Former US vice president Al Gore has compared the recent firings in Donald Trump’s White House to the Red Wedding in Game Of Thrones.
The politician and climate change activist said the sacking of chief of staff Reince Priebus and short-lived director of communications Anthony Scaramucci in quick succession was reminiscent of the famous massacre that saw the murder of several main characters in the hit show.
Arriving at the UK premiere of An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power, the follow-up to his blockbuster climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth, he told the Press Association: “Two weeks ago reminded me of the red wedding scene in Game Of Thrones.
“In one instance when we got rid of the first National Security Advisor, the replacement was a much higher quality person in my opinion but where it goes from here is difficult to tell. The next few months could be challenging for America.”
Asked if he believed president Trump would make it through his first term, Mr Gore said: “I have no insight into how this investigation is going but they had a pre-dawn raid unannounced at the home of his campaign manager and that is an indication that they believe something serious was going on, but who knows?
“We will have to wait for the investigation to conclude.”
Mr Gore added he had been disappointed by president Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord, but took reassurance from the global recommitment to meet targets.
He said: “I don’t know how to understand what goes on in his mind.
“I don’t want to sound disrespectful but I had reasons to believe in my conversations with him that he would stay in the Paris Agreement.
“I thought he would come to his senses but I was wrong and I think it’s because he has surrounded himself with a rogue’s gallery of climate deniers who are connected to the large carbon polluters and they just got control of his thinking.”
He added: “I was worried when he made his announcement that other countries might use that as an excuse to pull out of the agreement themselves but I was so happy the next day when the entire rest of the world redoubled their commitment to the Paris agreement.
“And in the United States so many of the states and the cities and business leaders stepped up and said we don’t care what Donald Trump said, we are still in the Paris Agreement, we are going to meet our commitments and it looks like the country will meet our commitments.”
He continued: “In the 10 years since the first movie we have seen the climate related extreme events are much worse and more common but we have seen that we have the solutions and that is what is happening so rapidly now.
“The cost of these solutions have come down so quickly, they are beginning to be implemented worldwide.
“The truth about the climate crisis is still inconvenient for the big carbon polluters.
“They want people to ignore the truth and they have actually taken aggressive actions to finance false narratives and false doubts.
“But partly because Mother Nature has joined the debate in a very, very persuasive way, more and more people are seeing through the charade and demanding that we implement the solutions.
“Our children and grandchildren demand it and it’s affecting us, we need to do it for ourselves right now.”
The sequel details Mr Gore’s travels to the areas hardest-hit by the effects of climate change and his fight to influence international climate policy.
Thursday’s UK premiere marked the opening night of Film4 Summer Screen at London’s Somerset House and Al Gore: Live In Conversation, followed by a screening of the film, will be in cinemas around the UK on August 11.
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power is released in UK cinemas on August 18.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel