This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1248467
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1248467
Trump be damned.
Now there’s a sentiment I can agree with.
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I think most of the world leaders already ignore Trump, especially on Climate
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If the MSM would ignore Trump for three or four days his head would explode.
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The world should put the US in a time-out until Trump is gone.
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Thank you, John, for writing on this subject. Most countries, to the extent possible, will ignore Trump. Climate science, however, is spread across many agencies and institutions, so colleagues in this field will continue to remain in contact and move ahead. The Trump Era has to end at some point. At the political level, you have advanced countries that get it. Finnish politicians and the media discuss climate issues constantly, and the Finnish president actually got Trump to use the term “black carbon”, which is pretty sophisticated in the climate discussion. (Trump got a bit turned around about raking the forest, however). Climate change can be part of school curriculum, as well. Finnish university students, for example, now get a climate change course, which has now been extended to the open university. As the rates of scientific literacy are higher in most advanced economies, the US problems are seen more as a domestic issue.
However, there are also emerging economies, including petrostates, that simply ignore climate issues or downplay them. Russia and Saudi Arabia come to mind, but also we don’t look to others such as Venezuela, Kazakhstan or Brunei for leadership in this area. More interesting is the world’s largest carbon emitter, China. In this respect, US trade and economic demands have little effect. Rather, politicians find it hard to explain why you die five years earlier in China because of pollution. Thus, winding down of coalhas already begun and renewables (onshore wind, solar, low enthalpy ground heating) are taking almost all of the market share from coal. Countries with weak institutions or high corruption present yet another set of problems. For example, the world is largely helpless in dealing with the burning of tropical forest as in Brazil or peatlands as in Indonesia. India is biggest newcomer global emissions growth. They would like to have their industrial revolution first, then move on to a sustainable energy strategy.
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Another example of King Coal, have a laugh…the jobs graphic is a hoot…
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-can-renewable-energy-power-the-world/
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Trump is not the problem. He is an ignorant buffoon that will turn whichever way the wind blows. It’s the GOP and McConnell in particular that are the problem. Dinosaurs intent on making more oil. . .
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Trump is a problem to the extent he destroys institutions, international and domestic, intended to provide science, policy and foster cooperation. He is also a problem for promoting the falsehoods and misdirection of incumbent carbon producers. Finally, there are very expensive choices the government makes in not choosing to move early on climate and protection of natural services. Climate change mitigation and adaption will already cost trillions and that price tag grows the longer the Trump administration sits on its hands.
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Sometimes Dialectical thinking is necessary.
There has been, IS, and WILL BE a (positive for us) Reaction to Trump.
Count on it.
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The world is afraid of this imbecile. European leaders, in particular, are paralyzed with fear and have really done nothing but make all sorts of appeasement noises and shuffle their feet and stare at the ground. Not one of these feckless bastards has figured out that the US is not to be trusted and it’s best to work around it. (No, that ain’t impossible.) And it’s been consistent, this stunning incompetence, but they all keep treating it like it’s temporary and act like business as usual.
Going three years in, they still have not figured out how to handle the stupidity and corruption. The Saudis figured it out super early, who told the Chinese, who mentioned it to the Koreans and Japanese: buy the Scumbag off. The manipulation dividends outweigh any foot stamping about deals, trade and other subjects the Human Fungus knows nothing about.
West European leaders just keep fumbling, driven by bureaucratic timidity. I’ve never been so disgusted at their collective panic and lack of imagination and leadership when dealing with a thoroughly incompetent US administration. Hell, even vaunted NATO started piping up on a regular basis about how wonderful they are only after the Human Fecal Whisperer started whining about them. I had never seen any tweets or press releases before from NATO, but now this alleged defense organization was scrambling to prove their worth on the basis of this disgusting scumbag with all the finesse of put-upon AV club geeks.
Otherwise, I’m fairly indifferent about Europe.
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“The World” should ignore everything Trump, all of it, in its entirety, as if he doesn’t exist.
What’s he going to do? Pitch a tantrum and lob one into the EU headquarters?
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I just returned from a vacation in Scandinavia. Norway, Denmark and Sweden are serious about going green. They are moving quickly to reduce/eliminate the use of fossil fuels, there are windmill farms everywhere (especially in Denmark), bicycle commuting is huge, and they are developing technologies to use trash to generate usable energy. They’re doing what the need to do, and what they can do, to address the issues.
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I have called Bernie a Drama King for years, but I have converged with him on some things.
The Nordic Model (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland) is championed by Bernie and this is what he has in mind when people say “socialism”.
I have always used the term “mixed economy”
Government
The Academy
The Private Sector
In MANAGEABLE proportions and influence.
In the early 1950s Danish boys rode on tractors on their farms owned by co-ops.
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And the entire world would be better for it (both the MSM ignoring Trump and his head exploding).
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Watch what trump does, not what he says. But catalogue what he says for later investigation (eyes wide open)
Given that… we cannot trust him to do the right thing ANYTIME, not just with respect to climate change.
In fact if trump were to describe a walk around the Resolute Desk to retrieve a fallen piece of paper I doubt we could trust his veracity.