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In the Presidential debate of 26th September, Hillary Clinton claimed that "Donald Trump said that global warming was a hoax invented by the Chinese" . Trump replied several times "I did not say that".

Did he say (or write) that?

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    Please don't use comments to refer to the number of Trump questions. There's a meta question about it.
    – Sklivvz
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 22:41
  • @Menasheh that link is dead Commented Feb 20, 2020 at 7:18

4 Answers 4

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He did write this on his twitter feed[archived]

The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.

See also politifact: Yes, Donald Trump did call climate change a Chinese hoax. He later claimed that this was a joke:

Well, I think the climate change is just a very, very expensive form of tax. A lot of people are making a lot of money. I know much about climate change. I'd be — received environmental awards. And I often joke that this is done for the benefit of China. Obviously, I joke. But this is done for the benefit of China, because China does not do anything to help climate change.

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  • Arent twitter accounts normally run by some pr people or interns? Is Trump himself updating his twitter?
    – marsh
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 18:53
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    @marsh For what it's worth (which isn't that much), Trump said that he writes/dictates his Tweets.
    – tim
    Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 19:29
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    @LoganWayne: They mean the same thing. The effect of rapid CO2 increase is to increase the energy in the atmosphere. This leads to more extreme climate effects, which may include hotter weather, but, because of the complexity of atmospheric physics, can also include increased rain, snowfall, hurricanes etc. (which aren't very warm). GW is too simplistic as it implies a steady increase in temperature where you live. Climate Change is a more general term that basically means more extreme weather. Commented Dec 20, 2016 at 7:56
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    He claimed it was a joke, and then re-claimed that it was true. "I often joke X. Obviously I joke. But X." Commented Nov 20, 2017 at 16:44
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    "Obviously do not take what I say seriously, but also be influenced by my words."
    – Zibbobz
    Commented Mar 5, 2019 at 16:29
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Yes, he absolutely said that. You can still read it on his Twitter feed, in fact, where in November of 2012 he said:

The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.

Source: https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/265895292191248385

Even before that, he made substantially similar remarks during an interview with Fox News in 2010. Here he claims that global warming is a "con", and that it's benefiting not only China, but also Japan and India.

He also made other tweets in 2014 where he called global warming "a hoax", although without implicating China:

NBC News just called it the great freeze - coldest weather in years. Is our country still spending money on the GLOBAL WARMING HOAX?

Source: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/427226424987385856

Snowing in Texas and Louisiana, record setting freezing temperatures throughout the country and beyond. Global warming is an expensive hoax!

Source: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/428414113463955457

Literally years later (in January of 2016) he would claim that the remark (and one would presume, also his verbal comments implicating China and others, though he sounded plenty serious at the time) was a "joke". You can decide for yourself whether that explanation is credible, or patently absurd.

The answer to the question as posed, however, which is "Did Donald Trump say that 'global warming was a hoax invented by the Chinese'", is yes.

There's no question Donald Trump said, in writing, almost exactly those words. He's also made similar verbal statements in interviews dating at least as far back as 2010, and reiterated the position that global warming is a hoax multiple times in 2014.

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    This is a poor answer. It editorializes based on the viewpoint of the author instead of simply presenting the relevant facts.
    – Kylos
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 17:08
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    @Kylos It's got enough facts that we can cope with a little artistic license I think.
    – Simd
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 17:15
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    The only editorial/opinion content I see here is "though he sounded plenty serious at the time". I suppose you could interpret the one- and two-word quotations as dismissive "scare quotes" but they are in fact the actual words Trump used, embedded in a paraphrased but accurate context. What do you see that I don't? Commented Dec 23, 2016 at 21:49
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    The "editorial" actually serves to balance the answer. If the question sought meaning, the well-researched answer provided context on both sides of that meaning. A more biased approach might be to simply answer "yes" to the question. Also, in my opinion, skeptics have a duty to not only respond to misinformation, but to immunize against it.
    – shannon
    Commented Dec 24, 2016 at 20:26
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    The "editorial" content is there to balance-out the other highly-voted answer on this page, which devotes fully half of its text to quoting Trump's "joke" explanation and doesn't mention all the other times he's made comparable statements. That one is also editorializing, albeit by omitting relevant information rather than offering up commentary. I think it's important and relevant to point out that the joke explanation shouldn't be taken as credible as it's almost certainly retroactive nonsense that's only plausible if you ignore all the other things Trump has said on the subject.
    – aroth
    Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 6:58
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For a far more comprehensive listing than either of the other two comments, here is a redditor listing 50 times Donald Trump denied global warming on twitter: https://np.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/4sax5a/we_just_broke_the_record_for_hottest_year_9/d58849s/?sh=f596bc1b&context=3&st=iqihtzhh

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    This does not answer the question (unless there are tweets in there about that specific question - but then your answer is in another castle)
    – user22865
    Commented Dec 20, 2016 at 10:26
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    This is a comment, not an answer. The other two "comments" you mention are actual answers. You provided a link to a list of links some of which maybe answer the question. There are many such links, e.g. www.google.com
    – Peter
    Commented Dec 20, 2016 at 13:05
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Yes, he definitely did, here's an archived link in case that tweet gets deleted or something,

https://web.archive.org/web/20161222120318/https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/265895292191248385

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