Journalists Must Demystify the Green New Deal

In the first presidential debate, in September, Donald Trump was eager to attack his opponent’s $2 trillion plan to address the climate crisis. “He’s talking about a Green New Deal,” the president said, talking over Joe Biden. In the vice presidential debate, Mike Pence likewise assailed the Green New Deal, invoking the term 11 times as a threat that “literally would crush American jobs.”

While the Biden climate plan is indeed informed by Green New Deal principles—Biden calls it a “crucial framework”—its goals and methods are narrower in scope. Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, have stated repeatedly that they do not support a Green New Deal.