The 23-year-old skier introduced by Democrats as an “expert witness” at a Senate hearing on climate change has revealed the party has apologized to him for his mauling by Republican John Kennedy.
Olympic hopeful Gus Schumacher was invited by Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse to testify as the Budget Committee looked at the impact of climate change on the $1.1 trillion outdoor recreation industry.
But he struggled to answer basic questions and couldn’t remember his tweets claiming the war on drugs was designed to imprison black people and calling for the abolition of the police.
In an excruciating exchange, Kennedy corrected his claim that carbon dioxide is a “big part of our atmosphere”, pointing out that it makes up 0.04 percent, but the skier told Dailymail.com that Whitehouse was “quite cheerful” afterward.
“He apologized to Senator Kennedy and said it’s not the first time he’s done an aggressive line of questioning that’s not entirely related,” Schumacher added.
Democrats invited US Olympic skier Gus Schumacher to the Budget Committee to answer questions on ‘Recreation at Risk: The Nature of Climate Costs’
Schumacher (right) was invited to speak by Democratic Budget Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse (left) and appeared alongside Hilary Hutcheson, a fishing guide and outfitter from Montana
‘I don’t think anyone on my team expected this approach. He has ridiculed these questions very well.
The three-time junior gold medalist represented the lobby group Protect Our Winters following previous testimonials from economists, scientists, medical professionals, insurance and investment managers.
But it all went downhill for Schumacher when he tried to fend off Kennedy’s questioning, which started with a question about what carbon dioxide is.
“I went to high school, but carbon dioxide is a gas,” the skier told him
“I’m not a professional to talk so much about carbon dioxide.”
But Kennedy demanded an explanation of the gas’s role in climate change.
“Carbon dioxide, as I see it, is a gas that exists in our atmosphere,” Schumacher explained.
“Is it an important part of our atmosphere?” Kennedy asked innocently.
“It’s a big part of our atmosphere,” the skier insisted.
“It’s a very small part of our atmosphere,” the senator noted.
‘Well okay. But yeah. Don’t know. What specifically are you asking?’ Schumacher replied.
“You said we need to reduce carbon emissions,” Kennedy reminded him, “I’d like to know first if you know what it is.”
The 23-year-old said climate change has ‘dramatically changed the conditions for winter sports’
Commentary on his appearance at the committee was relentless on social media
“I was definitely a bit nervous,” Schumacher told Dailymail.com afterwards.
“That spoke to my inability to answer questions about CO2, but I wasn’t too red in the face.”
But Kennedy wasn’t done with the young skier criticizing him on other points, including a 2020 retweet claiming the “war on drugs” was deliberately created to incarcerate Black people en masse.
“Who deliberately created the ‘war on drugs’ to put black people in jail?” Kennedy asked.
Schumacher said he did not remember the tweet, adding: “I’m here as an athlete giving you my story about what I saw in my field.”
The senator then asked about a tweet calling on the police to “abolish” the service and replace it with a new service.
“Do you think we should abolish the police?” Kennedy asked. “Should we do that before or after we get off fossil fuels?”
“I’m not going to answer that,” the skier replied.
“At first I was nervous,” Schumacher explained afterwards, “I was just trying to spread it and then I thought: look, this is stupid, it’s a distraction.”
“On reflection, I retweeted these things around the time around the murder of George Floyd and the unrest and that high emotion around that time, it was mainly a show of support for the black community.
“I don’t know, maybe the police shouldn’t be abolished.”
When the exchange went viral, some observers wondered how he could have “witnessed firsthand the profound changes in our natural landscapes” he claimed in his 23 years.
“I’m not an expert, but I care about it, I’ve lived with it, what I hear from my parents and what I went through as a young child, I trust those experiences,” he said.
“And the overwhelming evidence is that we live in volatile times and things are different.”
And he admitted he was surprised he wasn’t challenged about skiing’s impact on the environment.
“That’s what we thought a Republican senator might go for, it’s pretty clear,” he said.
“I have to fly to Europe for training and that is something I struggle with, but a lot of people fly for work and I will only be able to compete at this level for a short time. because systemic change is the right thing to do.”
And the young skier seemed unfazed by his mauling by the veteran senator
Schumacher said he has no regrets about appearing before the panel last Wednesday, despite the thousands of abusive messages he has received online since then.
He says he will continue to campaign on the issue and that his family and friends are “fully supportive” of his efforts.
“A lot of the people I know and care about were encouraging about the way I handled it, I wasn’t super nervous and staying calm was something they appreciated,” he added.
“It’s a tough position to be in.”
