Samantha Bee dedicated the opening segment of her show to the “terrifying thing that has been tearing America apart.” No, not Will Smith’s Genie from Aladdin, but rather the progressive Green New Deal that was introduced by “Republicans’ wet nightmare” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”
After playing a montage of various pundits criticizing the plan, the Full Frontal host said, “It’s ‘too expensive’ and ‘too hard’ isn’t a reason not to save the world. It’s a reason not to have a destination wedding.” She added, “The Green New Deal has been controversial, but the idea behind it really shouldn’t be. An overwhelming number of experts agree we only have about 12 years to stop climate change from devastating our planet.”
“As usual, the loudest criticism is coming from Fox News, where you can always count on thoughtful analysis based on solid scientific thinking,” Bee said later, before cutting to the clip of Fox & Friends Weekend host Pete Hegseth explaining that he hasn’t washed his hands in 10 years, because, as he put it, “Germs are not a real thing. I can’t see them, therefore they’re not real.”
“I don’t know what’s worse, being that guy’s horrified co-workers or being the notoriously germaphobic president who’s now watching footage of himself shaking hands with Pete dick-fingers,” she said of Trump.
“While the people at Fox should be worrying about working with patient zero, they’re instead soiling themselves over the Green New Deal. But even 69 percent of Republicans want the government to do something about climate change,” Bee said, adding, “Nice.”
“Yes, the Green New Deal is ambitious and yes, a lot of it will never pass but the plan’s aggressive, even radical goals are bringing much-needed attention to climate change,” the host continued. “It’s kind of like how Kars 4 Kids brings attention to how much I hate Kars 4 Kids.”
“And it’s not crazy to use the government to do something big,” she said. “As daunting as it may seem, the Green New Deal wouldn’t be the first impossible-sounding project our government has pursued.” The moon-shot “sounded crazy” in 1961, she said, “but we dedicated our fullest resources to it and our hard work paid off eight years later, when we managed to convincingly fake the moon landing. But if we don’t act soon to keep our planet livable, we’ll have to figure out a way to send all eight billion of us to the actual moon.”