A candidate running for the New Jersey Senate has been relentlessly trolled on social media for claiming that the “climate crisis” was to blame for the earthquake that shook the tri-state area on Friday.
Green Party member Cristina Amira Khalil shared a controversial message minutes after the earthquake, the strongest near the Big Apple in 140 years.
“I experienced my first earthquake in New Jersey. We never have earthquakes. The climate crisis is real. Strangest experience ever,” Khalil wrote to X.
The post was only up for a few hours before the leading candidate for Congress deleted it, but it received millions of views and led to an X “community note” fact-checking her claims.
Dozens of other prominent politicians and commentators shared Khalil’s tweet, mocking him for linking the movement of the earth’s crust to atmospheric climate change.
“Oh my god, people were joking about climate change, and then here comes this genius. And he’s even a Senate candidate!” Texas Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw wrote: Tweet about what has been deleted.
“Senate candidate Christina Amira Khalil just said today’s New Jersey earthquake was caused by the ‘climate crisis.’ Climate doesn’t cause earthquakes, it’s caused by the movement of tectonic plates. This woman is stupid. “said. Conservative commentator Paul Cipla.
Kyle Mann, Editor-in-Chief of the satirical media “Babylon Bee”piled up and wrote: “I’m going to get on the phone with the Babylon Bee writers and find out why we didn’t come up with the conclusion that earthquakes are caused by climate change before the library did.”
Mr. Khalil, who is running to take over the seat of embattled Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, later posted a controversial tweet as New Jersey experienced a rare earthquake. He replaced it with a tweet that simply detailed his shock.
“I have never experienced anything like this in my entire life in New Jersey.” she wrote.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the New York City and Tri-State earthquakes
According to NASA, there is no link between climate change and earthquakes, which are simply caused by plates colliding with each other beneath the Earth’s surface.
“We know that most earthquakes occur far below the Earth’s surface, far beyond the influence of surface temperatures and conditions,” said Alan Buis of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. said in 2019.
“We now know that the statistical distribution of earthquakes is approximately equal across all types of weather conditions. Myth busted.”
Khalil was not the only politician enraged over baseless claims about the earthquake.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) blamed the tremor on America’s moral decline and said it was a warning from heaven.
“God is sending strong signs to America to repent. There will be earthquakes, solar eclipses, and many other things. I pray that our nation will listen.” Green wrote.
The conservative post was accompanied by an X “community note” pointing out that approximately 1,700 earthquakes occur in the United States each year and that solar eclipses occur approximately every 18 months.
