Climate Grifters Cry Over Trump’s Grant Freeze – Watts Up With That?

Oh, the humanity! The wine and cheese set over at Bloomberg has been thrown into full-blown hysteria because—brace yourselves—President Trump turned off the spigot of taxpayer cash that funds their sacred climate cult. Their headline reads like a lost script from The Handmaid’s Tale: “It’s Surreal: Trump’s Freeze on Climate Money Sows Fear and Confusion”​.

“Surreal”? What’s surreal is that these people think they have some divine right to an endless fountain of taxpayer money to fund their political activism disguised as “science.” Imagine a world where these people actually had to produce something of value rather than leech off the federal government. Terrifying, right?

A “Crisis” for the Climate Industrial Complex

Let’s set the scene: Trump waltzes back into office and, in a move that should have shocked exactly no one, hits the brakes on the Biden-era climate boondoggles like the Inflation Reduction Act (which, ironically, reduced inflation about as effectively as a gasoline shower puts out a fire). Millions of dollars in grants—aka your hard-earned money—suddenly vanish from the pockets of climate non-profits, academics, and other assorted grifters who had built their entire existence around government handouts​.

Bloomberg describes this as “confusion and panic.” Oh no! You mean these self-proclaimed geniuses who claim they can control the global temperature to within a fraction of a degree 100 years from now couldn’t foresee a Trump policy move that was as predictable as the sunrise? Not so bright after all, are they?

The World’s Saddest Sob Stories

The article parades out a cast of characters who are struggling to cope with the horrors of not being able to suckle at the federal teat. Let’s meet a few:

• Alex Bomstein of the Clean Air Council, a nonprofit that apparently exists to ensure perpetual panic over air quality. He whines that his organization has been given “mixed messaging” about whether their taxpayer-funded cash flow is actually getting turned off​. Imagine the horror of having to operate like a normal business, unsure if revenue will be guaranteed forever.
• Dominika Parry, CEO of 2C Mississippi, is devastated that her $gazillion climate grant might not materialize as expected​. Because when you think “Mississippi,” your first concern is clearly whether its climate nonprofit sector is fully funded.
• David Funk, the president of an “energy consulting firm” in Washington state, had to furlough employees because the Department of Agriculture wouldn’t give him free money​. Perhaps he could explore this new concept called “selling a service people want to pay for.”
• Laurence Smith, a professor at Brown University, says a postdoc under him couldn’t access her salary​. Let’s see if we’ve got this right: A researcher who relies entirely on government grants now finds herself in financial limbo because… the government stopped the grants? Almost like relying on endless taxpayer money is a bad career plan.

The Real Tragedy: Elites Losing Control

The real source of Bloomberg’s outrage isn’t about “science” or “the planet.” It’s that Trump is threatening the power structure these people have built. This isn’t about climate change—it’s about ensuring a permanent class of bureaucrats, nonprofits, and academics who depend on government cash to enforce their political will.

The article even admits that part of the panic is over how to “navigate grant-proposal language around climate change and DEI” since references to “environmental justice” might no longer win them easy government money​. They’re terrified that the political winds have shifted, and they’ll have to find new ways to trick bureaucrats into handing over cash.

Trump’s Masterstroke: Freezing the Cash Flow

The reason this move is so effective is that the left built their entire movement on financial dependency. They need government money. By contrast, Trump and his supporters don’t need a federal grant to believe in their ideas. When Trump shuts off the money hose, the left panics because they realize their institutions can’t survive without it.

Bloomberg’s solution? More lawsuits! Because if democracy doesn’t give them what they want, there’s always the judiciary​.

Conclusion: Glorious, Delicious Tears

This article is a masterpiece of unintended comedy. It’s a beautiful thing to watch people who have spent years lecturing the rest of us about “sustainability” suddenly find themselves unsustainable. The whole climate industry, it turns out, is just another bloated government-dependent bureaucracy. Without government cash, they’re toast.

Environmental researchers are still trying to figure out how to navigate grant-proposal language around climate change and DEI in light of the executive orders. Applications that previously would have benefitted from a focus on helping disadvantaged communities, environmental justice or inclusivity — seen as demonstrating broad impact — suddenly could be undermined by the same references.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-04/-it-s-surreal-trump-s-freeze-on-climate-money-sows-fear-and-confusion

So grab some popcorn, folks. The schadenfreude is strong with this one.

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