President Donald Trump is suggesting that if Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is elected in the upcoming general election then the U.S. “will be a ninth world country.”
Asked what he believes the U.S. would look like if Biden is elected and the Green New Deal is implemented, Trump said on Fox News Thursday night, “Well, it’s a deal that was conceived of by not smart people, AOC plus three and others. I don’t even think they had any experience in the environment.”
After calling the Green New Deal “such a crazy thing,” the president said, “Biden agreed to this with crazy Bernie [Sanders], because, you know, they have the manifesto. They have agreed to most of these things. And it’s going to cost more money.”
He continued, “Our country will be a ninth world country, not a third world country, a ninth world country.”
Watch the video below:
The Green New Deal, a climate non-binding proposal, was introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). It “calls on the federal government to wean the United States from fossil fuels and curb planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions across the economy,” as The New York Times reports.
After Vice President Mike Pence called Ocasio-Cortez “AOC” during Wednesday’s vice-presidential debate when talking about the Green New Deal, the New York lawmaker hit back, tweeting, “For the record [Mike Pence], it’s Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez to you.”
She wrote in another tweet that the Green New Deal “is and has been lied about nonstop, and yet is STILL popular,” adding, “It’s a massive job-creation and infrastructure plan to decarbonize [and] increase quality of work and life.”
In Biden’s climate change plan, he notes the Green New Deal is “a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face.”
“As president, Biden will lead the world to address the climate emergency and lead through the power of example, by ensuring the U.S. achieves a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions no later than 2050,” Biden’s plan adds on his campaign website.