(ConservativeInsider.org) – Former Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma died on Tuesday, July 9. He was 89.
Inhofe began his six decade-long political career in 1966 and served in a variety of capacities, from the Oklahoma House of Representatives, to three-term mayor of Tulsa, to the U.S. House of Representatives, before being elected as Senator of Oklahoma. He retired from politics in 2023 at age 88 after suffering health issues following a difficult bout of Covid-19.
The Oklahoma politician was notorious for his unyielding support of the American military and his fervent pushback against environmental regulations and the assertion that climate change is a real phenomenon caused by human activities. Inhofe famously compared the Environmental Protection Agency a “Gestapo bureaucracy” and suggested that most Democratic attempts to limit greenhouse gas emissions were based on “hysteria.” He went so far as to bring a snowball into the Senate in 2015, throwing it onto the floor of the chamber to denounce the idea that the planet is warming.
One of Inhofe’s main arguments against human-driven climate change was explained in his 2012 book, “The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future” was that the idea that humans could destroy the planet was antithetical to the belief that God controls the planet.
Inhofe served as the chairman of the Armed Services Committee in the Senate and regularly pushed for increased defense spending, going so far as to defy President Donald Trump to pass the annual defense bill in 2020.
In his personal life, Inhofe was an enthusiastic pilot and flying instructor with over 50 years of flying experience. He flew around the world in 1991. Inhofe sponsored legislation that gave pilots more rights while dealing with the Federal Aviation Administration. Prior to his time in politics, Inhofe served in the US Army and worked for his father’s life insurance company.
Inhofe is survived by his wife of 65 years, Kay, as well as three children and multiple grandchildren.
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