Taking Us for Fools
How a turnkey method attributes any trend to climate change
Roger Pielke Jr.
Sep 17, 2026
One of the most brazen — and successful — propaganda campaigns sits out in plain sight. I am referring to the concerted effort by climate advocates to create a belief that “climate change” causes bad weather and disasters, and that we can prevent those bad things from happening with climate policies.
By successful, I mean that the propaganda campaign has convinced half of all Americans that “addressing climate change” will lead to “fewer or less severe weather events” that they personally experience and affect their community. As the figure below shows, among climate advocates, this belief is almost an article of faith at 80%.
At the center of the propaganda campaign are scientists who perform political alchemy by turning the symbols, authority, and institutions of expertise into public and policy maker (mis)understandings of climate science. These scientists all well know that “climate policy” — however construed — cannot reduce the number or intensity of extreme weather events in any meaningful or detectable way in my lifetime, or even my future grandkids’ lifetimes.
I am using the term propaganda here as a technical term, which Harold Lasswell defined almost a century ago as, “the management of collective attitudes by the manipulation of significant symbols.”
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/taking-us-for-fools
