How Republican Leaders Became Climate Change Skeptics

Only 17% of Republicans have serious concern about climate change.  Republicans running for office don't have to worry about voter reaction to climate change skepticism.  On the other hand, they have to worry about the Koch Brothers, and their Americans for Property organization, which funds political campaigns and pays think tanks to dispute the claims of climate scientists.  Donald Trump put climate change skeptics on his transition team and he put an attorney general who sued the EPA 18 times in charge of the EPA.  This article describes the evolution of climate change skepticism in the Republican Party.  The process was aided and abetted by the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court which enabled unlimited funding of political campaigns by corporations and activists like the Koch Brothers.  The Republican Party has become the "Preservation of the fossil fuel industry party".  Paul Ryan who is the GOP leader of the House, and the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,  supported Trump's decision to exit the Paris accord.

Letter From 22 Republican Senators Telling Trump Why He Should Exit Paris Agreement

This is a copy of the letter sent to Trump by Republicans in the Senate who told him that remaining in the Paris agreement would make it more difficult for the administration to roll back regulations on US power plants that are supported by environmentalists.  Trump did not act alone when he made his decision about the Paris agreement.  Republicans in the Senate, whose campaigns are extensively funded by the energy industry, helped him to make his decision.  Our problems in the US are not totally related to our child president.  As long as we continue to elect Republicans to Congress our problems will continue.  

Mike Pence Mimics Trump's Rationale For Exiting Paris Accord

This post contains a one minute video clip of Trump's Vice President praising his decision on Fox News.  Trump selected Pence as his running mate because of his reputation among evangelicals and far right conservatives during the Republican primaries.  Pence was his defense against "Lying Ted Cruz" who based his campaign on securing the far right conservative base.  Now that Pence is our Vice President his job is to help Trump hang on to that base.  His defense of Trump's decision to exit the Paris Accord shows that he still has that role in the Trump administration.  Pence argues that the Paris Accord is part of global liberal conspiracy that will destroy the US economy.  He understands that his base hates liberals as well as anything suggesting global conspiracies. The science behind global warming is irrelevant. It is sufficient to give it a liberal label.  Of course, Fox News provides the best platform to reach that base.

Pence echoes much of what Trump said about the Paris Accord but he is much slicker.  He actually connects sentences together in a much more coherent fashion.  He seems to relish that job as Trump's Vice President.

Cities, States, University Presidents and CEO's Will Assume Climate Leadership

The White House has turned into a cesspool; it provides no positive leadership on any issue.  Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former Mayor of NYC, has assumed a leadership role on climate policy that was vacated by our immoral and brainless president.  He is forming a coalition of forward looking leaders who will fill the vacuum in the White House and in the Republican Party.  Much of the work that needs to be done can happen outside of the cesspool in the White House.

Why Romney Republicans May Vote Democratic

Jenifer Rubin loved the Pre-Trump Republican Party.  She argues that Trump, and his followers in the GOP,  have deserted the GOP.  She explained why the right kind of Democrats might be able to win the votes from Republicans who detest Trump and his ilk.  If they could win Rubin's vote that would be a big step forward.  She has no desire participate in a Party that is dependent upon people that pay any attention to Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and and the cognitively challenged.

Trump Leaves Paris Accord In Order To Make America Great Again

This is a transcript of Trump' announcement that the US would exit the Paris Accord.  He was introduced by his Vice President who continues to play the role of his cheerleader in chief.  His speech is full of misinformation about global warming and the cost of mitigation.  However, it is  really about Trump's efforts to hold on to his base.  He targeted voters in the rust belt states that handed him the election.  He understands that support from his base is his greatest asset.  Republicans who don't go along with his policies will have to deal with the wrath of his political base.  In a sense, his announcement was more like one of his campaign rallies than anything else.  He prefers campaigning to his adoring base to running the country.  He will "Make America Great Again"  by adopting an "America First" platform.  He also tells his base that he is the "Great Negotiator" he may revisit his decision by renegotiating a new deal.  He argues that the existing agreement favors other nations who intend to take advantage of US generosity.  He would only negotiate a deal that gives the US an advantage.  As our president he will represent Pittsburgh rather than Paris.  What he doesn't say is that Pittsburgh gave 80% of its votes to Clinton and that it has become a great city again by building its economy around the knowledge industries.  It is also a city in which the air is fit to breath again.

David Brooks takes a different slant against Trump's decision.  He argues that Trump's world, and that of two of his top advisors, is a world in which morality does not exist.

In the essay, McMaster and Cohn make explicit the great act of moral decoupling woven through this presidency. In this worldview, morality has nothing to do with anything. Altruism, trust, cooperation and virtue are unaffordable luxuries in the struggle of all against all. Everything is about self-interest.

We’ve seen this philosophy before, of course. Powerful, selfish people have always adopted this dirty-minded realism to justify their own selfishness. The problem is that this philosophy is based on an error about human beings and it leads to self-destructive behavior in all cases.

Of course Trump's world, and that of many Republicans, is world in which self interest is central.  The Freedom Caucus in the Republican Party holds that the economy should be driven by self interest and the forces of the invisible hand of the market system.  Government efforts to mitigate the destructive aspects of our high carbon economy represent an unholy violation of free market ethics.

This NYT editorial takes the position that Trump has signaled to the rest of the world that he does not believe in science; he prefers a world of "alternative facts" in which his views are supreme.

Trump clings to the same false narrative that congressional Republicans have been peddling for years and that Mr. Trump’s minions, like Mr. Pruitt at the E.P.A. and Ryan Zinke at the Interior Department, are peddling now (Mr. Pruitt to the coal miners, Mr. Zinke to Alaskans) — that environmental regulations are job killers, that efforts to curb carbon dioxide emissions will hurt the economy, that the way forward lies in fossil fuels, in digging still more coal and punching still more holes in the ground in the search for more oil.

Trump also ignores another reality.  Around 70% of Americans are concerned about climate change and they favor government efforts to mitigate its affects on our planet.  That is a telling statistic.  Trump's base represents the 30% of Americans who are largely ignorant of climate change and the details of the Paris Accord.  Republicans cannot win elections without that base of poorly informed citizens.  Our electoral system has become hostage to the lowest common denominator in America.  Trump represents ignorance and the profound danger of demagoguery.  This is exactly what worried our founders.  They understood the risks associated with democracy.  They set up a system to counter those risks which has worked well over the years.  Changes in our communication systems, and in the financing of elections,  represent a peril that our founders did not anticipate. Donald Trump is the consequence of those changes in our system.

Manufacturing Was Not The Reason Why Trump Won

This study of manufacturing counties showed the election was not won by Trump's appeals to voters in manufacturing counties.  Trump won in counties that were predominantly white largely because Democrats failed to turn out.  Trump lost in more diverse manufacturing counties because Republicans did not turn out.  The paragraph below argues that Trump did not win manufacturing votes.  Clinton did not turn out the Democratic vote.

When other factors are eliminated, the data show that the rise in the Republican share of votes in white manufacturing counties was largely due to a drop in Democratic votes; while the rise in the Democratic share in non-white manufacturing counties was driven by a relatively higher drop in Republican votes.  In addition, on average across counties, as compared with 2012, relatively low voting rates among Democratic voters was a bigger contributor to the results than high voting rates among Republicans. Put differently, Trump did not win the white working class, Clinton lost it.