Getting our priorities straight
You could write a thick book discussing Donald Trump’s unfitness to be president of the United States. This is neither hyperbole nor fantasy, legions of people already have — and there are more such books on the way. Shockingly, so far there are no books detailing the biggest reason for his unfitness. Even more shockingly, he is never, as far as I am aware, even fact-checked on the subject.
Trump’s “policy” on climate change — if he could laughingly be said to have a policy on anything — is nonexistent. It’s 2024, and he still doesn’t even know what it is. On the rare occasions when he is asked about it he mutters something-something “clean air and clean water.” Climate change is no more about clean air and clean water than dental hygiene is about the colour of your toothbrush. It’s about deforestation, the increase in the anthropogenic creation of greenhouse gases and the consequent rise in global temperatures. The United States can continue to do all those things and still have the world’s cleanest air and water. They are not mutually exclusive.
We are, in fact, turning our planet into a proverbial beautiful corpse, as far as the continued existence of our species is concerned. Urban beautification is in lock step with rising temperatures. We are fools to think that a neat and well-ordered deck will have any bearing on the sinking of the Titanic.
If Trump were to become president again that would be it for us. We are officially out of time. Most climate scientists agree that we must do something drastic to reverse the course of anthropogenic climate change in the next four years or it’s simply too late. And change cannot begin and end with the United States. The rest of the world, including and especially China, the greatest climate criminal of all, had better get on board.
Climate change is on the rise faster than we expected. For example, it was recently discovered that parts of Antarctica are turning green more quickly than previously thought. That’s not just a symptom of climate change, it’s also a cause. Because Antarctica is a continent, its melting snows can have a devastating effect on ocean levels. Trump thinks this is funny, and oddly observes that it will mean “more beachfront property.” No, the available beachfront property will be relatively unchanged, it will just move inland.
All of which is to say Democrats must not only retain the presidency and the Senate this November. We are going to need to reclaim the Congress as well. And as far as that goes, we’d better figure out a way to purge the Supreme Court of its MAGA lunatics. Either that or render them impotent. We have a job to do and we have no time to screw around with a bunch of black-robed idiots declaring our efforts unconstitutional. Then we need to apply some serious thumbscrews to China.
That’s a huge job, you say? So what? We have no choice. And we’d goddamned well better get started.
For a stupid species we certainly know how to make stupid choices. Turning climate change into a political football has to be the dumbest thing we have ever done. This is nothing new. Back after Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the roof of the White House, Ronald Reagan peevishly had them removed as soon as he became president. It’s hard enough convincing people of a scientific fact. It’s beyond the power of reason when it’s also political.
Think of Covid, and how easily Trump could have made it nonpartisan. Instead he chose to use it to help him get re-elected, and deliberately pitted Democrats against Republicans and states against “freedom activists,” and a million people died in a very short time. This is the level of infuriating ignorance we face.
We need to get going on fixing our carbon footprint. Barring some discovery of a technological cure from a stroke of human genius, we are going to have to fix this problem the old fashioned way. We are going to bring our worldwide carbon footprint back down to zero. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe. Donate now
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.