CV NEWS FEED // In the wake of the devastating ongoing Hawaii wildfires, the state’s governor and other Democrats are blaming “global warming” and “climate change.”

The deadliest American wildfire in over a century took place on the island of Maui last week, obliterating the community of Lahaina. As of Monday, August 14, 96 people have been confirmed dead, and many hundreds more are missing. In addition, the disaster has left at least an estimated $6 billion in property damage.

First-term Hawaii Democratic Gov. Josh Green was quick to blame “global warming,” which he said is “very real for us and everywhere.”

Green made the connection on Saturday while giving “An Update on Disaster Recovery Efforts.”

“The consequence of global warming and storm change is changing things,” he said. “But we’ve never had anything like this near a city.”

“There’s no question this catastrophe is going to change the way everyone looks at fire across the globe,” he added.

When speaking on MSNBC on Sunday, Green referred to the natural disaster as a “fire hurricane.”

As FOX News reported, the governor “attributed strong winds from Hurricane Dora, which passed far to the south of the island last week, and very dry drought conditions on Maui to the fast-moving blaze.”

However, the state’s climatologist said that Hurricane Dora, a Pacific typhoon, was admittedly “very far away from Hawaii.”

Green continued, reiterating his claims the day before that the wildfires were a result of “global warming.”

“When fire jumped from one spot to another – there were three or four fires going on at the same time – it got seeded very quickly with those 80 mph gusted winds,” he said. “And then the fire moved at essentially a mile per minute, 60 mph down through the community. That’s what a fire hurricane is going to look like in the era of global warming.”

Green, who was born in New York and raised in Pittsburgh, moved to Hawaii in 2000 to work as a public health physician. After a combined 14 years in both houses of the Hawaii legislature, Green went on to serve one term as the state’s lieutenant governor before being elected its ninth governor in 2022. 

Green’s tenure as lieutenant governor coincided with the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which the local news source Honolulu Civil Beat described as “failed,” citing “outbreaks at jails and nursing homes.” 

In 2022, the New York Post’s Economic Report Card on State Coronavirus Responses gave Hawaii a “D.”

Green was not the only high-profile Democrat to suggest that “climate change” played a role in causing the fires that are still devastating The Aloha State. 

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-OR, claimed that they were a part of “climate chaos,” which, according to him, “scientists are clear” is “wreaking havoc on ecosystems everywhere.”

Calling this “chaos” the new norm, the senator issued the following warning on X (formerly known as Twitter): “We need to take action immediately or else it will get even worse.”

Merkley’s Senate colleague, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL, who serves as the upper chamber’s Majority Whip, shared his sentiment. 

Durbin, a self-professed Catholic, said, “The wildfires raging across Hawaii are a devastating view of our planet as we fail to adequately address the climate crisis.” 

Some on the far left, including Rep. Ro Khanna, D-CA, are now citing the tragedy in their efforts to get President Joe Biden to declare a “climate emergency,” something progressives have been pushing for a while.

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Hawaii is one of the most heavily Democratic states in the country, with Biden carrying the state in 2020 by a nearly 30-point margin. It last voted for a Republican for president during Ronald Reagan’s 49-state landslide victory in 1984.

All but two governors in the state’s history have been Democrats. Since Hawaii was admitted to the union in 1959, the only Republicans to ever serve as its chief executive were William Quinn, the state’s first governor who lost re-election in 1962, and Linda Lingle, a moderate who served from 2002 to 2010. 

The state legislature is similarly dominated by Democrats. The party currently enjoys a 45-6 majority in the State House and a 23-2 advantage in the State Senate.

Additionally, for nearly a two-year period from 2017 to 2018, the Hawaii Senate was the only state legislative chamber in the country without a single elected Republican.

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