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Donald Trump thinks climate change is a hoax.

Thanks for the debate and good luck! My opponent unfortunately makes some shallow assumptions, in that they believe Donald Trump legitimately believes everything he's said. Remember, my opponent has the burden of proof, and as such must prove beyond reasonable doubt that Trump actually believes this during the course of this debate. Failure to do so means a lack of his fulfillment of his burden of proof and thus means the negative wins the debate. I don't need to show that Trump DOESN'T believe this, just show that there isn't enough evidence to demonstrate that he does. I can further explain the burden of proof in a later round if this becomes an issue or is confusing somehow, but I'll leave this where it is for now and move onto my main contentions. As I said earlier, my opponent just quotes Trump at face value and assumes that is enough to assert that this is what he believes. However, it's a well known fact that politicians in general will fake beliefs to pander to a specific audience. Looking back at his history as a candidate, it's common knowledge that Trump already had his supporters locked down early in the republican primaries and really couldn't do anything to lose his supporters, even claiming he could shoot someone in the middle of the road and not lose support. A potential reason for him faking belief in I can further explain the burden of proof in a later round if this becomes an issue or is confusing somehow, but I'll leave this where it is for now and move onto my main contentions. As I said earlier, my opponent just quotes Trump at face value and assumes that is enough to assert that this is what he believes. However, it's a well known fact that politicians in general will fake beliefs to pander to a specific audience. Looking back at his history as a candidate, it's common knowledge that Trump already had his supporters locked down early in the republican primaries and really couldn't do anything to lose his supporters, even claiming he could shoot someone in the middle of the road and not lose support. A potential reason for him faking belief in climate change then could be to pander to Cruz supporters, of which only 38% believed in climate change. This is a clear reason for Trump to pander to a specific audience in order to get votes, which gives us a motivation for Trump's actions. http://www.huffingtonpost.com... Trump even has told people that he has a strategy of saying odd things in order to attract the audience of different groups. Take for example what Carson reported after discussing the matter with Trump himself: "I needed to know that he could listen to other people, that he could change his opinions, and that some of the more outlandish things that he"s said, that he didn"t really believe those things," Carson said. When asked which statements Trump might back away from, Carson demurred". "I"ll let him talk about that because I don"t think it"s fair for me to relay a private conversation," he said. Read more: http://therightscoop.com... How can my opponent say for certain that Trump fully believes this if there's evidence of him saying that he'll back away from some of the more outlandish claims, and that he doesn't necessarily believe all of it? My opponent even recognized in the comments section that this is a somewhat outlandish and silly claim for Trump to make. We've seen Trump back away from policies such as the muslim ban, so why assume that this is his actual belief? Unfortunately my opponent uses mostly personal speculation and does not consider the large body of compelling evidence casting doubt over Trump's actual beliefs. With that I'll give pro a chance to respond to my contentions. Thank you!