Critics are taking Donald Trump to school after the former president made a bizarre claim about the impact of rising sea levels.
“You’ll have more seafront property, right, if that happens,” Trump told an audience in Michigan on Tuesday.
Michigan would not have more “seafront property” as it’s not on the sea, nor is it near the sea. In fact, the entire state is hundreds of feet above sea level.
However, climate change could lead to an increased risk of flooding, coastal erosion and other problems in the state, which borders four of the Great Lakes.
Trump may have spoken more generally than specifically about Michigan, but the claim is still incorrect.
“If I have a little property on the ocean, I have a little bit more property, I have a little bit more ocean,” the former president said.
Trump does have property near the ocean, including his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. But rising seas there would not give him “a little bit more property.”
Just the opposite: If the seas were to rise by 10 feet, he’d lose about half of his Mar-a-Lago property… and at 25 feet, there would be nothing left of it at all.
Climate scientist Michael E. Mann, a presidential distinguished professor at the University of Pennsylvania who has fact-checked Trump before, bluntly summed it up:
Others also fired back at Trump:
In Jacksonville, the army corps just spent $32.4 million to replenish the beach that eroded from the rising sea. We have houses falling into the ocean along the banks of N. Carolina, due to the rising sea, and he thinks rising water will increase seafront property? https://t.co/nmEnDO9Mk2
— Kelly Lepley ✈🌍👩✈️✈️👩👧👧🇺🇦 (@kclepley) September 18, 2024
For Michigan to gain ✨any✨ beachfront property from climate change, sea levels would have to rise 577 feet for the Atlantic Ocean to connect to the Great Lakes.
Were this to happen, conservatively, 1.5B people would die globally from flooding, displacement, and starvation. https://t.co/OSv8d1gBDf
— Nick ✨ (@slothropsmap) September 18, 2024
Lake Michigan is 577 feet above Sea Level. The state currently has 0 feet of seafront.
Maximum sea-level rise if all ice caps were to melt is about 230 feet.
Michigan will never have seafronts in the history of humanity.
— Dutchie 🤦♂️| (@DutchieHuigens) September 18, 2024
The world is truly laughing at us right now.
— Denison Barb (@DenisonBarbs) September 17, 2024
If the sea reached Michigan, this planet would be soo damn blue from outer space, a legit water world https://t.co/0AtksWeQr8
— Vaquer, Iyo, Asuka and Shida enjoyer (broken szn) (@ortiz3570000) September 18, 2024
If Michigan is feeling the effects of sea level rising, I don’t think beachfront property is on people’s minds. https://t.co/JMceNzhLXH
— sɴᴀʀᴋᴀsᴛɪᴄ sʜᴇɴᴀɴɪɢᴀɴs™️ 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇺🇦🇱🇻𓍝 (@The_HistOracle) September 18, 2024
Michigan’s lowest elevation is the shore of Lake Erie, 571 feet above sea level. If the sea reached Michigan human civilization has already collapsed. FUCK, MAN! This dude is so fucking dumb!!! https://t.co/SiBYIS7BkI
— Elon Musk Blows Goats | 🦋 @teleskiguy.bsky.social (@ballfootski) September 18, 2024
Donald Trump doesn’t know that Michigan isn’t on the sea, does he?
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) September 18, 2024
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