Trump (And More) Mock 16-Year-Old Autistic Climate Change Activist Greta Thunberg!

If you haven’t heard the name Greta Thunberg, we want to make sure you know who she is now.

The 16-year-old autistic climate change activist has made a name for herself with her clear, direct approach to reminding the world’s leaders THE WORLD IS GOING TO END.

Seriously, it isn’t even hyperbole at this point; scientists are literally warning us of “catastrophe” due to man-made climate change.

Thunberg brought her advocacy to the United Nations on Monday with a fiery, impassioned speech, saying:

“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”

Oof. So good.

Possibly the most quoted line of the day was when she expressed to adults how children facing a future calamity were beginning to view them:

“You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.”

See the whole moving speech (below):

It’s no surprise with that kind of gauntlet thrown down certain world leaders and economic interests — who can find more short term profit by ignoring the need for change — would find themselves in an adversarial position with the teen.

However it does make one blanch to see these people openly mocking the young woman in public.

But on Monday night Donald Trump did just that, retweeting out the video of Thunberg’s angry speech, commenting:

“She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!”

Hey, look. Sarcasm. Awesome.

So much easier than coming up with some kind of counter to her argument, but he has always responded to climate change the exact same way as accusations of corruption, sexual misconduct, and racism: denial of facts and attacks on the media.

Greta has clearly seen his comment about her, delightfully changing her Twitter bio to read:

Greta Thunberg changes her Twitter bio — She’s doing us proud!! / (c) Twitter

It’s worth noting some other conservatives made Trump’s comment look like kid gloves, so to speak.

Meghan McCain‘s husband Ben Domenech tweeted:

“We need to have a national conversation about the rising problem of arrogant teenage Swedes.”

She’s “arrogant” because she’s doing anything she can to try to protect the planet you live on? Classy.

Laura Ingraham, who apparently didn’t learn her lesson from mocking the survivors of the Parkland shooting, compared Thunberg and her fellow young climate activists to the Stephen King horror novel The Children of the Corn, writing:

“I can’t wait for Stephen King’s sequel, Children of the Climate.”

Ingraham’s own brother Curtis Ingraham couldn’t stomach the comments, tweeting afterward:

“Clearly my sister’s paycheck is more important than the world her three adopted kids will inherit. I can no longer apologize for a sibling who I no longer recognize. I can and will continue to call out the monstrous behavior and the bully commentary born out of anger.”

But the Jerk of the Day trophy goes to someone we’d never even heard of — and hope never to again.

A guest named Michael Knowles, a writer for Ben Shapiro‘s conservative outlet The Daily Wire, went on Fox News‘ The Story Monday night and called Thunberg “a mentally ill Swedish child”:

“If it were about science it would be led by scientists rather than by politicians and a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left.”

Wow. Using mental illness as a pejorative AND attacking a child?

Not to mention completely ignoring the fact she is quoting scientists who have been telling everyone this for decades, but people like him keep denying them.

Holy shit

Michael Knowles of Daily Wire just called Greta Thunberg a "mentally ill Swedish child."@ChristopherHahn tore into him pic.twitter.com/Ki0cK6W3Ev

— jordan (@JordanUhl) September 23, 2019

[BTW, worth noting autism is classified as a developmental condition, not a mental illness disorder. Though we aren’t about to give him the benefit of the doubt of just getting confused since he was using it as a derogatory term anyway.]

Fox News actually came forward and apologized for Knowles’ comments, saying: