"Assholes In Yachts", Er, "Boaters For A Brighter Future" Firmly In Trump's Corner On Climate Policy
President Trump promoted a website yesterday that seeks to denounce climate change activists and question their scientific conclusions. Trump retweeted a video promoting an "epic day" of boat parades in numerous locations — mainly in Florida — on Sunday, Trump's 74th birthday and Flag Day. The video was produced by Boaters for a Brighter Future, a website that mainly takes aim at climate activists like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and proposals like the Green New Deal, which it says represents a threat to recreational boating.
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The website, which also takes aim at taxes that boat owners pay and advocates for a crackdown on immigration, is a project of Corpen Communications, a Florida firm that helps yacht owners market their vessels for charters. That company is affiliated with Yacht Executive Solutions, which works to help people buy and own yachts. Scott Crabtree, a partner in both companies, told E&E News that Boaters for a Brighter Future was meant to be a super political action committee to represent boaters' interests. But when Steve Harless, an accountant helping with the project, died last year, Crabtree and his partners decided to use it to denounce climate activists.
"We aren't really pro-Trump as much as we're anti-climate extremists," Crabtree said. "If you take the extreme climate position, we really shouldn't be running boats for recreational purposes anyway. If you believe the most extreme positions — that this is a catastrophic crisis — why would we even allow boats?"
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Carlos Gavidia, an outspoken Trump supporter in Florida, appears to have brought it to Trump's attention via social media. Gavidia was recently asked by his property owners association to remove a Trump flag from his boat, so he responded by naming the vessel "Trump" and decorating it to match the president's campaign material. That caught Trump's attention, so the president tweeted about him, propelling him to fame.
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https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2020/06/12/stories/1063372781
= new reply since forum marked as read
