoon of January 6 in a message describing the Capitol as then-undersiege.

Thomas Jefferson: The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants, @ClimateDepot tweeted secondslater.

What's needed next is mass protests to storm state Capitols and the CDC to end Covid lockdowns once and for all, the thread continued, referring to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control andPrevention.

The @ClimateDepot Twitter account, created in April 2009, is held by Marc Morano, the communications director for the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), a Washington, D.C.-based think-tank with a history of receiving funding from ExxonMobil and the conservative dark money organizationDonors Trust. Morano serves as the executive director of CFACTs climatedepot.com website, which as DeSmogs databaseprofile puts it, regularly publishes articles questioning man-made globalwarming.

Screenshot of Twitter thread posted by @ClimateDepot on the afternoon of January6,2021.

Morano has for many years played a prominent role in the climate denial movement. The Heartland Institute currently maintains a biography of Morano under its Who We Are section, noting his prior role as a climate researcher for U.S. Senator James Inhofe, who has regularly made speeches rejecting mainstream climate science.Rolling Stone once called Morano the Matt Drudge of climate denial. He more recently authored a book titled, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Climate Change.CFACTs most recent tax filings show Morano was its highest-compensated employee, bringing in over $209,000 in pay and benefits in2018.

On January 6, after the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) whose board of directors includes senior officials with ExxonMobil and numerous other fossil fuel companies posted a statement condemning the violence at the Capitol Building, @ClimateDepot retweeted a reply to that statement reading: NAM has always been a bootlicking organization groveling at the booted feet of their governmentalmasters.

Many fossil fuel industry groups immediately condemned the insurgency in statements or social media posts, and some long-time climate deniers did as well. But Morano was not the only prominent science denier to express support online for the mob attack in D.C.

William M. Briggs, described by the Heartland Institute as one of itspolicy advisors, published a post on January 7 headlined, we fought the good fight and we lost this battle. In the piece, Briggs claims that Congress had an unarmed Air Force veteran shot and killed and misleadingly claimsthat the crowd, by doing very little, by remaining inside the tourist ropes inside the building, even, forced the startled regime intohiding.

Briggs' post goes on to describeRepublican politicians' later condemnation of Wednesdays attack as the most disgusting display of cowardice and abject surrender were likely to see in ourlifetimes.

Some of us will be in deep kimchi because of this, but there are no regrets, Briggs's post continued. One thing is certain. They will be coming forus.

DeSmog reviewed numerous accounts during and in the wake of the Capitol attack. Social media posts show that several other climate science deniers, like the UK-based columnistJames Delingpole and Steve Milloy, publisher of the JunkScience.com website, joined many on the far-right in circulating false information suggesting that it was not the visible pro-Trump participants who had been planning online for weeks to occupy the Capitol, but instead members of their opposition the loose,left-wing movement known as antifathat actually invaded the building. On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that there was no substantive evidence that any antifa supporters had participated in the pro-Trump insurrection, adding that many claims of antifa involvement had cited a soure that had, in fact, reported neo-Naziparticipation.

Screenshot of retweet by @JunkScience on the afternoon of January6,2021.

Others in DeSmog's Climate Disinformation Database, like the conservative media organization Prager U, used their social media presence to share messaging that sought to shift focus to lastsummer's Black Lives Matteruprisings.

Detailed information about precisely what happened inside the Capitol Building on Wednesday and what led to those events is still continuing to emerge. But what is clear is that neo-Nazis and long-time far-right Trump supporters were documented, and in many cases documented themselves, participating in the mob violence inside the CapitolBuilding.

The goal isnt necessarily to convince anyone of anything, Melissa Ryan, author of the Ctrl Alt-Right Delete weekly newslettercovering the alt-right and CEO of CARD Strategies, told DeSmog. The goal is to sow so much confusion that its actually hard for people to tell the truth fromfiction.

That misinformation benefits the far-right, shesaid.

They did the same after Charlottesville, said Ryan, who has previously written about interactions between climate deniers and QAnon conspiracy theorists. They do the same after any of their protests that cause violence. The goal is to cause confusion amongst viewers, those amongst their audience that might have a little trepidation about being associated with violent extremist groups, so both sides is sort of how they neutralizethat.

Several accounts associated with climate science deniers focused in particular on pictures of Jake Angeli, who wore face paint and a horned helmet on January 6, with these accounts suggesting that Angeli was a member of antifa. Angeli, however, is better known as the QAnonshaman.

Hes absolutely a QAnon right-wing follower, saidRyan.

Attempts to shift blame away from those visibly participating in the invasion and to antifa were later also spread in Congress by Republican Matt Gaetz of Florida who was met with audible boos on the House floor when he suggested that the Capitol attack was by people masquerading as Trump supporters a word choice made all the more ironic by the fact that many participating in the apparent coup attempt were not wearing masks despite the ragingCOVID-19 pandemic.

And of course, President Trump himself may perhaps be the worlds best-known climate science denier. Earlier in the day on January 6, he had addressed members of the soon-to-be mob in person, calling on them to walk down to the Capitol and adding that you will never take back our country with weakness. Later that day, in a recorded video, he told them, We love you. Youre very special. Gohome.

On Thursday night, in a tweeted video message lasting less than three minutes, President Trump said that the demonstrators the same individuals whom he had personally addressed before the attack had defiled the Capitol and called for their prosecution. Today, he resumed using his Twitter account to praise and encourage hisbase.

Today, Trump faces renewed calls for his impeachment or removal under the 25th Amendment. But the disinformation-fueled movement backing him is extremely unlikely to simply fade away and may in fact be further emboldened by the images of Trump and Confederate flags that were waved inside the CapitolBuilding.

I feel like its a very clear end of the Trump administration, said Ryan, but whats terrifying is what it is the birthof.

Far-right organizers have already reportedly posted calls to gather again on January 20, inauguration day. On Thursday, USA Today quoted from a white-supremacist Telegram channel that called for Pro-Trump and other nationalist crowds to gather in D.C. thatday.

Main image: The pro-Trump mob outside of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. on January6, 2021.Credit: Tyler Merbler,CC BY2.0

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Climate Deniers Moved Rapidly to Spread Misinformation During and After Attack on US Capitol - DeSmog