'Bizarre!' CNN anchor bewildered by GOP's conspiracy theory bill

Republican state lawmakers are introducing legislation based on a bizarre conspiracy theory about something that isn't even happening, CNN climate reporter Bill Weir explained on Tuesday.

"It's an unsubstantiated claim that's being promoted by right-wing influencers that could ... have some real-world consequences," said anchor Boris Sanchez. "Bill, you know, I've gotten a lot of emails over the years about 'chemtrails.' What are they? What is the story here?"

"This goes back a couple generations at least," said Weir. "That is the streaky trails that you see following commercial aircraft on certain clear days. The 'chemtrails' conspiracy theory is that those are chemicals and they're either used to influence the public or move weather patterns. Marjorie Taylor Greene, of course, back in October, after Hurricane Helene hit Appalachia, suggested that maybe they were used to punish Trump supporters there as well."

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In reality, he explained, people are seeing jet contrails, which is just "water vapor condensing around that airline exhaust in certain clouds, cloudless, very cold days. And you see that from some planes and not others, depending on the conditions."

Nonetheless, he said, the conspiracy theory persists — and it's driving real-world policy now, including legislation introduced in Alabama and Florida, who are "talking about language to ban any kind of chemical spraying overhead, either for geoengineering or any other purposes."

"This is really amplified by RFK Jr., the Health and Human Services Secretary, who put out on X that 'These efforts to ban geoengineering our climate by dousing our citizens, our waterways and landscapes with toxins. This is a movement every MAGA — Make America Healthy Again — person needs to support. HHS will do its part.' This doesn't exist. There is no spraying of any chemicals to to control the weather in any way."

There is, however, a tiny kernel of a basis for the theory, Weir continued.

"There are theories that maybe high in the stratosphere, if certain natural particles were released to mimic volcanic ash, could cool off the planet for a degree or two for a short period of time to deal with the effects of climate change," he said. "Very early research on that hasn't even really begun in earnest anywhere around the world. But here we've got legislatures sort of trying to preemptively ban this right now. That's the context of what you're hearing about."

"It is bizarre," replied anchor Brianna Keilar.

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