How G.O.P. leaders came to view climate change as fake science (and more). Why some American conservatives aren’t worried about climate change. Paris decision underscores the visceral expression of Trump’s worldview. Why Trump actually pulled out of Paris: It wasn’t because of the climate, or to help American business — he needed to troll the world and this was his best shot so far. If the liberal global elites have established a policy architecture to minimize the threat of climate change, weakening that policy architecture is its own reward — there is not much more to it than that. Trump sees alienating our European allies as an end in itself. Donald Trump has no political philosophy beyond pissing off liberals. To the president and the Right, it’s all about spite, not economics or science.
Republicans are the “Rolling Coal” Party: From Paris withdrawal to Obamacare repeal, their agenda is just like the juvenile truck-pollution trend — its goal is to piss off liberals. Don’t just blame Trump for quitting the Paris deal — blame the Republican Party. Trump’s voters are responsible for killing the Paris climate agreement. “This is the absolute perfect distillation of the right’s central position on climate change”. Scott Lemieux on Trump and identity politics. Trump’s Paris climate decision shows the threat rising tribalism poses to the planet: Cosmopolitanism must win the war, or we’re screwed.
