immanence

Trump’s speech on his decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord included so many questionable statements, it’s hard to know where to start. Fortunately, others have. Among the better fact-checks are the Washington Post’s (this one and this one), FactCheck.org’s, NPR’s, PolitiFact’s, and the Huffington Post’s.

Foreign Policy’s summary (which comes from a partisan source, but is mostly non-controversial) in Why Abandoning Paris is a Disaster for America captures the essential implications of Trump’s decision very well in these 5 points:

1. “The Trump administration is hastening catastrophic effects of climate change”;
2. “Trump is abdicating U.S. leadership and inviting China to fill the void”;
3. “Withdrawing from Paris will damage U.S. standing in the world”;
4. “Pulling out of Paris means Republicans own climate catastrophes”;
5. “Trump’s pulling out of Paris means that the rest of us are called upon to do more — and we will.”

#2 and 3 are understatements, #4 is a good thing (in my view), and #5 is perhaps overly optimistic (though the efforts of cities and states — like California, the world’s “fifth largest economy,” as Californians like to say — are already ramping up). But there isn’t much else that’s essential to know about the decision. 

That decision was reckless, and aimed only to please Trump’s base (who, when all is said and done, are the only ones he can rely on to cheer him, which is what he ultimately seems to want). It will continue to speed the U.S.’s demise as the leading world power and hegemon. For the most part, it won’t even help the business interests of his wealthy cronies, aside from a hapless handful in the fossil fuels industry.

But it’s what Americans “voted for.” (We all know what that means — when not even the Pittsburgh he championed in the speech voted for him.) And it’s why the U. S. political, electoral, and educational systems need radical change.

Added a little later:

The media seem fond of the idea that the U.S. has joined two other countries — Nicaragua and Syria — on the list of countries that didn’t sign on to the Paris climate accord. The problem with that idea is that these aren’t in the same league.