Goodman began by asking Chomsky about a comment he made that the Republican Party was the most dangerous organization in world history.
Chomsky said that it’s an “extremely outrageous statement. But the question is whether it’s true. I mean, has there ever been an organization in human history that is dedicated, with such commitment, to the destruction of organized human life on Earth? Not that I’m aware of. Is the Republican organization . . . committed to that? Overwhelmingly. There isn’t even any question about it.”
Referring to the 2016 Republican presidential campaign, Chomsky said that every single candidate either denied global warming or, as in the case of Jeb Bush, who said, "Maybe it’s happening. We really don’t know. But it doesn’t matter because fracking is working fine so we can get more fossil fuels."And then John Kasich admitted “global warming is going on,” but as Governor of Ohio “we’re going to go on using coal for energy, and we’re not going to apologize for it."
Chomsky added that because of the most dangerous organization in human history—the Republican Congress—the Paris Conference accord was effectively derailed.
“And it turns out that the most powerful country in human history, the richest, most powerful, most influential, the leader of the free world, has just decided not only not to support the efforts, but actively to undermine them. So there’s the whole world on one side, literally, at least trying to do something or other, not enough maybe, although some places are going pretty far, like Denmark, couple of others; and on the other side, in splendid isolation, is the country led by the most dangerous organization in human history, which is saying, "We’re not part of this. In fact, we’re going to try to undermine it." We’re going to maximize the use of fossil fuels—could carry us past the tipping point. We’re not going to provide funding for—as committed in Paris, to developing countries that are trying to do something about the climate problems. We’re going to dismantle regulations that retard the impact, the devastating impact, of production of carbon dioxide and, in fact, other dangerous gases—methane, others.
“And I don’t have to go through what’s happened since, but the—in general, the Cabinet appointments are designed to—assigned to people whose commitment and beliefs are that it’s necessary to destroy everything in their department that could be of any use to human beings and wouldn’t just increase profits and power. And they’re doing it very systematically, one after another. EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, has been very sharply cut. Actually, the main department that’s concerned with environmental issues is the Department of Energy, which also had very sharp cuts, particularly in the environment-related programs. In fact, there’s even a ban on posting and publishing information and material about this.”
The Republican Party is dangerous. As Chomsky said, "there should be no question about it." Trump's First 100 Days Was An Orgy Of Unnecessary Cruelty, and it remains so. It is directly supported by or approved with silent acquiescence by the Republican Party.
In addition to climate change, Goodman’s interview with Chomsky covers nuclear weapons, North Korea, Iran, the war in Syria and the Trump administration’s threat to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Read the transcript. As always Chomsky has interesting answers to Goodman’s questions.
Chomsky on the GOP: Has Any Organization Ever Been So Committed to Destruction of Life on Earth?
Here's the video:
