Green New Deal architect likens one climate change scenario to '25 Holocausts' — and gets hit with heated backlash

Green New Deal architect Rhiana Gunn-Wright invoked the horrors of the Holocaust during an MSNBC interview about climate change, saying a temperature rise of half a degree would be akin to "25 Holocausts" in terms of death toll.

MSNBC host Ali Velshi prefaced his Thursday interview with Gunn-Wright with background on a brewing Democratic Nation Committee controversy that acknowledges the importance of climate change among voters — but that the DNC won't debate and highlight it as a single issue.

When he turned to Gunn-Wright to get her take on the matter, she said climate change "is the issue that's gonna define not only this generation but the foreseeable future" and affect other issues such as the economy and racial justice.

Velshi then asked for her argument that climate change deserved a "separate discussion" from other issues such as gun violence, health care, and immigration.

And that's when she invoked the Holocaust.

'25 Holocausts'

"So, in the issues that you just brought up, climate change is one of the main drivers of our public health. So, the difference between, say, 1.5 degrees of warming — which is the least that folks think that we can get — to 2, you're talking about 150 million deaths," Gunn-Wright replied. "That's 25 Holocausts, right? So how is that not a health issue? How is that not about health care, right?"

Velshi didn't ask follow-up questions on that claim — nor did he do so when Gunn-Wright said climate change will create "hundreds of millions of ... climate refugees" and that "people of color are dying daily from fossil fuel pollution."

"The fact is that we have to start thinking about the cost of inaction because they are mounting, and they are mounting quickly," she also said. "And everyone agrees that they are higher than what we can even estimate right now. And so you cannot talk about the cost of dealing with a problem if you don't talk about the cost of not dealing with that same problem."

How did folks react?

Upon getting an earful and eyeful of Gunn-Right's holocaust reference, a number of Twitter users turned up the heat:

• "Surely this kind of obvious hyperbole will alienate more people than it convinces. Apparently it is OK for climate apocalypse crazies to use the word 'Holocaust.'"
• "'That's 25 Holocausts, right?' No, it's not. Nor is it (insert # here) slavery deaths. Please young lady, learn proportion in the arguments you make."
• "She and her ilk actually believe this stuff. They apparently really believe mankind can warm or cool the earth. Holocaust!!??? And they (lib/dem/progressives) want to be in charge!"
• "These people are insane."

Here's the interview:

MSNBC Live with Ali Velshi 6/06/19 | Ali Velshi MSNBC News Today June 06, 2019youtu.be

(H/T: Louder With Crowder)