The most disheartening thing about this article is that the voters who need to read it for the facts, won't. They will hear what Trump said, whether directly or via the TV news, and it will be repeated over and over again until his words are accepted as the truth. A true 1984 scenario, indeed
26
I hope by now most Americans are smart enough and have enough common sense to realize that President Trump's comments are obviously trying to pander for re-election votes rather than a true reflection of his beliefs or priorities.
8
One cannot be pro-environment and deny the reality of climate change. It's impossible. Trump is openly and aggressively anti-environment, as is his party.
11
"... a senior administration official who reviewed the polling said, there were moderate voters who liked the president’s economic policies and 'just want to know that he’s being responsible' on environmental issues."
So they lie about it.
8
Quite apart from how one thinks about this administration's record on the environment -- I am one who thinks it egregious -- a sentence such as the following one, which appeared in the story, is one of those journalistic no-nos, a kind that the Times' editors no longer seem to catch:
"This incongruous message of environmental action was so starkly at odds with Mr. Trump’s own record that some critics found the moment almost surreal."
It is _not_ the reporters' job to characterize the message as incongruous; that is the job of sources--people quoted in the story. The erosion of the line between objective reporting and opinion threatens to undermine all the essential reporting that the Times does. It must strive to avoid unattributed value judgments and opinions in in its news columns, or risk losing its credibility.
4
With the internet today, it is easy enough to gather data and show who is doing what.
So let them rollback car standards.
We track and say Chevrolet in the Malibu model is doing xyz Do Not Buy
Most of the car makers think Trump is going to make this worse and more confusing, so WE the People (some of you might have heard these words used before. It was by terrorists, at least the King of England and his Friends thought so) will have to pay attention.
Big Data? This is right up Google's alley easy to set up and run and something that could make us ignore that Google is likely far more dangerous that Donald the Chump.
It is almost possible to do this with simple searches, but a database that tracked consumer used products that contribute to pollution and showed were they better or worse is something we have in different forms.
Thank Goddess you people elected Donald Trump or WE the People would have blended into the background.
1
Suburban women (like me) and millennials (like my kids), the two demographic groups that Trump is trying to court with his administration's "incredible" environmental record, already know of his shameful environmental policies. I don't think Trump is going to hoodwink anyone of either generation that has been actively fighting the damage he has wrought since he was elected. My only hope is that he will alienate some of his own base by touting cleaner air and good stewardship of our public lands. His supporters appear to believe that America's natural resources should be used solely for profit and immediate economic gain with little regard for long-term environmental impacts or even the negative consequences to their own health.
7
Some days I just feel like I've dropped into the Twilight Zone. We're being told good is bad and bad is good.
9
Thank you. Now, it is time to incessantly tell the public the truth about these characters out of "1984." Just sinful.
7
It is truly a world of massive disconnect. Say whatever he thinks will get him re-elected while having no relationship to what he says. I fear that many Americans don't look beyond the sound bite. This is the bedrock of so much of our politics. Empty rhetoric.
5
My back yard used to be full of butterflies, dragonflies and bees but now the odd fly is all I see. It’s eerily quiet with most birds absent but at least we have the rats. Lots and lots of rats.
39
Trump has been getting votes for his "double-speak" all along. There is no reason why he shouldn't get them form his latest attempts, unless the Democrats really call out his lies.
4
"I would likes to go back to 1984. I think I might have smiled once then."
3
"Isn't it romantic" The country that leads the world in cleaning up it's air and water is castigated by self-serving money making elites and by fools, and believed by bigger fools to be a polluter of note while ignoring the most extravagant death dealing countries on the planet.
Next they will tell us High Fructose Corn Syrup is good for your diet and high gasoline taxes and mandated alcohol gives you improved roads and better performance in car engines. Oops they already did.
1
Flint still has questionable water, as do other communities. Trump rolled back emissions standards for vehicles. He rolled back water and air quality standards. He has encouraged the burning of coal, which is always a dirty way to produce power. How can that can be called good stewardship of land?
The lies grow ever larger for the gullible to swallow. Soon they will choke.
4
Trump described as pro-environment is on a par with awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Henry Kissinger subsequent to the bombing of Cambodia. Tom Lehrer noted that occasion as being the moment "Political satire became obsolete….”
3
"Best-ever President for Worst Polluters"
Some even add "and much handsomer".
1
This has gotten out of hand. Will somebody of authority please tell our president he is wearing no clothes.
7
Trump must be in hog heaven and this latest fabrication he's told proves it. I mean... even an accomplished lier, like trump, must get tired of the pressure of having to come up with new whoppers all the time. Even the best get writers block. But here comes the election consultants! A whole team of bright young minds just eager to prove themselves before the master. And they've not only found a way to bail him out on the messy environment, but they've done it while charting new lier's ground. Fantastic! Who knew that trump was a greenie?
Speaking of greenies... I feel a little sick.
2
Attached link is direct evidence of why Trump’s position on subject of global warming cannot be felt to be anything but absurd:
https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Space_for_our_climate/What_s_happening_to_Greenland_s_ice
https://m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Space_for_our_climate/What_s_happening_to_Greenland_s_ice
1
Trump is the worst nightmare even for me as a European...
5
NYT, When are you going to start using the "L" word? L is for "lie". If ever there was a time this seems like it. L is for "lie". L is for "lying". L is for "liar". "Not based in fact" and "made no mention" do not get the job done.
5
My reflexion is this: a person that can so bluntly lie to the people must think they are very stupid.
6
Somewhere, Joseph Goebbels is nodding in approval.
3
My family is stuck near the coast by my husband’s job. We have lived through several epic hurricanes, and were trapped on all sides by Harvey’s flood waters. We took a road trip recently, and we could practically chew the air in some parts of the country.
I’ve told my daughter not to have children and to move to a state that is working on improving the environment, out of the country if necessary, as soon as she graduates high school. Somewhere where she will have access to healthcare and a better quality of life. That includes the right to breathe, and not having to try to find a boat to leave our hilltop home. I will only help her pay for colleges out of state.
This is the best advice that I can give her, and I’m not sure how many other mothers out there are telling their children the same thing.
10
And you thought "freedom gas" was peak-Orwell. He's topped it.
It would be polite to say Trump has his head in the sand. It's in a much darker place.
8
Trump loves to spout his 'knowledge": “'We want the cleanest air, we want crystal clear water. And that’s what we’re doing...'These are incredible goals that everyone in this country can rally behind, and they are rallying behind.' Trump says his White House was working 'harder than many previous administrations' on the issue of the environment, adding: 'Maybe almost all of them.'"
Does Trump really think that his supreme ability to lie is going to be believed by a majority of people? He is much too friendly towards industry profits to risk any progress on climate change. He picked Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, to head the EPA.
“The number of unhealthy days for ozone and soot pollution reached 799 in 2018 and 721 in 2017, according to EPA data, the highest levels they’ve hit since 2012. The nation’s carbon dioxide emissions increased more than 3 percent last year, according to the federal government, their biggest increase since 2010. The Health Effects Institute’s State of Global Air 2019 report shows the United States ranks 123rd out of 195 nations when it comes to smog, or ozone pollution.
8
My Lincoln to Eisenhower Republican ancestors would have put Trump behind bars. They were all educated, ardent conservationists, and hated racism.
11
Trump continues to destroy our planet all for his own personal interest. He is one of hundreds of greedy self serving people, whether in politics or in business - what troubles me is that we know there are people like this, so it is not just Trump and his cronies it is really the thousands of people who vote and support him and his actions.
12
We have 12 years to reach net zero CO2 emissions (same amount removed as added to the atmosphere). We need to remove over 1 trillion tons of CO2 by 2035.
If not, we have reached the point irreversible global warming.
Maybe we can afford to lose the next 2 years, but not the next 6.
Trump will go down not only as the worst president ever, but the worst human being ever had by actively fighting against the turning point we need to stop irreversible global warming.
P.S. Let's stop using the Republican talking point of Climate Change. The Republican Heritage Foundation, via a Focus group in the early 2000s, changed the dialog away from Climate Warming because it "sounded scary."
Let's call it what it is: Climate Heating. I just came back from Anchorage Alaska which looked and felt more like LA in August, than the 60th parallel near the Arctic circle. 92 Fahrenheit, a 2 week long drought, and full of smoke from Climate Heating induced wildfires. July 4th was the hottest ever recorded in Alaska, followed by the hottest June ever recorded in Alaska.
God Help Us from the mad man in his white tower of terror.
12
How about “planet death?”
2
Trump has the idea that anything he says will work for him. He says what he thinks will solidify his base. His base is beyond reason, like Trump himself. I think they all just live in a fantasy world where thought doesn't count, just emotion. Trump whips them up regularly to sustain that emotion.
Meanwhile the real world continues outside the Trump bubble, with its real world realities and urgencies that Trump ignores. The US hides with its head in the sand, living in Trumps last century world where fossil fuel is king and climate instability is a Chinese hoax.
We are in a sinking ship with Trump ignoring the holes, saying we need more holes and the water is fake news. We are led by an aging and delusional con man.
18
“I can't believe what you say, because I see what you do." James Baldwin was speaking for us to Donald Trump, the "environmentalist".
20
Exactly.
1
Well, people who believe Trump will believe whatever he said. They do not fact check nor do they trust anyone else's fact check. They are always his main audience. If they happened to hear this nonsense they have added "greatest environmental president ever" to their accolades. The rest of us live in the real world, know a great deal about what Trump and his administration have been doing to the environment, and see this side-show for the farce it is.
10
The red algae in Florida is on the west coast and has been here since the first explorers came. The problem in Okeechobee and Port St Lucie is the toxic blue green algae. It can easily be cured by stopping fertilization of fields. This year because there were no discharges from the Lake it was proven that septic tanks were not the problem.
4
Speaking about his record on the environment Mr. Trump said:
“These are incredible goals that everyone in this country should be able to rally behind,” Mr. Trump said. “
The dictionary on my Mac defines "incredible":
incredible | inˈkredəb(ə)l |
adjective
1 impossible to believe: an almost incredible tale of triumph and tragedy.
Mr. Trump and the Dictionary have said everything that these moderate voters need to know about Trump's claims about the enviornmental record of his administration: They are impossible to believe.
In fact Mr. Trump's poor knowledge about the meaning of words betrays when he is lying (which is nearly all the time) every time he used the word incredible.
Trump's perpetual mendacity will eventually lead to his impeachment or the ruination of this Republic (which ever comes first).
6
I read nothing in this piece that described the makeup of the audience who sat through this drivel. Did they come from the same mold as the folks who are permitted to attend Trump's political rallies? Could they have asked questions? Could they have made comments? Could they have thrown up their hands and walked out?
And who exactly are those Republicans who were described as caring about the environment? Certainly not anyone hired by this administration.
14
Beyond the pure horror of this “spin”, there is comfort in the progress of many states. We in Massachusetts, often under The leadership of Republican governors, have lead the way in energy efficiency, wetlands protection and deregulation. The market also speaks as The Northeast moves towards offshore wind.
While we will have to “undo”, the damage and the lies after this environmental backsliding on the Federal level, we will have a path forward based on the model of the “progressive states”.
This national nightmare has to end and I am hopeful that the “young” leaders in the Obama Administration who devised our plans and progress will return with vigor and gusto to permanently undo this mess.
6
Trump has caused, and continues to cause, untold damage to the environment through his actions, his self-delusions will not change that fact. As someone said, his 'White House is dysfunctional, unpredictable, faction-riven, diplomatically clumsy and inept' and that includes his policies on the environment and climate change.
8
Trump just keeps writing the ads for the Democratic candidates.
5
@Eileen McPeake That is exactly what I was thinking this morning. If Dems would just pick up the torch that has been handed to them and replay every ridiculous thing that has come out of his mouth, they would secure the middle (and they need us). Hammer him on the environment, ACA, tariffs, tax cuts for the rich, and on and on.
1
Trump is worse by far, but every time the NYT wrote about climate change under Obama, it would say that the US was a "leader" in fighting it - when it most certainly was not. The US has always been a laggard on climate change. Trump has made it much worse, but the Americans have to stop kidding themselves they have been anything but lamentable for the past thirty years.
7
How do we reach his supporters with the truth?
4
To invert JFR’s comment above, Trumps supporters don’t see what he does, only what he says.
3
This man has no link to reality. America is behind now on the environment like never before, thanks completely to his climate change deniers. He has also pipe dreams about everything else he deals with, and is so angried by the diplomatic leak from the UK's Ambassador saying squarely he is a fantasist and actually politically inept and incompetent in general. He has repeatedly told all who are forced to listen that he had a remarkable record at Wharton School of Business, when in fact he was only able to enter because of connections and his record was similarly dismal.
10
The American electorate (myself included) is ignorant and lazy: we prefer to remember the last face/voice we heard on tv before going to the polls rather than educate ourselves about the candidate’s stand on important issues aside from the one issue we deem of utmost importance. POTUS has the bully pulpit and the airwaves (and now Twitter). Truth does not matter as long as there is no other voice in our ears and in our face. Relatively few American voters read NYT.
4
"Experts watching the speech said many of the president’s claims were not based in fact. "
In other words, as usual, Trump was lying through his teeth. Why not just call it that?
This comes no surprise. Apparently, the entire speech was aimed at Florida, which will once again play a pivotal role in the 2020 election. Republicans in Florida show well-deserved concern about the impact of climate change that they can see with their own eyes. It makes political sense that the POTUS needed to showcase his spurious "accomplishments" while flanked by Andrew Wheeler, the coal former lobbyist, who now heads the EPA.
Every time stories like this are reported, the words that the POTUS spouted at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention just one year ago resound more loudly:
"Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what's happening."
His contempt for the electorate's intelligence and his "love of the poorly educated" is demonstrated over and over again. Let's hope that what people ARE seeing and reading will make him a one-term anomaly in the history of the U.S.
If not, then our beloved country is headed for a downfall of ancient Rome's proportions.
8
How much will it really matter for the Democratic Party hopefuls to present their individual understanding of policy to be proposed in 2021?
New York Times comment writers who profess in one or more ways to be concerned with climate change rarely if ever state what they understand might be possible even now at the family level, county level, and state level.
As I noted during my June visit in Vermont and New York, I saw and read very little to suggest that any significant change is taking place at those levels.
Easy examples: Springfield MA keeps raising its landfill mountain higher and higher, creating an eyesore and a contaminant source forever. It could do as is done here in my city and even in West Palm Beach, Florida: Build a state-of-the art incinerator and bio waste plant to produce electricity and/or heat. In New York State the governor proclaims that never in his state, will that be done - the Governor's motto - "Landfills forever, the further from New York the better, but filled with waste from the Empire State."
And what else did I see to indicate that the commitment to fossil fuel is firm? Easy answer: Natural gas pipelines are being laid and extended on all scales and they are, given the rate of climate change, a "forever" commitment to use of natural gas instead of going over to heat pumps.
Show me that voters to be really care.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
6
@Larry Lundgren
What do you expect voters to do ? Many Voters like me care but we are being ignored by the Trump admin and corporate interests empowered by politicians like Trump. My wife and I are in our 60s . Many years ago we made a commitment not to have children because of the environmental implications.
8
@macrol I have recommended your comment for your final line, but I did think I had told voters what I expect some of them to do, take action themselves or support the kind of actions I name at the county and state level.
So I will again point to Vermont since that is my annual home away from home. Bernie Sanders started back in 2013 I believe to try to educate Vermonters about the best renewable energy source available, heat pumps and especially ground-source geothermal systems. He had a major symposium with EPA representatives present.
Even in the summer of 2018 when I was there he spoke at a meeting. But what do I see? Still a major commitment to natural gas, new pipelines that will last how long, 25 or 50 years. No commitment to using solid waste (after recycling) as renewable energy source in advanced incinerator systems, no conversion of food and bio and human waste to biogas to run buses on.
I close with the questionsI often pose, questions rarely answered.
How do you heat and cool your home?
Has your county or state investigated use of the systems I name above?
Does your county support installation of solar panels at all levels, from private home on up, especially on apartment buildings?
Thanks for replying.
Larry L.
5
More blatant lies by a man willing to say anything at any time if someone tells him it might gain some supporters somewhere and sometime. He has no idea what any of this means and is just reading what someone else has written.
8
Donald Trump did not become president by magic. He was elected by 37% of those who voted, and the 45+ percent who didn’t vote at all. The shame of this administration is owned by the American people. A stain on our national reputation that will not wash away. On the other hand, as the survival of our planet is doubtful, none of this may end in the end matter at all.
11
Along with Trump's ridiculous made-up assertion that Reagan thought Trump was "presidential" I see an escalation in the whoppers the "president" is telling lately. Trump really seems to think he's doing something by tearing down as much of his predecessor's accomplishments as possible. Especially when it comes to Obama. Trump has never gotten over Obama being black and having done a hugely superior job than he ever will in EVERY way possible. Trump dementia is catching up to him. I think he might be unable to run in 2020 even if the GOP still wants him to by then.
12
His 'science-based' environmental policy was formulated during his flight to Washington D.C. back in 1776. It's all his idea.
14
Remember in the 1950s when doctors promoted cigarettes as good for you?
When the water is at our knees and catastrophic droughts are leaking havoc, remember the deniers. Remember the greed of the bought and paid for politicians that let it happen.
8
Did anyone on earth that heard Trump's speech say "I didn't realize he cared so much about environmental issues, I'm going to support him."
5
Beyond a doubt this speech proves that 2 2=5. I have to question if ‘truth’ still exists in American political discourse.
4
It would be interesting for the Democratic Presidential candidates to get together and explicitly state they will reverse every Trump change in environmental policy if elected. Moreover, they will require all previous timeframes to be strictly adhered to.
Many businesses like power production and auto manufacturing will ignore him, because it is not worth the risk of being unprepared. The power industry has largely done this. I would add, they should make clear the sole change would be in penalties, which will become much harsher. It might cost them WV & KY, but they were never going to win there anyway.
Business will not risk following a known incompetent that has a limited runway by the constitution if they know it will hurt them worse in the future.
4
Solar and wind investment is double what it was during the Obama Years. Less regulation, reduced fear of prosecution, and higher returns on investment and better economic conditions are key factors. Talk is cheap. Results are whatever matter.
This has nothing to do with Trump policies and has occurred despite them, not because of them. You talk about a lack of government intervention, but what about Trump’s attempts to artificially prop up the dying coal industry? The hypocrisy is stunning.
15
President Trump is delusional! He pulls the United States out of the Paris climate accords, and lies though his teeth and to our faces, that every thing is under control while there’s communities under water and extreme heat in the West, including record high temperatures in of all places, Alaska. The fire season has began and whole communities within the United States are at risk of being destroyed. Trump takes us all for fools, like his gullible red states base, and we will reward him with his ouster very soon! He is a clear and present danger to our nation.
19
Stop fact checking! We've known for some time we can't believe anything Trump says. Don't bother.
13
Other than everything he says is a bold face, fact-checked lie, he doesn't even understand (anything) the difference between climate and weather. However, thanks to his ignorance you must admit he does give us a good laugh now and then. And, he will have the distinction of being the very worst President his supporters ever put into the White House. Time to make amends and vote him out of the Oval Office.
12
I suggest we each “adopt” a swing voter, preferably a woman or young person - Trump’s target for these lies - and spend some time providing them with the facts on Trump’s environmental record. They need to know these lies will kill us.
14
When will (presumably) intelligent people stop trying to use logic and reason to try to analyze what Trump does, and what his followers believe? The key to his success is hatred, and his ability to ignite it among his followers. He will do anything to get them to focus their attention exclusively on him, to encourage them to fall slobbering and screaming at his feet, even if it means destroying anything and everything that was once decent and good in this country to get there.
17
@ Woman. Yes. What he says has no meaning other than to stir the pot and direct the attention of his supporters for any given moment in time. I cannot count how many times he has made an about-face within 24 hours of one of his outbursts only to have his lemmings continue to follow him slavishly through the U-turn.
4
And on the day of his Big Environmentalist Speech, the guy doing his best to bring back last century's power sources was speaking in a city that broke its rainfall record. Four inches of rain in an hour. Plenty more of that where his environmental stewardship is leading to...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/07/08/washington-dc-flash-flood-how-why-area-was-deluged-by-months-worth-rain-an-hour-monday
In the meantime, 24 governors, including some Republicans, celebrated his great leadership by ask if he'd not tear up the auto emissions rules we all benefit from just to aid the oil industry.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/climate/trump-governors-clean-car-rules.html
Another article reports "Mississippi Closes Beaches Because of Toxic Algae Blooms". That's the result of increased outflow from the Mississippi River from the record-breaking year of precipitation in the middle of the country.
One predicted and observed result of a warmer planet is intensification of rainfall events. One impact is increased nutrient flows - whether from farms and city sidewalks into the Mississippi, then to the Gulf, or the Maumee into Lake Erie, or the outflows from rivers and the swamps of Florida. The nutrient flows cause algal blooms, the death of the algal population explosion leads to dead zones.
All will increase as we keep using the fuels our President's appointed lobbyists defend. Part of his environmental record.
14
After three years of lies on just about everything Trump encounters, why not continue to do the same on a topic the GOP knows is important to Trump’s swing voters. He has succeeded in creating a 1984 world for much of America. This is what frightens me the most, that and what he is doing after he surrounds our country with his funhouse mirrors. War is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength. We are there.
13
Thought I’d go to Fox News to see how they covered this. Seems like they didn’t at all? Not a single word out of them after the president gives an hour long speech in the White House? I guess they were really at a loss for any way at all to spin this.
14
@Jake P: The people at Fox may finally be awakening to all the sheer horror they have wrought.
2
I agree with David Victor that the speech was Orwellian in several dimensions.
It is disturbing that the leader of one of the most economically powerful nations on Earth or his advisors do not understand that the issue that concerns people is the use of fossil fuels and their combustion emissions that are warming the planet Earth with the strong potential of causing catastrophically harmful and disruptive changes in our climate, oceans, and food supply.
Rather than deal with the anxieties that are forming in the minds of the general public and the very large portion of the global economy's workers who are worried about shifting the World economy away from fossil fuels and threaten the jobs and financial security that has been built over a century of coal, oil, and natural gas use to generate electricity, power transport and most of the World's industries, the President, the GOP, and many climate deniers have chosen to walk away from these anxieties.
It does not seem possible that the nations of the Earth must globally unite in facing probably the greatest challenge that the World has faced in over 200 years.
Eventually an intelligent leader with great powers of persuasion will appear before the U.N. and propose a new economic order based on the development of very cheap electricity, probably space-based solar beamed to the Earth, machines and processes to scrub the atmosphere and also create employment programs to take advantage of the shift in energy sources.
2
it's not just critics who saw a 1984 moment - all sane people did too.
25
This is the first 1984 moment?
17
So, here’s the strategy:
“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”
— Winston Churchill
24
What's next? A WH presser w' Jeffrey Epstein to highlight the administration's efforts on female empowerment?
23
The King of Chaos lies again. No surprise.
And his team of malicious dunces moves us further and further away from democracy, from an informed citizenry, from restoring our planet, and from a government striving towards equal justice.
Trump, like his right-wing nationalist, misogynist and supremacist partners around the globe, is step-by-nasty-step leading us to fascism.
10
Is there a Trump lie that will finally break the camel’s back? One that will shift the imbalance?
9
He lies incessantly so why should anyone expect him to make a major statement that would be true. The Times headline should simply be: Trump is Lying About the Environment.
21
This must have been the most Orwellian speech in US history. Is Trump trying to scam the country into believing he is protecting the environment? If any millennial or suburban woman fell for this hogwash they should immediately go the Sierra Club website and learn some real facts to reorient themselves to reality. The US is in the midst of a climate crisis and we have a president spinning fabrications about his environmental record. Another head scratching moment at the White House.
8
President Trump said he wants America to have clean air and crystal clean water.
Fact check:
He’s lifted the federal restrictions on coal power plant emissions.
He’s lifted restrictions on farmers to allow for chemical fertilizer and pesticide runoff to drain into streams, rivers, and lakes.
18
While I appreciate the article this is old news. We have known for years that he does not care to speak the truth about any situation. If it comes out of his mouth we know it is 180 degrees from reality. Please vote in the next election.
19
We can honestly name him as the least knowledgeable leader of the US when it pertains to science, climate change, environmental matters, oh the list goes on. Therefore he is the president voted most likely to be able to walk on water.... literally.
10
...history, economics, business, civics, ethics, the law...
1
I can only imagine he thinks people who have grown up with the knowledge of ecology, environment, climate change, pollution have as little depth or concern as he has demonstrated over the years. I believe he feels we have all been suffering from amnesia. We must inform him and his friends no we haven’t been asleep, we are quite knowledgeable, and unlike Trump and the other non believers “We Care!” And we will continue to spread the words of science, ecology, and love of our planet!
8
If telling a lie requires knowledge of the truth, our Extremely Stable Genius in Chief has never told a lie about the environment, the economy, or anything else - he knows nothing and has no memory. And he is counting on his base to know even less.
7
NO FRANK. - republicans really don't care. why don't you just blame it on the teleprompter? that's the latest scapegoat.
Mr. Luntz said. “These guys, they really do care, but they don’t know how to get it done in this polarized environment.”
4
So funny. Sad to watch the slow collapse of another failed Empire in real time.
11
Paul, it would be funny if it was only America’s problem. If he gets another term I fear two things will happen; first, America will crumble or become a fascist state (it’s almost there already) and drag other western democracies down with it and, secondly, Trump won’t leave office. His handler, Putin, will have succeeded in destroying the American system.
1
Yes! Thank you for stating the essential truth: Putin is calling the shots. Probably dangling the possibility of Trump Tower Moscow before the compromised Donald.
1
I'm just shocked, I'm speechless. What if Trump actually believes his own lies?
5
Trump and his delusional thinking is exhausting.
12
Trump's greatest evil contribution to the world is as an apologist to doing less than nothing about climate change. He's getting rid of every environmental accomplishment in the name of profits for rich industries.
Even most pro-environmentalists don't realize the dire straits we are in. The existence of humans is based on a fragile balance. Climate nuances will wipe out many of several valuable food crops. When grain crops drop by half and eliminate half our food and half the food for raising animals, how would we respond at the grocery stores empty of basic food stuffs: meat, milk products, cereals and flour.
We all have an expectation of going to the grocery and finding the shelves stocked. What if they were all closed? We could eat the grass in our back yards, but it wouldn't last long.
And imagine all of India starving. Do you suppose that China could build a wall? Or 20 million immigrants from the Middle East invading Europe. With no food, are they going to feed huge armies to keep the immigrants out?
Within 25 years water supplies will be scarce because very few areas have enough reservoirs to save water that will be needed in Summers because there is no snow pack to feed the rivers.
Climate change is not the mere inconvenience that Trump has at least 50% of us believing it is. It is the termination of the human race as we know it.
But surely we don't want to quit burning coal.
13
Trump has no credibility on environmental issues.
Zero.
He has promoted industry over health and environmental concerns.
He has withdrawn America from the Paris Accords. He has attempted to lessen car emission standards, which has placed him in opposition to automakers.
He has placed industry insiders into positions of leadership in the EPA and elsewhere, who have little to no background in science issues.
Trump is a failure when it comes to "environmental leadership".
8
We’re doomed.
16
It is remarkable the President makes such an effort to label those who disagree with his policies as “haters”, given nothing about their opprobrium is driven by hate as much as stone cold rationalism and a perfectly clear understanding of how retrograde his administration’s policies are.
18
California isn’t going to allow any of these lies to take hold. We. Will. Not. Bend.
Go back to ripping off investors, Donald.
23
You are only one state of 50. And my guess is that many Californians are currently worried about their own families and homes in light of recent seismic activity...
1
Trump lies. Trump lies to aggrandize himself and to fool his supplicant followers.
You might want to find a more complex, intricate understanding of his motivations and actions, but it really is that simple. Trump lies to advance his agenda and that of his donors and supporters.
Sometimes the answer really is that simple.
The man is a liar.
25
The bad faith of US Republicans knows no bottom.
19
Mr Trump floats enormous whoppers here. Pollution is poison. He is pro-pollution. Mr Trump disdains the future of everyone on our planet--including his supporters, his children, his grandchildren.
11
Is there literally anything good that Trump has proposed that is beneficial to average Americans and not the billionaires who fund his campaign, golf at his resorts, or stay in his gilded towers?
10
Trump - noun : thing that causes the United States to go from a global beacon to a global embarrassment. May be nowhere more evident than with environmental matters.
12
Those of us who spend time on the southwest coast of Florida know firsthand a little bit about red tide. It does not come from Lake Okeechobee, which is suffering from a different form of algae. For Mr. Trump to pretend that he has done anything to mitigate the red tide problem in Florida is ludicrous. But not as ludicrous as his pretending to be a friend of the environment at all. His proposal to open up Florida's coastlines to oil drilling and his refusal to do anything constructive about the climate changes which threaten to ultimately drown Florida tells us that with friends like him, the Earth does not need enemies.
19
So this speech was the environmental policy equivalent to his famous Taco Bowl gesture where he truly showed his respect for Mexicans.
What's next on his pandering checklist?
11
Trump has killed any environmental leadership.
7
Trump is a liar. What more is there?
7
Trump is not speaking to the average Times reader. He’s talking to his base.
Focusing on Trump is a waste of time. It’s his supporters that need the intense scrutiny. His supporters will listen and accept anything he says on the environment.
We are paying the price for 2016. Democrats need to count where the votes are and put a plan together.
11
“cleanest air, crystal clean water,”
45 brags
How did George Orwell know this day will come??
28
It's just staggering that he could have the gall to talk about this as though he is doing anything other than waging a vicious war against the environment on all fronts. Is it that he thinks that people are that stupid? Or is it that he is completely oblivious to the actions he's been taking since day 1 of his presidency? I truly hope that at least on this one issue there isn't one voter who is in any way going to be suckered into thinking that Trump is any friend of the environment. Even to put those two words together in one sentence provoke fits of hysterical laughter, and ridicule.
12
Yet again you quail at calling his statements by their true name. You say they are “not based in fact”
They are lies, pure and simple.
Your equivocation is shameful.
54
Trump aside, the Democrats control politics along with the Republicans, and neither party has a coherent plan to deal with climate change and the environment. The Democrats have left it to individual candidates to propose ideas, leaving the greatest infrastructure and technology project in human history to individual presidential candidates is utter insanity. How can the American public be expected to vote for the right party on this issue when the Democrats cannot explain to the public what the problems are and how it will help solve them and keep the economy afloat. America is going to have millions of climate migrants internally and from overseas in the coming decades and will probably have to spend trillions in updating the country's infrastructure and economy to meet these demands. The Democrats are not even close to providing a coherent strategy for the public to vote for. This is the price we've paid as a country for valuing corporate law and finance over all other forms of expertise.
7
While Trump is talking up on the environment, his administration is/has/will:
1. Open up drilling in the Arctic National Refuge
2. Allowed the Keystone Pipeline
3 .Allowing oil/gas/coal extraction on public lands.
4. De-listing lands, once federally protected
5. Allow off shore drilling in areas once prohibited
6. Will allow refineries use Hydrogen fluoride bowing to chemical and oil industry wishes.
7. Rolling back auto emission standards.
8. Rolling back water quality regulations.
9. Removing species from the endangered list, even though the species are still endangered.
10 Claims climate change is a hoax, despite evidence to the contrary.
11. Pulled out of every accord reached that helps the environment. and combat climate change.
Add your additions to the above list.
If suburban women, millennials and anyone else is gullible enough to believe Trump is now a crusader for the environment, they are living in an alternate reality.
50
@Nick Metrowsky
12. Reallocated money to his anti-immigration tactics at the southern border, that was budgeted to clean up toxic messes near armed services housing
6
Well, we're thankful he alerted the world to the fact that windmills cause cancer and that raking the forest floors will stop wildfires. Lead on!
23
I am reminded of a scene in "Mars Attacks", in which Martians are announcing over loudspeakers "do not run, we are your friends", as they shoot lasers and detonate bombs, killing the people to whom they're speaking.
Trump's lies are as obvious, and nearly as damaging.
And 40% of the U.S. believes them - or pretends to.
Trump will be dead when the biggest results of his damage to the environment occur.
If it won't hurt him, so he doesn't care.
21
Voters who care about the future environment of this planet for themselves and especially for their children and grandchildren need to vote Trump and his Republican lackeys out of office. They only take orders from the fossil fuel industry that pays for their elections.
14
As if you didn’t know
trump has no relationship with the truth.
14
This president is a disgrace to sound environmental practices. If his tactic, as described here, works on this issue, we're all in trouble on the other pressing issues facing this country.
7
It concerns me not so much what Trump says but rather the gullibility of the Trump supporters that cannot separate fact from fiction, i.e., outright (more) lies.
22
I was told 30 years ago that if we didn’t cut carbon emissions that every state in the nation would be in drought. It is the complete opposite.
The climate scientists have credibility. It’s the news that doesn’t. The news is the ones that are making climate science a joke. And politicians have become climate change ambulance chasers. I don’t believe anything about climate change news anymore.
1
The king's new clothes is all I have to say.
5
I fear The Times is beginning to flinch and error on the side of caution in response to Trump's constant carping about "fake news." Here you have him dead to rights on both his ignorance of climate change and his willingness to destroy the planet and eliminate humankind. It's the easiest slam dunk you've ever had. It's all there and yet you dance around the details, even write a headline that doesn't even suggest the complete absurdity of his message. Climate change is not a hoax; Trump is the hoax. Write. Report. Repeat.
29
This reinforces what his supporters have pointed out all along... don't focus on what he says (because he is an obligatory, pathological liar) rather focus on what he does.
In this case, he brags about being a steward of our environment but his actions are exactly the opposite, just a toady for the business interests that create the problem.
Individuals and states will have to do what is right, it is obvious the current Administration will not.
5
How this man hasn’t burst into flames yet from his incessant lying is just beyond me!
13
“Surreal” is an inadequate description of cynical, brazen lying, and certainly too weak given what’s at stake.
10
Trump has told more than 11,000 documented lies since taking office and this is one of his most blatant. Naturally, Trump’s adoring MAGA hatters will take this as gospel like everything else Trump says. Those who are even vaguely aware of the reality know that Trump is so disconnected from the real world that he is not even aware of what “the environment” even means.
12
The Trump presidential library will consist entirely of fake news, fake books and fake record keeping. It will be an icon of the fake, a memorial to the fake and the preservation heritage of the fake. Inside there will be fake statues to fake men( no women) including a statue to the greatest fake of all, Trump, head faker. There will be a wall where Trumps fake heritage will be enshrined for all to applaud with fake applause.
Too bad the real is an unknown term. Real is what we will all get quite soon when fake fails to produce anything helpful.
8
The rhetoric, misinformation and lies continue from this Administration and its complicit industrial leaders. A more appropriate day for the delivery of Trumps “America’s Environmental Leadership” speech would be April 1st. How did we get to such an ignoble place?
6
Repeatedly lying (>10000) to the american people should be enough to get removed from office
8
Maybe, for the career politicians who could make that happen, 10000 lies is still below the threshold for concern. Can’t impeach him for something everybody else is doing, right? If actual lying was a problem for our representatives, the birther years should have been enough to keep him from the nomination in the first place.
He’s clearly beyond shame, and there’s now a real possibility that he’s running out of lies to feed his base.
17
He is beyond shame but lying is his fundamental way of life.
9
"“These are incredible goals that everyone in this country should be able to rally behind,” Mr. Trump said......
n·cred·i·ble
/inˈkredəb(ə)l/
Learn to pronounce
adjective
1.
impossible to believe.
"an almost incredible tale of triumph and tragedy"
synonyms: unbelievable, beyond belief, hard to believe, scarcely credible, unconvincing, far-fetched, strained, labored, implausible, improbable, highly unlikely, not in the least likely, questionable, dubious, doubtful, inconceivable, unthinkable, unimaginable, impossible, astonishing, astounding, breathtaking, staggering, absurd, preposterous, phenomenal, extraordinary; More
4
For a minute I thought I was reading The Onion.
7
The air here in so cal is definitely better today than it was in the 60s. Thanks Donald! (That was sarcasm).
3
Barack Obama used an executive order regarding the connected nature of our water courses. The point was that all wetlands in a watershed are connected. What happens upstream effects what is going on downstream.
Donald Trump has rescinded that executive order. Allowing for pollution to occur in an upstream part of the watershed and ignore what that pollution does downstream.
There is a 200 mile dead zone at the mouth of the Mississippi. Agricultural chemicals have helped to spur the growth of an algae that consumes the oxygen in the water, rendering the mouth of the Mississippi devoid of life.
We have to fix this, or all of watersheds will be threatened.
14
"...there were “positives and negatives” to all energy sources, and that administration officials were paying attention to this." Andrew Wheeler
"There were fine people on both sides..." Donald Trump
You can't make this stuff up.
8
As far as claims that Trump and his people make in this article that our air & water is cleaner, these are blatant lies which I suppose 'fool some of the people some of the time'.
The press should not give him so much latitude and publish his lies plus the facts which contradict him daily.
In real terms, increased pollution harms people's health so that along with less medical care Trump's 'policies' are actually lethal.
This is the product of a short term approach to the economy in which some jobs are created which will cost us in the future. Coupled with tax cuts, it is how Trump hopes to be re elected.
It's all for now, so apologize to your children.
'Vision' does not just include 'regulations' the horrible killer of jobs and freedom. It means creating entire new industries and professions; investing in a better future.
It's what previous generations in America have done for us.
Are we different?
5
@CD
The people he fools all of the time watch FOX propaganda news.
5
Trump simply has no moral center. Everything about the man is about expediency toward his major goal: turning the United States into an autocracy with him at its head. And if he can't win another term or one after that, well Princess Barbie is always available.
12
He could shoot a man and get away with it? Well, I am starting to believe it.
He can lie his face off like this and his followers will happily lap it all up.
This is the issue that undermines decent political discourse and needs to be dealt with more urgently than any other.
7
He didn't write the speech naturally, but it is a blatant vote getting ploy. His idea of the environment is no idea.
6
I don't know what scares me more: that the President of the United States would tell such blatant lies, or that there are people out there who will believe him.
15
“Last month, in a move that represented the Trump administration’s most direct effort to date to protect the coal industry, the E.P.A. finalized its plan to replace former President Barack Obama’s stringent rule on coal pollution with a new rule that would keep plants open longer and significantly increase the nation’s emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide pollution.”
Additionally, Trump wants to increase auto emissions, gut the Clean Water Act and of course, unilaterally removed our country from the Paris Climate Accords. To claim America’s Environmental Leadership is akin to him claiming he lives on a strict health food diet.
This article will make his twitter fingers start to itch. The writers saw through the hype and wrote factually about his hypocritical, cynical lack of concern about the most urgent of many serious issues with this administration. Well done.
6
Trump is just as believable on the environment as when he said he was a friend of the LGBTQ community. The guy will say anything.
7
It is said that we get the politicians we deserve,
but what they really mean is those creeps corruptly put into office by foreign powers, and those who lie--outright, without shame, and to our faces and should be in jail, and thus ineligible for office, but aren't.
So I guess we get the politicians our corrupt system deserves.
But I didn't corrupt it,
and neither did most of us,
and WE serve better.
3
He’s desperate, good.
3
When has Trump ever take responsibility for anything? He makes pronouncements and the next day makes more pronocements that contradict what he said the day before. He says what he feels like saying depending on the vagaries of the day and how he felt when he woke up. Then just to be the enter of attention he changes his mind publicly again, with fanfare. The fanfare makes lies truer he thinks. It is all a farce worthy of vaudeville. I am afraid the joke is on us.
3
“It is still not a top-five priority” among Republicans, Mr. Luntz said. “These guys, they really do care, but they don’t know how to get it done in this polarized environment.”
Wrong Mr. Luntz, they really don’t care.
They don’t know how to get it done? They inherited the roadmap from Obama. But they sure know how to get it undone.
18
You think he knows anything about the environment?
4
Scott Pruitt and Ryan Zinke. That's how much Trump cares about the environment.
'I love the uneducated.'
-Donald Trump
There's a reason for that.
13
Under the guidance of Dear Leader Donnie:
America has the cleanest air in the world;
America has the cleanest water in the galaxy;
American waters are cleaner than when Columbus discovered America; and
America has the cleanest air since the Pleistocene.
By removing welfare for windmills, cancer rates will drop in the Fatherland.
Clean coal will power all forms off transportation from cars to planes to naval vessels.
USA USA USA
5
Better headline: Worried about Votes, Trump lies about environmental record.
13
Next week I expect we'll see President Trump with a mariachi band behind him telling us how beloved he is among Mexican-Americans.
5
What could be more fake than this little stunt?
4
In Trump World black is white, up is down, 2 2=5, and we’ve always been at war with Eastasia—as long as it’s beneficial in some way to Trump.
3
How many different ways can Trump make the US look foolish?
This is absolutely. sickening. lying.
4
I read ‘1984’in HS, 30 years ago. Never thought it would reality
9
Trump "talks up" his accomplishments on the environment? That's the headline??
Were there any queasy stomachs in the newsroom as this unassuming account of brazen lies and misinformation was finalized for publication?
How about this for a head: "Trump Brazenly Lies To Public On Environment"? That's a straight accurate summary...
9
NYT - can you just ignore all his words and focus on his actions, policies and people. Just assume everything he says is a lie (and maybe say it for a change) and report what he, his appointees and congressional republican comrades actually do and support? It shouldn't be too hard at this point.
3
Wait......does Mississippi know that the Homeland has the crystalist clearest cleanest water in der Welt?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/08/us/toxic-algae-bloom-mississippi.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage
This story was just down the page from Dear Leader's Lies of the Day.
2
Quick...some one call Rod Serling (Twilight Zone), maybe he can explain this.
In Trumpworld...up is down, black is white, yes is no, and left is right---and don't take that for sure until he says it is so.
Did someone say 1984?
7
Clearly Trump believes you can fool some people all the time. Unfortunately the demographics he's trying to fool with this pseudo-environmentalist spiel isn't nearly as gullible as his base of now-nothings.
2
Trump might want to try his hand as a stand up comic.
Or maybe world’s most prolific liar.
As an environmentalist and a President he is a loser.
1
We need three lists:
1. Things that Trump made worse environmentally
Auto emissions
Coal plant emissions
National parks lands
Clean water regulation
Paris accords
Removing global warming as a topic from federal websites
Opening up Alaska to drilling
Oil pipelines
2.Things that he made better for the environment
Hmm
Nothing
3. Things that others accomplished that Trump takes credit for.
7
The only part of the environment that Trump recognizes is the greens on his golf courses. Anyone with a mind understands that he has encouraged the pollution of the air and waters of the U.S. His swamp crawling appointees have moved to sell America's resources with no regard for anything but payoffs to the Republican Party and themselves when they return to the companies they came from. It is astonishing that someone who understands so little about anything that matters, who personal conduct is so lacking in the measures that define decency has become President. Democrats MUST unite and support any and every D candidate for every office at every level of government.
5
@S E Owl
Read the book "Commander in Cheat." He doesn't even respect putting greens, driving over them in his cart!
2
That’s a power play, much like the salute to America. He owns the course, he can do what he wants and will do so even, and especially, if it is taboo or harmful, to show his total control over his environment and lack of concern for what rules others adhere to. His show on the 4th was the same kind of play to his ego, he controls the military, they do his bidding, and he let the world know he could care less about previous Presidents decorum on that or any other day the country may hold sacred. Rules and knowledge made possible through hard work and a dedication to making the world, not just America, a better place for all of us, mean nothing to our Extremely Stable Genius, because he can not understand the benefit to himself, at this moment.
1
This man will say or do anything to get himself elected. He knows he has to appeal to others beyond his base to win in 2020. His words are not what his policies have born out thus far. I just hope the American people are smart enough to recognize that.
13
Trump purposely put a climate denier in charge of the EPA he stifles renewable energy and has instructed his administration to fix reports on the climate or outright hide them from the public eye to make people believe that climate change is a hoax .
9
We have to find a common middle ground on this issue. If we adopt the green new deal we will teleport back 150 yrs. Massive layoffs, massive unemployment, and no tax base to pay for a green utopia. It will become the hunger games crossed with mad max. The minute that happens your favorite communist country will take advantage. If that happens every progressive will become a walking target by everyone left alive.
1
@JOSEPH, you are completely wrong on this. Transformation to a sustainable green economy is the greatest opportunity for our economic security and long term survival. Plant trees. Buy less stuff.
12
Perhaps you don’t realize that green jobs are outperforming fossil fuel jobs at this point and if we want our country to compete in a world economy we need to embrace and encourage innovation, not coddle dinosaur technologies that pollute. The added benefit is we don’t have to watch our living earth collapse before our children have a chance to grow up. Wake up buddy. A stable climate is not negotiable.
10
@JOSEPH What you are posting is an oxymoron. First, if we were to go back 150 years that would mean our environment would be a lot more pristine than it is today. 150 years ago the air was cleaner, the skies bluer, ocean, lakes and rivers cleaner with a lot more sea life. Renewable energies will create jobs, help the environment, help to stabilize or lessen climate change, and hopefully give our children and grandchildren a better future. Joseph, the progressives will be the least of your worries if we continue on the path we are now on.
6
Trump is viewed as the Darth Vader of so much Is this guy for real? Who but a parody of a president would frame himself between coal,and oil industry lobbyists to advocate for himself as an environmental steward?
14
The man will say anything. He is oblivious to his own words.
Whatever is expedient at the moment, is what is truth.
He does not believe he lies, ever.
The world according to Trump or its fake.
The man is sick. Now I, I, I truly believe THAT.
8
Why does this headline give Trump a pass? It should read "trump talks up Environmental Leadership in speech, but does everything he can to roll-back evidence-based environmental policy". There, fixed it.
25
Attempting to undo everything the previous administration did does create damage. Who knew???
4
Here’s an interesting question...where will the Trump Presidential library be?
#WhatAMess
5
@Todd
Even more interesting...what books could possibly be in it?
7
Another stark contrast - this president doesn’t read.
3
@Todd
Bigger question: what will be in it? His Presidential papers? Ha!
3
They do not care, do not.
5
This is straight from the propaganda play book of the former Soviet Union. It is so depressing to see Americans stoop to such Communist tactics of disinformation.
8
Trump is a liar and that needs to be reported by the press as a FACT, not the opinion of an advocate or expert.
The NYT news coverage must remove the qualifiers and equivocations and tell the truth.
14
Trump pretending to care about the environment. Really? What a joke.
5
Another fake speech by the the Fake President, while surrounded and advised by his fake advisers, on a real topic (real damage done to our environment) reported on by real journalists at a real newspaper.
14
The president's policies have always been pragmatic whether withdrawing from an unconstitutional unapproved treaty or doing away with useless and in many cases counterproductive regulations. Unlike his predecessors the president's team takes into account all the relevant facts about global warming and other hoaxes and puts American jobs and prosperity first.
1
So wrong. Trumps policies are in direct conflict with the facts as is your comment.
12
This has to be sarcasm...
6
Ahh, yes, climate change is a hoax. Thousands and thousands of scientists would disagree, but what do they know, right? Trump says it is and he knows more about everything than everybody. I'm all for jobs and prosperity, but not at the expense of my kids - and their kids - having to deal with the coal sludge and the carbon emissions that the current administration couldn't care less about. A great job doesn't mean much when your drinking water and the air you breathe are toxic. Pfft, that's my grandkids' problem, right?
7
Let’s pretend that tomorrow Trump woke up and decided to be an ‘environmental’ president. It wouldn’t matter. We all know that on the day AFTER tomorrow, he would change his mind. In the old days (like 2 years ago) presidents would be blasted for changing their position on a topic. Trump is so wildly inconsistent that even when he’s not lying, his positions are unbelievable, unreliable, and frequently change from one day to the next.
14
Too bad the press actively aides Trump in tearing down our systems of government. Their softball questions and the muted word choices to not adequately communicated the unbridled criminality of this “administration”.
6
How do you know he is lying?
His lips are moving.
11
In the accompanying story, regarding the British ambassador: “In his cables, Mr. Darroch described the White House as a ‘uniquely dysfunctional environment’ and said Mr. Trump was an unpredictable character. ‘There is no filter,’ he wrote. He also said the president faced the prospect of further disclosures that could lead to ‘disgrace and downfall.’”
Please, if you’re listening, Mr Darroch, could you please find those cables?
Is Sir Kim toast in Washington? Maybe not. Just tell Trump that he was the Kim that sent him all those beautiful love letters.
5
It's just a another installment of the Trump doctrine in action: take credit for everything, responsibility for nothing, and lie, lie, lie. There was nothing newsworthy here, beyond documenting the lies and calibrating the levels of shamelessness reached.
Trump not only continues to deny climate change, he acts to make it worse. I would think the press would make the obvious connection between Trump's Republican 'environmentalism' and the weather that dumped a month's worth of rain on Washington in the space of an hour today.
(No one tell Trump there was flooding in the White House basement. Fake News!)
The sad thing is the way Trump supporters will cling to him even as the floodwaters rise around them...
19
Well, he would make a good raft, with all that empty airspace upstairs, and you could use his jacket for a sail. Not totally worthless in an emergency!
Really.
Now I miss Sarah Slanders and hearing her promote this lie of dt's environmental stewardship.
How can we make this true? Also make true that dt respects women, is not a racist, and weighs 160lbs...
4
“voters who “just want to know that he’s being responsible”” — if they wanted to _know_ they wouldn’t take his word for it. They don’t want to _know_, they want to be able to tell themselves — he said he’s being responsible; if he lied, that’s not on us.
4
Where is the LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE measure? It should accompany the reporting on every speech Mr Trump makes.
This one is bright red.
8
Look up The Theoretical Foundations for an Environmental Ethic. Problem assessed & solved. Please, Every Democratic Candidate READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!’n
1
WORD OF THE DAY
trumpery noun
trum·pery | \ ˈtrəm-p(ə-)rē \
Definition of trumpery
1a : worthless nonsense
b : trivial or useless articles : JUNK
a wagon loaded with household trumpery
— Washington Irving
2 archaic : tawdry finery
9
Every word out of this man's mouth is a lie. Every. Single. Word.
21
His entire presidency is a fraud on the American people. Even, and especially, on his supporters.
7
How stupid does Trump think we are? Does he think we don't see what his policies are doing? Does he think we can't read the research for ourselves? Maybe an election will convince him that voters still read newspapers and books.
11
@Kris Abrahamson
Never underestimate the ignorant. Ignorant is not necessarily stupid, but uninformed. The people who watch FOX never know about what Trump does to hurt the environment. They probably never will until the Atlantic Ocean is lapping up their front porch.
In a future America, if we survive, there must be some kind of non-biased reporting, and FOX type disinformation channels should be outlawed. I know this will never happen in my lifetime, but something really should be done. What the MAGA crowd believes is truly scary.
3
It's absolutely astounding, that in the year 2019, the United States of America has a mentally deficient, semi literate President.
The only way from here, is up.
22
In other news, Vladimir Putin and Mohammad Bin Salman promote twin human rights campaigns in their respective countries....
Good times.
9
Just another believe what I say, ignore my lying ears. Trump doesn't even try to not lie these days. He does presume the plebs are idiots, and maybe we are - we will see.
5
Frank Luntz is a paid shill for the Republican party who will virtually say anything to put his party in a good light. All this man does is find unfriendly words for the GOP to use against their opponents. Don't call them Democrats call them Democrat.
This is where the NYT's goes for a Republican response to their lack of action regarding climate change? The guy has literally been hired to misrepresent or lie to the American people and look - he did it again.
13
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!
He is Horrible!
His lies and delusions are polluting everything,
including logic and discourse.
12
This headline needs a soundtrack.
Cue Doobie Brothers: What a Fool Believes. https://youtu.be/dJe1iUuAW4M
4
Oh please "Environmental Leadership" and "Trump" in the same sentence ?
I can't even read the article.
This guy is an absolute train wreck of a man
Does he (and his low information base) not breathe the same air, or drink the same water, or get the same kinds of cancers as others?
I am exhausted from all of this.
He only peddles in hate and ignorance.
Loves all the attention.
Mentally ill.
13
Deeds, not words Mr. Trump! You have a great deal of backpedaling to do before we believe that you have any environmental sensibilities at all. You lied to the voters in the 2016 election. We should believe you now that you "got religion" on the environment. Anyone who believes you is a fool.
6
Whether it's the environment, tariffs, Iran this or that, Trump doesn't know which way he's coming or going from day to day...he reminds me of an old joke. A guy in a car says to his friend, I'm not sure my signal light is working. So the driver asks his friend to get out of the car and check the signal lights as he turns on the signal light...his friend says, "yes, no, yes, no, yes, no..." This is Trump's take on everything it seems.
5
Is there anyone in the world who lies more?
And he is seriously affronted by the comments of the British Ambassador? He who hurls insults at almost everyone?
11
Trump is to the Environment as Poison is to Pristine.
Seriously.
3
This moderate-voting suburban woman isn't fooled.
7
Here’s something fundamental to understand about Trump: he isn’t going to pay attention to ANY reality that doesn’t agree with his biases and that doesn’t make him feel good.
There’s no point in handing him facts. He’ll ignore them or cut them to fit, and scream that you’re a liar. Period.
And he’s got a right-wing media to redo and re-edit the world for him, on top of what boils down to his being crazy. (Crazy is when your reality-testing has collapsed or was never there, folks: anything crazy that you do only happens because you have no means of evaluating your own behavior as it really is.) FOX et al simply do half the work for him.
He really thinks the detention cells on the border are okay. He really truly believes that the JCPOA was a bad deal. He honestly holds himself to be a genius negotiator.
And in the case, he really believes this insane speech.
9
The latest poll today shows a 47% approval rate for DJT!
What is happening to the thought process of these backers?
Is it our education system that has dumbed down our population? We need classes in rational analysis so these people do not simply accept anything this dangerous man says!
This president is toxic to the future of our country.
11
Republicans do not care about the environment. They have proved it over and over again, especially the current polluter in chief. Business first and environment dead last, and only if it is "affordable" and when needed for PR purposes.
7
The headline on this one.... "Trump Speech on the Environment Is Seemingly at Odds With His Policy......."
Seemingly?!!!!! The lead headline on the article covering this speech, on the BBC was much more succinct and direct.
3
All con artists know that to distract people from seeing what you're doing, you have to have a good story.
3
It doesn't matter what he says. What matters is how many people are prepared to accept it at the ballot box.
I am guessing many will.
4
Perhaps after his talk on environmental leadership, President Trump could give a speech on chastity leadership. It's a subject on which he is equally a leader.
6
@Marvant Duhon - DJT brings the right hate to those who want to hear it; which, unfortunately in todays America is a staggering number. Nothing else matters. Nothing is our fault, it's all "their" fault. That and "own the libs". That's enough policy.
What boggles my mind is how Trump and other anonymous White House officials can claim he is "being responsible on environmental issues" yet continues to replace his predecessor's "stringent rule on coal pollution with a new rule that would keep plants open longer and significantly increase the nation’s emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide pollution."
That isn't an example "not having it both ways" but rather an example of Trump misleading his base with misinformation and information used out of context.
And yet Trump and his staff continue to wonder why he will never get "the type of voter who feels passionately about tackling climate change".
The difference Mr. President is that voters like me truly are passionate about climate change, not merely in our words, but in our actions.
Douglas Brinkley really nailed it when he stated “It is an utter farce for the president to talk about America’s environmental leadership, when he has been a champion of the polluters".
The more posturing Trump does regarding his "caring" about the environment, the more insulting he sounds and appears to folks who are out there, every day, trying to make a difference.
4
Trump lives for the day and the US with his supporters have to deal with the resulting history.
3
How can any informed American believe what President Trump says about the environment? His total dishonesty must be constantly pointed out in the media. Otherwise, we just creep along as the more lies he tells, people slowly just accept it as the truth. It does feel surreal, like the book and film "1984" show how corruption of the truth through double speak leads to complete control of the population. The Democrats have a winning issue here. They need to amplify the importance of climate change for our economy, national security, health, mental health and the continuation of life on earth. Quit fighting among yourselves, focus on how Democrats will make climate change a top priority. Compete to show us who has the best possible plan going forward.
7
I've read a number of comments criticizing the NYT giving Trump and his cronies coverage and a podium to influence his base. That is so unfair. NYT's job is to accurately report the news and keep us informed of the actions and comments of the barbarians at and inside the gates of our Republic. They not only do that, they report the stances of the opposers of these barbarians and also publish enlightened analysis by commentators. Without these reports and analyses Trump would get exactly what he wants - a deafening silence while he takes his wreaking ball to the United States and the rest of the world while Fox cheers him on.
8
Another way to look at this is that he has gotten a running start on notching lie number 11000.
2
Hasn’t this already been reported by the British Ambassador?
2
No worries here about follow through with this administration. Trump will be unable to alter the facts on his disdain for the environment. These groups would have to see Trump roll back the majority of his deregulations regarding the environment to prove he cares. Not a chance.
2
"... the official said, there were moderate voters who like the president’s economic policies who 'just want to know that he’s being responsible' on environmental issues ..."
Responsible and not Darth Vader. Right. No irreparable damage to the environment and the future health of all Americans. No decimation of clean air and water regulations. No plans to sell off the national forests and parks. No sales of mining and oil rights to foreign companies, in wildlife refuges, next to national parks, in national forests. The idolatrous personality cult will fall for this. Nobody else will. The Trump base will fall for everything, with the silent normalization or enabling help of Republican liars like Mr. Luntz: "There are 'positives and negatives' to all energy sources." Right. Like windmills cause cancer, and global warming is a Chinese hoax.
6
@Robert
Agreeded!
1
Birtherism got Trump elected, so why not this? This speech is no more absurd than birtherism.
3
Can someone please calculate Mr. Trump’s very own carbon footprint in response to this hideous speech?
2
Before I read the article, I'm going to predict, Trump lied.
2
Frank Luntz is also the guy who told the GOP to use the term "death tax" instead of "estate tax." Just as Orwellian as the big pivot during 2013 when many main-stream media institutions followed the lead of Associated Press to use the term "undocumented immigrant" instead of "illegal alien" or "illegal immigrant." Supposedly in response to activists who state there is no such thing as an illegal human or illegal person. And, of course, the activists are absolutely right. Which is why no one ever used the terminology "illegal human" nor "illegal person." Whereas "illegal immigrant" correctly describes the status of someone who has not followed the host nation's immigration laws.
Frank Luntz can help Trump to posture all he wants but no, Trump is not a leader in fighting climate change. No, it is not the "death tax." And, no, people who cross the border illegally are not "undocumented immigrants."
6
New findings show that methane emissions from among many things such as fracking could result in an undoing of the reductions achieved since the signing of the Paris Climate Accord. Thanks Devon Energy and Scott Pruitt.
2
So the British ambassador said that the emperor had no clothes. Now Britain has to go down on its knees in front of Ivanka and apologize. Yet every non-brainwashed person knows it's true. Trump and his administration are like an absurd comedy sitcom with no humour. There are no jokes, no laughter and the only time we can see a hint of a smile is when one of the support actors cannot hide the embarrassment of being in the show.
Trump is trying to destroy many things, one of them is the EU. Have anyone asked him why? Without a united EU and USA, there is no chance of getting serious in the battle of saving the world. Russia will not lead the way, China will not lead the way. Brasil will not lead the way. Europe cannot lead the way, not alone, not when both the USA and Russia are trying to make the EU collapse.
It is not only climate change, there is so much more going on that we need to handle. We are using much more resources than our planet can support and we are destroying both the ocean and the areas where there is wildlife. The Bees...
Trump speak and act as if people have no memory and each day the world is getting more divided. More and more people go from being hopeful to be either numb or destructive. Our civilization is crumbling. It is not all Trumps fault, but since the USA have had such an important role in maintaining the civilization and expanding "the free world," it falls apart very quickly now when the USA no longer wants it.
What is really going on?
2
When did he get into comedy?
36
“We’re not laughing with you, Donald, we’re laughing at you.”
(It’s better than crying.)
2
Give Trump credit where it's due. His administration did ask Congress for money to clean up the ancient, leaky underground oil tanks at the nation's Revolutionary War airports.
64
And the conman Trump continues on- barking like a cheap sideshow act at a circus.
Unfortunately, at the Trump circus it’s always just another lie
18
@Steven
He knows he can mangle the facts and nobody really cares anymore. This is what we've come to.
7
The only people who will believe this nonsense are Trump's cult members. Trump will never be able to reach "younger voters" or "suburban women". That's perhaps the only good news.
54
When Trump speaks, he is addressing Fox News watchers, who tend to have no other source of information. He says anything he believes they want to hear and he knows that, no matter how outlandish, outrageous, and contradictory his comments are, the Fox News watchers will remain clueless.
Thank you for including the word, "Surreal" in the headline. It beats referring to what he says as "policy." Trump has no policies - only ploys to please his base, keep the spotlight on himself, keep journalists scrambling, and hope the rest of us will be too exhausted to mobilize against him. I look forward to his failure to win reelection.
19
Trump's shrinking base will believe no matter how much he lies.
They want to believe, and they lack the time and ability to analyze the facts themselves.
33
@Will Hogan it’s not time that they lack it’s intel and education. Oh yeah and since his eminence says it’s fake there’s no reason to look further
4
For this alone, Trump should be impeached. These are going to be counted as crimes against humanity in the years ahead.
245
Lies for Hannity, Fox News and any fringe elements of the base he fears may be listening to their kids and/or otherwise developing a conscience about this issue. Gotta make sure he keeps those folks whose homes are now flooding twice a year on board and not coming out of their stupor long enough to ask any questions.
6
What could be more Orwellian than Trump giving a speech on America's environmental stewardship? I think it really means stewardship for the profits of chemical companies and fossil fuels companies. It is about protecting the profits of companies that are big contributors to the Republican Party or at least the "Know Nothing" wing as Trump's primary opponent Bill Weld would call it. A nice cozy relationship between white supremacy and big corporations. That really sounds like something from the 1930s. Anyone who is not afraid is not paying close attention. Maybe TV news should dub in German with English subtitles when Trump speaks so everyone gets it.
6
This is cynicism and contempt on steroids. Trump and his fossil fuel financiers are literally waging a war on the planet. Too bad there's not a war crimes tribunal for this war.
13
Trump may be able to shoot someone on 5th Ave and not lose any of his supporters today. But his descendents won't be going anywhere in public, on 5th Ave, America or anywhere else in the world because their family name will be associated with planetary environmental destruction and human misery when everyone already knew better.
The Trump brand will be about as popular as Ebola.
13
It’s like having a spouse who says they love you more than anyone else and promises that their twenty-third affair was definitely the last one. Pure methane gas.
10
We know this neanderthal and his fossil fuel buddies are clueless about global warming; so it is hilarious to watch any attempt by his spin masters to "say it ain`t. so" in the fact the Trump administration has indeed become the Darth Vader of trying to save the environment from the clutches of the "Dark Side." My only question to those who continue to deny what is biting them in the rear end more and more every year, is what will it take aside from mass extermination of all life on Earth for you to wake up and smell the CO2?!
6
Why, for goodness sakes, would NYT include an infographic with the lead "America’s Skies Have Gotten Clearer, . . ." in this article when the Trump administration can take absolutely no credit for any gains? Yes, there is the link to the 80 environmental regulations that his kleptocracy has weakened (but why does NYT continue to couch these using bureaucratic lingo rather than PROTECTIONS REMOVED?). Please stick to he point, namely that it has taken decades of hard work to make progress on protecting our environment and in a short time Trump's minions have attempted to reverse every gain made. The negative effects to our health and well-being are a certainty, but much of the damage will take time to manifest and unfortunately not be evident until after the 2020 election.
8
Yep, that Times...keeps making the mistake of thinking its readers are smart enough to figure out what the facts mean, and don’t need to be bellowed at, and really have no interest in spouting a particular party line.
Oops.
Well, Trump is a leader on getting grass planted- on his golf courses. Other than that, zip on the plus side of his environmental policies. It’s all about destruction.
4
He is so clueless.
5
Generations of people in the future will look back at us and our president with disgust at how we abused, destroyed and distorted the science of climate change and our planet for our own short term gain. I pray that they forgive us.
3
Trump uses people. He just tells everyone what they want to hear and is too insecure and incompetent to do much else.
2
NYT, please stop giving obvious hacks like Luntz a platform. This sort of reporting is destructive to the dialogue and I will cancel my subscription if it continues to happen (as will others, I’m sure).
2
In terms of lasting political impacts, the compromising by Russian leaders would seem to pale in comparison to either a compromised South and Midwest USA environment or national economy.
Ya know when we won the battle for JFK during the revolutionary war, he sent covefe into the forest to rake the leaves.
with the new smart coal system, we can turn off the cancer causing wind turbines. best leadership ever!
13
Just looking at the picture of Tr.,makes me weep in despair. He has been told by a minder to adopt the
'strong, jutting jaw' look ... they told him "Shut your mouth and look like you are on top of this and you can trust me to sort it out..."
NO WAY. This man is in the pockets of the coal and oil industry, including very much, MBS. He cares nothing for the environment. I despair for all our grand and great grand children. None of us will be here in 2119. Our only hope for them is at the ballot box in 2020. We all need to be working on getting the truth out NOW.
4
"Frank Luntz, a Republican consultant and pollster, said he had presented Republican lawmakers with data in recent weeks that showed that the public — and particularly younger people — wanted to see action to safeguard the environment, but that the issue was seen as owned by Democrats.
“'It is still not a top-five priority' among Republicans, Mr. Luntz said. 'These guys, they really do care, but they don’t know how to get it done in this polarized environment.'”
If the environment is not a top-five priority, these guys really do NOT care. And it is disingenuous to refer to the polarized environment when polarization has been the first, foremost, and most foundational plank of the Republican party for the last 35 years.
Beyond that, the notion of Trump trying to put an environment-friendly spin on what has been the most environmentally disastrous administration since James G. Watt is beyond surreal. It's shameful.
6
@Art Likely It wasn't to far back, when Lutz seemed to have a change of heart. It appeared he couldn't keep supporting the deceit and aftermath of his work. Looks like he's had another change of heart. He works for and supports amoral people.
1
This is psychotic.
12
If people continue to believe his lies, the Toddler will get another term. If they have wised up, he won’t. Simple as that.
4
Why oh why would the NYT put seemingly in the article title? When will you drum up enough journalistic nous to speak the plain unvarnished truth? I am old and have been reading your paper for about 70 years. When I was a kid we got 4 Sunday papers and my Mom would sneak the Enquirer in the middle of the bundle we picked up after Mass in Metuchen NJ when I was a teenager. We teased her about that all her life and also that among all of us, she voted for Goldwater!
What we smart, "elite" coasters are suffering now has no precedent and we beg you, whom we have respected and relied on for our lives, to stand up and be counted. Tell it like it is. Please. Save the nuance for better times.
9
"When asked whether Mr. Trump still believed that
global warming was a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese
and whether windmills cause cancer, as the president has said, Mr. Wheeler said that there were “positives and negatives”
to all energy sources, and that administration officials were
paying attention to this."
telling enough.
they're paying attention.
quite reassuring, isn't it?
since our leaders worldwide are too slow to ENACT
the laws it takes to prevent the globe from overheating,
it's up to us to ACT.
- reduce car trips from A to B.
- reduce flights from C to D.
- strike sea cruises off our holiday lists.
- eat much less meat.
- turn down heaters and air conditioners.
- downsize or overcome the need for fridges & freezers.
- reduce time spent online
- ...
- ...
- ...
2
That man is a pathological liar and pushes his personal reality as truth. There is nothing he can say or do on any topic that would make me vote for him. Vote Democrat all the way, no matter who it is and rid our nation of this cancer or we are done as a democracy.
5
It's absolutely amazing how many lies Trump can squeeze into one paragraph!!!!
2
Is the fog of memory confusing me, but do I hear something Stalinesque or Khruschevian in this latest batch of lies? He's getting them out, and then he'll repeat them. His lackies will repeat, in call and response. And some people will actually believe it. But I'm not betting that a majority of American voters will do so. There is just too much at stake.
1
Who writes these headlines? SEEMINGLY??? Just stick with the facts: his speech IS at odds with his policies.
4
Once again, Trump and his cronies' Orwellian double-speak is astonishing, yet predictable, even more since his no-nothing cult will surely believe him when he dares to tout his "environmental leadership." What a joke, America.
Oh, and for our latest "find-the-dictator" game, please note the familiar jut-jawed macho scowl that only Mussolini could love.
2
His base will buy it though even as they have new coal plants built in their backyards.
More evidence for the 25th Amendment.
Want to bet Trump -knows- this entire speech is not true, and is saying it anyway to create his own "alternative facts" reality..? Count the entire speech towards more Trump lies.
And the die-hard Trumpistas will believe it ("Trump wouldn't lie to us.") Fox "News" will promote this as gospel truth, instead of demonstrable falsehoods... and the "base" will line up to march over the cliff.
Of course Trump will ask for taxpayer help building levees to protect his property from sea level rise, cause by "who knows what?" in a few years...
The core principle being demonstrated here, beyond the ever-present Republican hypocrisy, is that once again Trump and Republicans will 'take the profits now, and let someone else pay for it later...'
A modern presentation of the Big Lie coda, first promoted by another famous personality, ~85 years ago. Make it Big, repeat constantly, and loudly, and it becomes the 'truth' for many.
1
President Trump subscribes to the view that if you say often enough and accuse those who apples you then a percentage of the voters will believe it. This is a fact of politics everywhere but certainly in America. I ran into a couple in Belize from Minnesota that believes Trump has really improved foreign relationships with allies. End of that discussion for me. Right now I bet 20% of Americans will believe him by tomorrow morning. Nothing surreal about it. What’s surreal is the complacency of America. I hope that USA citizens come together with a more centerist compromising administration that can deal with science. The Pentagon, some States and federal agencies plan around global warming. The rich are buying the high ground in Florida while the Senators watch millions of barrels of oil spill out into the gulf every year. What’s up!
First it was a Chinese hoax which Trump did not believe in; then it was coal forever and the return of fossil fuel burning heavy industry and now... how can you believe anything he says on this subject. My guess is that the reason for this speech is that every Democratic candidate has a plan and foresees massive expenditures on what they see as the most important issue facing the globe. I always try to foresee the Presidential debates when Democrat x begins d detailed discussion on climate change and global warming and Trump stands there mute. Mute represents his position on these subjects.
5
There's an election coming up.
6
Trump's followers are A-OK with his environmental "policy" because most are 65+. By the time the climate becomes unbearable, they figure they will be gone, so why should they care. Like Trump, they don't think beyond their own self-interest.
8
"Surreal" is the operative word for this administration. And it will very possibly be the end of us.
5
Just say he's lying.
16
How many lies does this collection add to the breathtaking tally? As of June 10, he'd told 10,796 lies ... it's probably up to nearly 12,000 by now ...
If only a wolf would attack the White House ...
4
"...his re-election campaign who have discovered that his environmental record is a definite turnoff for two key demographics..."
So rather than actually do something positive about it, he chose to do what he always does, lie. And who apart from his diehard base is going to believe a word of it?
11
@Canadian Roy, his base knows he lies. We all know he lies. But few politicians tell the truth and Trump is simply 100% transparent with his dysfunctions.
I am happy to hear about Trump's speech on "Environmental Leadership." I am looking forward to his next one on "Loving the Neighbor as Thyself."
7
Gaslighting. That’s all we get from this guy.
10
This is simply Trump and his advisors telling everyone what they think about the gullibility of the US electorate. They are not entirely wrong about that either. The GOP have often said that they will protect people with preexisting conditions. They do not say what they will protect them from. The way it is said could mean anything. The may simply want to protect people with preexisting conditions from terrorists. Anyway, even reporters often take this to mean that they promise to protect people with preexisting conditions from being exclude from health insurance, which it certainly does not. It is a simple word ploy that they never get called on, and which many people appear to fall for. So, Trump will protect the environment... from those who would prevent it's exploitation. Trump will protect the environment... from the wild animals that prevent it's exploitation.
US citizens routinely fall for very simple tricks. We aren't where we are with endless wars, the worst healthcare, running from environmental protection and the worst wealth inequality in ages because the US citizens can't be duped.
4
For a person closing in on 11000 lies, a simple speech on his environmental accomplishments should be a piece of cake.
4
LOL. This entire time period "smacks of the surreal". Why in the world is anyone expecting anything different at this point?
2
"These guys, they really do care, but they don't know how to get it done in this polarized environment." If anyone believes that line, I have oceanfront property in Nevada for sale. These "guys" might start by reading, listening to their own scientists as opposed to silencing them. Maybe they can take a walk along on Miami Beach at high tide. Or, they can look at a map of ice cover at the poles today compared to ten years ago.
The truth is that they don't want to admit that climate change is being driven by man-made actions. If they admit that, then there is a natural expectation that government can do something about it. And that, in turn, means more government...which Trump's party wants no part of.
5
No one who cares about clean air, water and food would be fooled by this liar.
7
I give Trump credit. I have never worked for a Democratic candidate before the last election. I will be working to put a second Democrat in the Senate from Arizona. I finally put solar panels on my house this past April. My next car will be electric.
I looked into volunteering for Mayor Pete who I think is head and shoulders better than the field. That won't stop me from working for whoever the Democratic nominee is.
We don't have to take this. We can do things today to reduce our footprint. We can work to elect officials who will change our government policies.
Outrage needs to be turned to action.
27
@HL, dunno but in California they need to reduce the monthly cost of solar panels, damage to the roof, electric cars need to go further on a charge, Tesla’s need to stop taking up charging parking spaces, Tesla’s need to go further than 250 miles on a charge, and other electrical cars need to be larger and more comfortable. There I said it. Fed up in NCalifornia.
@Duomo Calmo-Trump imposed a 30% tariff on foreign made panels. We have to get the carbon President out of the White House first.
We definitely need a plan to create a large infrastructure of high speed charging stations.
I'm hopeful Hydrogen will replace electric at some point. We need the cars and the infrastructure to make it happen.
In the meantime if you have 2 cars you can do almost all of your local driving with an electric vehicle.
2
A mentality or approach characterized by inconsistent or contradictory elements.
Schizophrenia
4
@Is_the_audit_over_yet, say we all. Today everyone is a walking contradiction and exhibits inconsistent behaviors. Yep I know, speak for myself.
It is, indeed, an utter farce whenver Trump opens his mouth.
5
How do you know a Republican is lying about environmental protection? Their lips are moving.
16
@Matt, wonder how many people are driving Chevy Suburbans, Ford trucks, Chevy Tahoe’s, Chevy trucks (buying American of course) and other large vehicles?
This is rather like the foxes, already in the hen house, telling us how safe they are and how they are making plans..... Ya sure.
7
“But, the official said, there were moderate voters who like the president’s economic policies who ‘just want to know that he’s being responsible’ on environmental issues. And that is who the speech will be aimed at convincing.”
Sad to say, there really are people that ignorant and/or stupid who may be so convinced. I mean, millions have been convinced that Kanye West has talent or that Taco Bell is food.
7
Look at the facial expression in the photo accompanying this article. Such arrogance...
9
All you need to know:
"The incongruous message of environmental preservation is so starkly at odds with Mr. Trump’s own record, experts say, that the moment already smacks of the surreal.
“It is an utter farce for the president to talk about America’s environmental leadership, when he has been a champion of the polluters,” Mr. Brinkley said."
5
Don't you guys at the Times get tired of using euphemisms like "smacks of the surreal" when this guy Trump is obviously just a loony, rich, spoiled nut-job, enabled by cringing sycophants, with absolutely no morals?
I know "opposition" is part of the phrase "Op Ed'", but it really must be hard.
9
@Jack Lemay
I thought it was "opinion".
4
@independent We're both kind of right- From Wikipedia- "An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece typically published by a newspaper or magazine which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board."
It's traditionally been used, in what used to be called newspapers, to refer to a page, which is printed directly next to, or "opposite" of the "editorial page". So, the editors of a publication like e.g. the Times or the Washington Post can feature the opinions of other, outside writers, whom the editorial board doesn't agree with, and in practical terms it's been used so writers like Bret Stephens or George Will can present an opposing opinion to the editorial board. It's an old and honorable feature.
1
Aside from being “surreal,” Mr. Trump has handed Democrats a big gift by putting the environment, i.e. climate change, on the election table as a central issue, which his campaign acknowledges is a weak point with key voter demographics. Elected Democrats, presidential hopefuls and the fact-based community should respond quickly and robustly, not just with the usual talking heads grousing in the day’s news cycle — something I think Mr. Trump expects before moving on to the next absurdity — but with a prolonged offensive casting him as a denier, using clips from today and previously to show his hypocrisy, and laying out the destructive harm he has enthusiastically embraced.
Elections can be a vehicle for education. This is such a moment, with stakes that could not be higher. The clock is ticking. Solutions are there. Mr. Trump, taking bad advice from consultants and believing in his ability to fool people, has ventured into territory he would have been wiser to avoid. Take him apart.
5
The entire world is laughing, but also crying, at this monstrous absurdity.
11
Since Trump' normal mode is to state emphatically the opposite of the truth, this speech should come as no surprise.
9
A liar never stops lying.
13
I cant decide which is more asinine, Trump claiming he's a any sort of environmentalist or the consultants who actually thought they could move the needle on this subject with anyone not already a die hard supporter. This particular move showcases perfectly the contempt the man and his campaign have for Americans. I guess we now know that Trump and his cronies truly do believe that the majority of Americans are gullible and really, really stupid. And while they're right about his base, they only represent about 25% of the populace. 25% also happens to also be the bottom quarter of the distribution on the IQ bell curve...
7
He'll say anything to get his way, and when he doesn't know what his way is, he has a gaggle of cronies to tell him what to say. This "speech" is a prime example. Keep working to defeat him in 2020. It's our only way out from the horrific mess this nincompoop is perpetrating on this country.
4
Pure doublespeak. We've reached war is peace. Coal is clean.
14
@James, "war is peace" unfortunately happened during LBJ's administration and has continued in mostly bipartisan fashion since then. Including President Obama betraying the millions upon millions of us who voted for him twice (given the awful other alternatives) by barely departing from Bush-Cheney foreign policy. In spite of all the campaign rhetoric and the vastly premature receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize, of all things, Obama then continued the Bush-Cheney wars his entire 8 years, ending his presidency with shameful distinction of longest wartime president in US history. Killed Bin Laden in his first term and then continued Afghanistan ad nauseam. Some troop variations in Iraq and then took page from Bush-Cheney playbook by hiring thousands upon thousands of private military contractors to try & hide continued involvement. And then expanded the neo-con, intervention-first regime change to Libya, Syria, Ukraine, etc. And zero accountability when his CIA Director, John Brennan, brazenly lied about arguably illegal CIA domestic counter-op versus US Senate Intelligence Oversight Committee & Investigation into Torture.
"War is peace" has defined America since before I was born as a member of Generation X.
2
Trump "contradicts" himself on a daily basis!
And says/tweets things that are patently at odds with hos own policies!
And lies on a daily basis!
WHY is this headline news day after day? It's old news rehashed over and over again.
How about an update on all the criminal investigations into Trump and his gang instead? Or some actual reporting --GASP!!! -- on actual policies that are doing so such damage?
2
The gaslighting continues unabated, and thousands swallow it whole. Unbelievable.
16
Does trump truly understand what "environment" refers to? Or does he assume it refers to whether the thermostat in the Oval Office needs adjusting?
4
Just another beautiful example to illustrate how dangerous this illegitimate President is for the entire planet.
And we have a Majority Democratic Congress who are not holding impeachment inquiries.
The mind is no longer boggled. It is scrambled beyond recognition!
Where is Pelosi to shut this garbage down?
4
Trump's surreal policies towards conserving the environment, and preventing a runaway climate warming, is pure hypocrisy (remember last month, when he was telling his base he supported coverage of 'pre-existing medical conditions'...when his policy has always been to destroy Obamacare?).
3
"Seemingly" ?
NOT my president
3
The Emperor has no clothes!
4
So, like everything else that Trump doesn't understand, the issue of climate change is one he will address in such a way that he will tell the world exactly what's going on, according to him!
Though I am certain Trump's never read, and has no use for, any Shakespeare, he has unwittingly nabbed the Hamlet/Rosenkrantz argument: "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." And thus, flanked by his Coal Man and his Oil Man, Trump will tell us that the world is, indeed, cleaner, safer, more pure, and certainly sweeter-smelling since he has taken office.
2
"It started with consultants on his re-election campaign who have discovered that his environmental record is a definite turnoff for two key demographics — millennials and suburban women, according to two people familiar with the plans."
Trump's environmental record should be a turnoff for anyone who wants clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and anyone who wants to protect the planet for future generations.
5
Trump lies and his followers slap their flippers together and bark for more fish.
9
Yes, Big Brother Trump is right there when it comes to the environment and his slogan "Coal is Healthy" and "Dirty Air is China's major Export" and, of course, his all-time best "Climate Change Denial is Our Best Coping Strategy."
1
“These guys, they really do care, but they don’t know how to get it done in this polarized environment.”
Pure farce. The amoral nature of Republicans astonishes me.
4
...milk came out my nose!
5
ALL politicians talk one way and do an other.
Take Schumer, who talks about the need to tax the rich more
From the NY Times
"June was a busy month for Senator Charles E. Schumer. ....he raised more than $1 million from the booming private equity and hedge fund industries for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, of which he is chairman.
But there is another way Mr. Schumer has been busy with hedge fund and private equity managers, an important part of his constituency in New York. He has been reassuring them that he will resist an effort led by members of his own party to single out the industry with a plan that would more than double the taxes on the enormous profits reaped by its executives."
What upset Mr. Schumer ? A plan to tax the income of the richest of the rich on Wall Street, hedge funs manager, at the rate you and I pay to the Federal government. Rather than 23.8%, using the infamous "carried interest" loop hole,
We are talking about people that can afford to buy $ 238 million penthouse apartments in NYC, hardly used, or people like Mr Epstein, who used $s to shut down the first investigation into his repugnant sex trafficking
Mr. Schumer succeeded in derailing the legislation ( passed, by then Republican (!!) controlled house,, and has managed to this day their fair and equitable taxation of hedge fund managers
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/washington/30schumer.html
Trump does it more than others, but he is not alone
3
He’s also a friend of Facebook. No wonder that this purveyor of propaganda and pet pictures, this insidious democracy dominator, was not broken up the instant it bought up its competition, Instagram and What’s App.
1
When those who purportedly care about our environment, also support illegal immigration, Trump doesn't look any more ludicrous, as this news article makes it out to be.
When you an overpopulation of 10-20 million because of illegals, do you understand what an insidious environmental problem that creates?
Deport every single illegal and then we can talk about environment. Till then there is no sense wasting our time.
This is coming from someone who reveres nature but is vexed by liberal hypocrisy.
1
@Bhaskar
there is no "liberal hypocrisy" --we care about the environment more than we care about profits, which is what trump and your republican cohort do.
also, nobody "supports illegal immigration", but we understand that it is a complex, multi-faceted human problem, which doesn't have simple, inhumane solutions such as "deport every single one".
we also care about other fellow human beings, whether they are illegal or not --we put ourselves in other people's places, as opposed to self-righteously judging them from our position of lucky comfort.
finally, i'd like to know exactly what environmental problem are the "10-20 million of illegals" causing? are they breathing more than legal residents do and so, in your opinion, warming the atmosphere above the US?
3
@guillermo
"complex, multi-faceted human problem?"
No it isn't.
It is modern day slavery, it's that simple.
What else would you call a trade that brings in human beings to do the job that Americans won't do?
3
@Bhaskar
1. Nobody “supports” illegal immigration. The discussion and issues surround what to do about the current and future status of immigrants and immigration. Democrats tend to be more humanitarian in discussions on how to handle illegal immigrants currently in the country and those people who are currently in custody at border facilities.
2. On what factual basis are you claiming the ISA is “over-crowded” by 10-20 million?
2
Apparently, "stupid is as stupid does" no longer applies to only Forrest Gump.
3
The American Dream is the world's environmental nightmare. It is unsustainable. But if the leader of the nation isn't willing to mandate changes to address climate change, it doesn't stop states, local, and private citizens and businesses from changing their consumption and polluting behaviours.
We have seen in the absence of leadership from the White House a groundswell of leadership from elsewhere and we need to continue. The US currently is over 6000 metric tons of CO2 (China who we outsourced our pollution to for products we consume is sitting at double).
Both need to drop down to a third to even reach the 1.5 degree rise by 2030. Both lack the political will or political capital to achieve this goal.
1
Once again .... is it down the rabbit hole, or into the Land of Oz?
Ignore the **actions** of the President, of his Administration, and take his word instead. He is a great environmentalist. Probably the greatest ever; definitely better than Obama. He has done more for the environment than anyone else, ever.
And how do we all know this? Because he says so!!
Please millennial voters, suburban women and others who care to see crops prosper and people breathe; who want to see the glaciers remain and the oceans not drown out our cities; who want our children and grandchildren to thrive...
Please look at **actions.** Ignore the bombast.
1
Hmm. Trying to claim responsibility for reducing CO2?
After our CO2 emissions had declined three consecutive years in a row, the emissions in 2018, his first full year in office, our CO2 emissions increased 2.6%
That's from BP's 2019 statistical review of energy.
https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/statistical-review-of-world-energy.html
4
To give an idea of how trying to revive coal is like tilting at windmills, the Kentucky Coal Museum switched to solar power 2 years ago. Trump and his cronies are living in the past.
5
Frank Luntz is a liar
If Republicans were concerned about climate they wouldn’t support exiting from the Paris Climate Accord and support the 80 different environmental regulations that allow coronations to pollute our air, water and soil with fewer and fewer restrictions and inspections
The Trump administration has purposely selected cabinet leaders who have agreed to aggressively destroy and neglect their agencies and they have completed the job faster than anyone ever thought possible.
4
If he's attempting to paint himself as enviro-friendly, he's about two years and many pollution-killed animals too late.
Trump knows the media will repeat his lies about environmental policy. Like The New York Times is doing right now. And some portion of the population will read it. And some portion of the population will believe it. For decades, Trump knows the power of media to repeat a message to millions. A famous quote from an interview in the mid-1980s: "Mr. Trump, how many bedrooms does your new penthouse have?" "However many they will print."
4
Actions speak louder than words and this guy's history with climate science is abysmal. Making nicey nice with the CEO of Dow Chemical in the Oval to overturning clean air initiatives at the EPA, who in their right mind would believe anything he has to say about climate change?
2
Me Luntz, you are wrong. “They” really don’t care. Actions speak louder than words.
1
So who from the Democratic party is going to get up and refute this tomorrow?
I hope it's someone Nancy likes....
3
My guess. They are recorded to be used in PAC add touting Trump as a environmentalist. Talking point for Koch boys adds
1
A speech to try provide an excuse for enabling environmental and climate destruction.
3
Trump says man made global warming is a hoax. I’m at a loss to understand why this headline includes the word “seemingly.”
2
Saying trump lies is like saying Michael Phelps swims. But what really amazes me is the people who still support him. I have coworkers that think Trump is the best President ever. These are blue collar Union workers mind you not corporate tycoons. To me they are just weak minded and gullible. Sheepeople on Steroids.
9
Clean air? Let's not forget the horrific forest fires out West. In Seattle, we couldn't even go outside in August the air was so bad.
3
Give him just a little more rope, please.
6
Trump has most definitely led the way....in the global destruction of the environment.
There will be many reasons why historians will rank his presidency dead last.
Not the least--and maybe near the top--will be his aggressive destruction of the environment.
True to form, he not only sought to UNDO everything Obama did, but to OUTDO Obama and every previous administration in afflicting lasting harm on the earth.
That is America's Leadership under Trump and Trumpism: if it is good for the environment it is bad policy, if it is bad for the environment it is good policy.
On that we have most certainly led the way these past two years.
To our national shame.
723
@Paul McGlasson Isn't this farce part of the Big Lie approach to politicking that got started with Ronald Reagan, and has reached its nadir in the fantasyland of Trump?
36
@Timty
You're off by a few decades. RR played "follow the leader".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie
6
@Paul McGlasson You're too optimistic. If Trump's rampage against the environment is allowed to continue, there won't be any future historians to rank his presidency.
39
The problem is the Democrats have also abandoned the environment in several critical ways. They have so focused on global warming that they have virtually abandoned all other environmental priorities, including runaway population growth; and support for zoning, including for open space and natural resources protection. In Vermont, Democrats gave fast-track status to renewables, regardless of siting & negative environmental impact. Their policies of immigration maximalism amount to continued turbo-charged population growth in US, even as many parts of the United States face water shortages, be it the desert Southwest; California; or a depleted Oglalla Aquifer under the Mid-West. To say nothing of the impact from continued sprawl and destruction of natural resources from the real estate development needed to house the record levels of legal immigration (and continued illegal immigration).
The Democrats do deserve credit for better positions regarding supporting family planning globally and domestically. Trump's proposed immigration reforms such as the "RAISE" Act, based on President Clinton's Bipartisan Commission on Immigration Reform (led by African-American, Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Jordan) would be even more credible if paired with global family planning funds. And it would help if Catholic Church, Mormon Church & other institutions with international influence would equally talk about the environmental crisis from runaway population growth.
1
Trump make statement which “smacks of surreal”.
Which would make this....Monday.
9
Between the Redcoats are in a holding pattern over La Guardia and this malarkey, ya gotta admit this is the funniest, stupidest presidency ever....as someone said, ‘him with his foot in his mouth....’
4
Oh thank goodness. Here's a lie the base can embrace and sleep better at night, ignoring they are in bed with a cabal that is plotting their very destruction, all in the name of short term profit, and holding onto power.
6
So...this travesty is just like everything else about his presidency? Got it.
2
"Frank Luntz said he had presented Republican lawmakers with data in recent weeks that showed that the public wanted to see action to safeguard the environment, but that the issue was seen as owned by Democrats."
So, rule no. 1, make sure as few Democrats are legally allowed to vote as possible.
6
Ummm, well... you see.... He's Lying. He does that.
3
"Seemingly" at odds with his record, according to the headline on the front page.
Times bending over backwards, as usual, to appear "neutral" or "objective," always at the expense of the plain truth.
6
What a shameless, transparent attempt at lying to the American electorate.
5
The majority of Americans are sick to death what this criminal spews. They want him removed from office.
Focus Americans, focus on voting and getting everyone you know to vote next year.
6
You are what you do not what you say
(Plus he doesn’t know what he’s saying)
Usual trump double negatine
3
Trump is an enviormentalist, and his wife has a anti bullying campaign.
Unicorns are real.
10
We don't even know half of their environmental wrong doing which is exactly their aim. Less regulation, less monitoring, pushing more authority to the states with less oversight of the states.
Your rights to know are being seriously trammeled upon in the Republican and Trump war on earth.
No way Trump gets a pass on destroying the earth. Democrats, bring down the hammer!
2
As long as the Dems refuse to talk about climate change and the environment and what Trump has done, he doesn't even have to lie much to have it both ways with much of the voter population. "He'll give those folks a little reason to feel better about themselves while voting for him - as long as they don't look at it too closely. That's what they want.
“These guys, they really do care, but they don’t know how to get it done in this polarized environment.”
These guys really do care about what? Making ever more money at the expense of the health of other people's children? Right. Frank Luntz is full of hot and polluted air--one cannot believe a word he says.
4
So George Orwell was off by 35 years.
8
"there were moderate voters who like the president’s economic policies who “just want to know that he’s being responsible” on environmental issues. And that is who the speech will be aimed at convincing."
In other words: we're never going to convince informed voters, but there is still a demographic of under-informed voters we have identified who make it worth going through the charade of lying about this.
10
@Anthony Flack - I was really trying to figure what that paragraph really meant. You have explained it well.
2
The sad part is, educated people everywhere see this for what it is - election posturing - and yet his supporters will lap this up.
5
Trump is afraid, which is why he is appearing to tone down his harshness. He's afraid of losing re-election and having to face a variety of legal prosecutions. That's why his July 4th address was more Casper Milquetoast than raging tyrant. Trump is very afraid, and you can almost smell it. Maybe it's time to start speculating to where he will self-exile when his term is over.
6
Re: But, the official said, there were moderate voters who like the president’s economic policies who “just want to know that he’s being responsible” on environmental issues. And that is who the speech will be aimed at convincing.
There are "moderates" and then there are the willfully ignorant who just look for such reassurance, never hesitating
to take him on his word, apparently, who have no clue what
has happened since 2017, and surely never will since they
continue to get information solely from disinformation servers.
Such "moderates" (so to speak) are as much of the problem as trump himself is since they are part of the silent indifferent and are content to remain so. They're the ones who will
vote for trumpican enablers who are content to be
wishy washy about the looming environmental catastrophe
since their constiituents are perfectly ok with that.
The trade offs they accept are the usual ones. Economic vs
environmental. So they must all be in the carbon energy business...Pay attention to the former and detach
from the latter as long as there is a fig leaf of soothing
propaganda to exhibit "concern" and, giggle giggle,
gag gag, "progress".
The only way to change this is for everyone else to decide not only to vote but to make sure everyone they know does too.
1
It gets better every day!
1
Just like a politician to not answer questions about Trump saying stuff like "Windmills cause cancer" and "Climate change is a hoax made up by the Chinese".
2
Is Trump literate? Did he read Orwell? Seems like it everyday.
“War is peace / freedom is slavery [and] ignorance is strength.” G. Orwell
My derivation:
Coal is clean / Climate change is a Chinese plot / ignorance is strength.
3
Don Trump should stick to genius stuff like his grasp on history and the Revolution and whatnot.
4
"Not a top five priority".
Yep, got it.
Down is up and up is down according to our President.
2
Trump still believes China made up global warming and that raking CA forests would stop wildfires. His EPA is run by a coal lobbyist. He lies that US air and water are the”cleanest” in the world (we are 27th ). It all would be amusing if my grandchildren weren’t threatened by a crisis that has plenty of viable solutions.
496
@Hank Cierski: The climate has not yet equilibrated with greenhouse gases already emitted.
2
@Hank Cierski "Trump still believes China made up global warming and that raking CA forests would stop wildfires."
Why do you believe that is what Trump believes? Truth is, although he probably actually knows better, it really doesn't matter to his strategy of the Big Lie what he personally knows or believes.
Here's the thing, folks: we have to stop thinking of Trump as an ignorant buffoon who is merely woefully narcissistic and greedy. Willfully promoting lies that can get people, maybe millions of people, killed, is evil. Yeah, I used the "E" word.
Willfully causing the abuse of thousands of children, not to mention their parents and others just looking for a safer, better life, is evil. Selling out America to Russia, Saudi America, and whoever else will line his pockets or support is efforts to turn the US into an authoritarian state, is evil. Infesting the federal administration with some of the most corrupt officials this country has ever seen, in astounding numbers, is evil.
Successful evil isn't some possessed person floating in the air with their head turned 180 degrees. Hitler was successful evil until the world woke up. Stalin was successful evil. Even ancient Rome succumbed. Evil is successful when average folks become so enamored with their own "needs" that they allow others to be denied theirs, and allow themselves to be convinced this is good. Once one lets Big Lies flourish, its easy to start believing them, to salve one's own conscience.
7
How many different ways can Trump lie to us?
Every action he has taken since becoming president has hurt American leadership on the environment. He pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord, the far reaching, hard fought, well thought out deal brokered by President Obama and agreed to by nearly every nation on earth. He has eliminated increased mileage standards for cars, eliminated requirements for the oldest most polluting coal plants, he has scrubbed the words "climate change" from the EPA; he has repeatedly denied that the earth is warming and that the cause is human activity.
Please remember that Donald Trump was weaned on the unscrupulous real estate business of New York City, where he once listed a building across the street form the UN as being twenty floors higher than it really is. This man lies so much that he seems to actually believe his lies. I just hope those decent folks across America who are rightfully concerned about the effects that climate change will have on all of us, including our children and grandchildren, will see through this latest lie from Trump.
Trump may be a lot of things, but he is NOT the president that is causing our nation to be a "leader" on the environment.
425
@Paul He's not lying to us. He just knows that if he can repeat his lies to his followers, and be supported by his political lackeys, he may be able to squeeze out an electoral victory. That should keep him out of jail, but, of course, it won't do anything to preserve our environment.
28
@Paul
The Times reported that Trump initiated the practice of counting extra floors in his tall buildings. He was one of the lowest (pardon the pun) of the unscrupulous real-estate deelopers.
12
@Paul "Trump may be a lot of things, but he is NOT the president that is causing our nation to be a "leader" on the environment."
I dare to proffer that Trump is NOT the president in any way... only a man who plays one on TV.
27
The only thing that matters to Trump is gluing a veneer of environmental responsibility over the relentless pumping of carbon into the atmosphere. But Trump and Republican leaders don't really care: short term gain is their only objective, even if our grandchildren have to pay for their greed by living in a world with hellish climate extremes.
But the Republican marketing pros have found that enough of their voters care about this that they have prevailed on Trump to pay lip service to the cause of environmental stewardship. No one outside the 40% of Trump's true believers really believes that Trump cares one whit about the environment.
When the campaign is in full swing, Trump and his surrogates will trumpet their terrific environmental record, using the talking points tested in today's speech.
200
@Lew Not even much of a veneer - more like the wood-grain printed paneling in the back of the Elks Club last remodeled in 1984, bearing all the dings and dents of the pool cues and beer bottles of numberless Saturday nights.
10
@Lew: I agree that Trump's campaign will try to turn Trump's speech on the environment into talking points for his campaign but I do not believe that they will be able to do so effectively. Millennials and suburban women are significant demographics, but the portions of those groups who will actually believe that Trump is being environmentally responsible are likely to be exceedingly small. Many are likely to feel insulted by the attempt. The Trump campaign is grasping as straws here. The more they try to push Trump's environmental record the worse Trump may look.
5
President Trump is a champion of the coal industry, openly mocks climate change concerns, and is poised to roll back Obama-era restrictions on tailpipe emissions, rendering America anything but a leader on environmental issues. He doesn't care one bit about this because he'll be long gone when the worst is upon us. But as usual, truth has no place in his communications.
305
Surrounded by coal lobbyists and fracking champions makes a pitch as proponent of environmentalism and control of climate change pollutants. This man will say anything to win an election and promoting himself this way in the face of his avalanche of actions against the environment is beyond hypocritical. These days it is just so hard to find words that can express my disgust.
388
@just Robert I could not possibly agree with you more.
22
Forget about Trump’s speech, the reduction in CO2 emissions is an accident of market economics. Shale gas is cheaper than coal. But only nuclear power will save us.
The public perception of nuclear power being dangerous is not founded in fact. Despite a few accidents with older designs, deaths per megawatt-hour from all causes is still the lowest of any electricity generation method. Coal powered generation is one of the highest due to mining fatalities. Coal burning releases radioactivity as well, due to the evaporation of radioactive minerals in the coal, and natural gas contains radon, which is released into the air when the gas is burned.
In the developed world most of the hydro-power opportunities have already been exploited. Solar and wind power is useful but it cannot satisfy all the demand. Not everywhere is sun-struck or wind-blown. We need a major expansion of nuclear power if we are to save ourselves from extinction. Moreover, we need standardised designs that can be mass produced like the Liberty Ships of WW2. The industrial effort needs to start immediately.
1
@Pelasgus nuclear certainty has promised to alleviate our energy deficiencies but until we can harness the fusion and with it the extreme heat associated with that type of power generation solar wind and hydro backed up by natural gas plants that can cycle and follow the natural ebb and flow of those sources we are kinda stuck. There are a bunch of folks trying to get us there but it’s not going to happen overnight. Meanwhile the improvement of combined cycle power plants efficiency is increasing even as I write this. I’m not in the power world anymore but my friends and former coworkers work hard daily to make all of our lives better and have less polluting plants a normal way for us to be.
When I was in high school 45 years ago, I took an elective called Earth Science. In that class, I was first exposed to the science behind greenhouse gases. I also took classes at the collegiate level including Climatology 101. When somebody chooses to learn about our planets' different climates as I have and the different systems that control them, the basic mechanics of global warming are very clear. The rate of warming over the past 150 years is not a naturally occurring phenomena. As common knowledge 150 years from now, our children's children's children will understand all too well.
11
@RI would not bet on your children"s children being around. The loss of Arctic ice, probably in the next 10 years, will lead to many problems, some unforeseen. Clearly a planet of 8 billion inhabitants is not tenable.
3
@malencid, just imagine if 3 or 4 decades ago the United States and United Nations had led with a serious effort to stabilize and reverse population growth (voluntarily, via better access to family planning, instead of via the bipartisan, neo-con, intervention first wars). Instead, both parties stick their heads in the sand and pretend massive population growth can go on forever. I don't believe I have ever heard a prominent Democrat talk about this issue. It seems that as far as today's Democratic Party goes, the only environmental issue is global warming. As if it is completely removed from population growth. As John Bongaarts, a demographer with the Population Council said in NY Times several years ago: "The global warming community is staying away from anything having to do with population and that's frustrating." Ya think?
1
The whole Trump administration "smacks of the surreal." You expected something different?
26
This (cynical, hateful) publicity ploy on the part of President Trump will (sadly) be the emblematic moment of the 21st century -- as the human population collapses (and potentially goes extinct) directly due to the global warming policies of the American state.
20
Don't know which is more distressing - Trump and his blatant falsehoods, or the significant percentage of voters who are inattentive, naive, self-serving or flat-out oblivious enough to view him and what he's dishing out as acceptable and believable.
58
I think it is the voters.
You will Always have con-men but the fact so many people “still” support him is absolutely crazy.
4
trump destroys, he does not improve. trump lies, he does not know truth. trump is allergic to facts, compassion, intelligence. trump sees his base, but is blind to the majority. Money is his love otherwise he only knows indifference.
19
China produces 50% of the world's CO2 emissions, mostly by burning coal in electric generating plants. The U.S. produces 15% of the world's CO2 emissions. If we were to sell China natural gas, which we have in vast quantities, to replace their coal, we could reduce total worldwide CO2 emissions by 25%, reversing the buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere. President Trump may very well make that deal, which should earn him a Nobel Prize (which he would put next to his golfing trophies). We should construct Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) shipping terminals off the coast of California and start shipping LNG to China ASAP. The waters off of Santa Barbara County would be a perfect location.
1
@Tom Becker
Not a good idea. The methane emissions from natural gas production and distribution nearly offset the reduced CO2 emissions.
What we should do is set an example to the world by working as quickly as we can to replace all fossil fuels with carbon neutral energy sources: solar, wind, nuclear, etc.
And we should pressure China and other countries to do that same.
A scientist
2
@Tom Becker China is one f the worlds biggest producers of recyclable and natural clean energy. They are doing everything they can to get off coal. You'd know that if you ever read anything but propaganda from Fox.
America WAS doing a few pretty good things under Obama. Trump destroyed them all. Opened the forests of America to energy looters. And while Trump and the Repugnant s are selling us out, teh GOP base is cheering the destruction of their children's future.
3
“In his speech, he trumpeted that rollback as part of what administration officials say is an economy-boosting approach to the environment that could appeal to at least some of the voters unhappy with his record.”
1. Who among us is happy with Trumps environmental record unless sister-love and rusting car hulks are your thing?
2. Economy-boosting approach to the environment? You mean decimating the environment in order to produce transient economic goals?
3. A rational person would say...PC, hey, lighten up. At least the reptilian hypothalamus portion of Trumps brain, you know, ‘the Stump’, has the ability to respond to the environment. Hence he is able to breathe, see, and react with Nature. The female side of nature in particular.
4. But I respond. No. Not in all cases. Trumps higher cerebral cortex which processes logic keeps shorting out, therefore Trump is always promoting coal, fracking, and some type of oil, perhaps even coconut oil, (which is so soothing on naked skin). Unfortunately these fossil fuels are trashing the environment.
The Rational Person now is dejected, but I comfort.
“Mr. RP, Elizabeth Warren is coming. She will take care of all of this.”
The Rational Persons eyes brighten. Again, I comfort.
“Yes, it will happen.”
Then I start singing...”always look on the bright side of life...” clearly channeling my solar-inspired, sunny personality.
5
@PC
I would hope you are reconsidering this: "unless sister-love and rusting car hulks are your thing." Many of those folks are multi-generationally augered in to some pretty awful conditions. No telling how any of us would respond to a life in coal-country poverty (for instance).
1
@RH,
Agreed
After backing out of the Paris Accord and the "windmills cause cancer" comment, Trump's attempts to "redeem" himself are beyond pathetic. Just more of the usual blatant, unashamed propaganda.
Trump and environmental stewardship is comparing fire to ice. Unfortunately, something tells me his supporters will still buy it.
Rather than ending this article on yet another lie by Mr. Luntz, why not remind readers of Trump's & the GOP's extensive climate change denying history?
8
Won’t listen to a thing Trump says, he is incoherent and usually spewing lies! We are IN a Climate Crisis, right now, and the Senate and White House are controlled by deniers!
I am the grandmother of seven beautiful, healthy children who deserve a healthy, viable planet in which to grow up in! Those of us, who care must fight for the future generations who are too young to speak out!
7
The only hoax being perpetrated: Trump insists on one thing. Trump orders his staff to do the opposite. His voting followers follow blindly: he can do no wrong.
2
But, but, Trump, in a speech in Phoenix stated there would be many jobs, jobs that involved washing coal, oops, no, mining clean coal. I suppose that washing coal or mining "clean coal" gets the same result-fake pollution.
Then we see the tail-pipe emission issue. I suppose we can wash those emissions as we do coal to prevent fake pollution.
As I motor down the highway through Utah's "energy belt" I see coal loading facilities either underutilized or mothballed. I remember a coal burning power plant that is now long gone.
In the winter the air in the northern part of Utah is brown from toxic pollution-much from automobiles, and some from the refineries that make the fuel for the cars and trucks.
Trump is either delusional, a fool or just stupid if he believes his initiatives are saving our atmosphere, the water we drink or the soil we use to feed ourselves.
We are paying a high price, a price that we cannot pay, for Trump's delusions of clean coal or petroleum products, or that wind turbines cause cancer and the solar farms are costing many coal extraction jobs (which are being effected regardless).
I'm not a millennial or suburban housewife. But, I do remember what extreme air and water pollution looks like (I suppose Trump never witnessed this living in an ivory tower). And I do not want this for my grandkids and their kids. But, when the fox is guarding the henhouse we get the corruption we see.
7
I keep telling everyone, we no longer live in a Democracy. It is the Kingdom of Trump.
5
Agree, with you, Independent! Hope you will join us, Democrats and help vote Trump out of office, we need everyone.
trump's advisors are actually script writers
who have to present trump's latest, greatest lies
cloaked in patriotism, godliness, goodness and light.
8
"This polarized environment." Oh, that is rich coming from Frank Luntz. The speech is beyond another try at gaslighting us. What planet do these people think they live on? Let's see them try to live without their A/C this summer of weather disasters.
7
Why don't we let him present his speech before tearing it apart?
1
@John
It saves time.
1
In Trump’s world, it was the regulations that caused pollution.
4
In other words, the trump campaign rolled out a new set of lies for trump to practice parading about.
Big coal pays for the ads to lie to the voters, and trump happily serves their interest.
8
Where are the facts Mr. President? You who have shunned, or regulated to obscurity environmental scientists from the EPA, the USDA, as well as stricken the use of "climate change" from federal reporting. Your own Department of Defense cites climate change a national security threat. You are forfeiting the future of our children and grandchildren, as well as in the grander scheme, world economic balance for short term economic interests of your chosen few. Get your head out the sand and invest in serious, meaningful commitment to the climate sector.
2
Anyone care to reconcile the FACT from the THEORY on the Paris Climate Accord?
Notably that many nations “pledged” (not legally binding) to do what they had ALREADY committed (or less), China, India and other countries are actually lagging BEHIND. India was one of the worst frauds.
Search for John Stossel and watch the video (or read the transcript).
1
@ J Linder: Lagging behind while producing goods consumed by developed countries. Pretty convenient omission when trying to bash developing nations for not keeping up with emissions reduction.
2
I am a millennial. I have never voted for a Republican. I will never vote for a Republican.
17
Trump's America an environmental leader in 2019?? That's harder to believe than General Washington conquering airports in 1775.
10
Trump’s constant lies and chaotic, mismatched deeds serve him well.
He is a consummate film flam artist, a triumphant, serial prevaricator. To suit his purpose, all he needs is a shill (e.g., Fox, talk radio, the GOP, etc.) and a mark (e.g., the American people, the MSM, etc.) to pull off a spectacular con. In 2020, the country will get to decide if it’s a short con or a long one.
2
Frank Luntz is one of the reasons so many people are confused about global warming. For years, he has taken dollars from Republicans and their fossil fuel lobbyists to twist the meanings of words in order that the voting public is lulled in to a sense of false comfortability with environmental policies that negatively effect them. He is one of the most mild mannered, evil people you'll ever see on tv.
4
“When asked whether Mr. Trump still believed that global warming was a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese and whether windmills cause cancer, as the president has said, Mr. Wheeler said that there were “positives and negatives” to all energy sources, and that administration officials were paying attention to this.”
When a reporter receives an answer like this, the report should read, “When asked… Mr. Wheeler refused to answer.”
3
I have concluded that you have to take the long view.
While global nuclear annihilation is still possible, it has receded as a talking point for most people. Climate change is the hot issue now and will probably remain so until it is finally concluded that it is too late to reverse.
There is a positive here. Global nuclear war might inhibit the evolutionary development of other new species in the future which might inhabit the planet in the far future.
While global climate change may well be sounding the eventual death knell of humanity, it is not poisoning the earth in a way that cannot be corrected given some time and no more fossil fuel energy production. No more cows for mile that we don't really need to drink, etc.
Planet Earth has, plus or minus, another 4-5 billion years of existence in its future. She will surely have another go at intelligent life...or maybe not. She might be sick of it all.
So, go ahead, Trump and all his little buddies, poison the air, poison the water, create certain global unrest and disaster.
We will not survive, but the Earth will.
(PS: remember the Agent in the Matrix. "Humanity is a virus."
The good news is that it shows campaigning against climate change is actually a potential winner! Not something that will turn off moderates. The key is to learn a lesson from free trade and make sure the losers aren’t dealt with as chum. Give help to places like West Virginia (obviously not the lefts favorite demographic so this might be difficult) so you can get widespread by-in. Because without it, we will be hard pressed to make real change before it’s too late.
Once again, Trump is taking credit for other people's work. If American has any environmental leadership, it is in the Blue States where Trump rarely goes. It is on the shoulders of those Blue States to keep positive environmental policy alive and flourishing. Just look at the impact that California's auto policies are having on the cars that are being sold in America.
3
The president’s words and actions constantly anger me. I know I’m not alone. I want to look away, but that’s exactly what he his base want for someone like me. I can’t ignore it. We must elect a president in 2020 who will sign environmental protection bills for the sake of the earth.
5
Ask him about this speech next week. He will likely not remember it. Better yet, ask him about this speech in the fall when he's campaigning in West Virginia. He'll call it fake new and exclaim that coal is clean.
7
Trump can preen and take testimonials to his “ green-ness” all he wants, but millennials and suburban women are not clueless.They know that oil and coal are culprits in the change of our climate and seeing Trump surrounded by their chief lobbyists will give them no comfort.On the 4th Trump tried to rewrite the Revolutionary War, now he is trying to pretend that climate change can be managed.Until one of his properties suffers from flooding, a hurricane or a forest fire he will continue to believe that our climate challenge is minor compared to the huge challenge which it actually is.
3
Trump is personally invested, still to this day, in pipeline companies. This should be mentioned in the article and discussed more by the media.
4
If President Trump were truly serious about changing course on the environment, he would start with a massive job retraining package for coal miners, and pay off the coal mine operators to gradually shut their mines.
He would add billions in funding to a program such as Americorps that would then work to properly insulate private residences, especially the poor so that they could save both energy and money.
Most of all, President Trump would eat a fast food veggie burger on TV for a change to promote both a healthier diet for himself, his fellow Americans, and reduce carbon emissions.
4
Obviously some of the speech will be lies, such as trump's concern for the environment and that he is capable of showing leadership to protect it. Most of it however will be to instill fear of the Green Deal, trying to stake out a position close to more moderate Democrats. (The fact that his promises are meaningless if he gets re-elected is irrelevant to him.) He will scare people about the costs of large scale conversion to renewables while skipping the benefits. Perhaps his advisors will counsel him to drop the part about taking away people's cows.
1
“Air pollution has continued to decline under President Trump’s leadership,” Mr. Wheeler said. “We continue to make progress on the water side.”
Lying with statistics. Almost all of these effects should be analyzed as a time series. Air and water quality did not improve as soon as Nixon (!) signed the legislation or created the EPA. And the effects of Wheeler's regulations will not be apparent until long after Wheeler is incarcerated or shot. Either will work for me.
2
Mr Trump has seriously disappointed me with his environmental record. At a time when anyone who’s lived for more than 50 years can see obvious changes to our climate, he continues to deny it. You don’t have to be a scientist to see the changes. Stronger storms and flooding. Heat waves in Europe. Small island nations disappearing under rising seas. I do hope he has a 180 degree turnaround because he has already done untold damage.
2
This reminds me of the Lewis Carrol poem "The walrus and the Carpenter", where the Carpenter seeing a Walrus about to eat a bunch of oysters goes into this long serenade about why he shouldn't eat the oysters, what he is doing by doing that..and by the time he finishes, not an oyster is left, because the carpenter has eaten all of them. While trump is giving this speech, each day his administration is getting rid of more and more environmental rules and regulations, to the point that the regulated industries are pushing back.
Put it this way, if anyone actually thinks this was a good speech, outside his demented base, I got a bridge and several towns to sell them.
1
So, the speech was aimed at moderates...of low intelligence? In other words, those who have never read a real newspaper or journal article, or have been effectively comatose for the past two and a half years?
I can only hope those moderates have more sense than the base. But my opinion of some of my fellow citizens is pretty low at this time, unfortunately. How many people truly vote for society rather than themselves?
2
Oh please, Trump has some nerve pretending he cares even a tiny bit about the environment or climate issues we are facing. In fact, he has done everything in his power to wreck any progress made in the last few decades. He has demolished any and all regulations that deal with protecting the environment, clean air, water or soil, closed down any science on the matter, and gotten rid of any scientists in any agency of the government. So don't be fooled by this pandering posture...he has zero interest in doing anything constructive regarding environmental protections or climate stabilization.
4
It's unfortunate that people like Frank Luntz continue to muddy the waters by saying "this polarized environment."
Only one party has the long-standing policy of demonizing climate scientists and efforts to protect the environment. Only one political party champions the destruction of air, water and climate. Only one party represents the interests of the fossil fuel industry. Only one, the Republican party.
4
Doubling our population every 50 years has the biggest impact on the environment. Until there is serious discussion about population control and limiting immigration, discussion about the environment is merely political theatre.
1
@Mark Singleton: Stemming immigration in the context of climate change only means that those unfortunate enough to have be born into the most affected parts of the world will die sooner. Small island states, areas affected by drought and desertification, etc. Many of the immigrants from Central America now have left because of the impacts of climate change. Let's talk about the morality of keeping people out when we're largely responsible for their demise in the first place.
1
If the moderate voter really can be persuaded by this cynical exercise, then it really is possible to fool some of the people all of the time.
It also means that Trump's pollsters see the environment as important enough to be concerned about it (even if purely for votes). No need for the D's to play defense on this existential issue.
3
The only possible reason Donald would say such things all the sudden, is because he's figured out (well, got some guys to figure out for him, that is) how to personally monetize the things described here. I can't imagine any other reason that would make sense. He doesn't have other motivations.
4
I'm not a millennial or a suburban woman but I know that you can pay a lot now or pay a lot more later. Climate change is certainly going to cost a lot for people on the coasts and in the center of the country to mediate against rising seas and floods/droughts/fires. Trkump's nearsighted policies so far do everything to enhance the changes and little to preserve our environment. Using the concept of "good for business" makes little sense when we are talking about generations to come having to live with the policies generated today.
104
@Elwood - it'll be worse than that. 165 million people live in Bangladesh and the whole county is going to flood out. Imagine what is going to happen when everybody in Bangladesh goes looking for somewhere else to live. Or what happens when China starts running out of fresh water due to loss of Himalayan glaciers. They are probably NOT going to sit back and say "oh well, too bad, no water".
And that's just for example. I mean, we might not have enough AIR if the oceans die off. So yeah, definitely pay a lot more later.
7
I’m watching President Trump’s environmental speech! But, most of it entails a slew of folks coming up to the podium telling us how great he is! Rick Perry telling us what a great history lesson President Trump gave us on July 4th! This is surreal! Where’s the beef? Correct me if I’m wrong, but have prior President ‘s operated like this?! Pathetic.
300
@Counter Measures I have never seen a festival in which the cabinet members are required to praise Dear Leader as they grovel about doing now-and that includes Nixon.
25
@ Counter Measures It’s not only pathetic, it’s down right scary.
24
@Dan You have seen it, in dictatorships throughout the world. This administration is an international disgrace. May it end in November 2020.
25
Hey, our Continental Army seized all the airports from the British before the airplane was even invented. I never heard that in my history classes.
Why not claim that air pollution will decrease by relaxing air quality standards? Apparently anything is possible!
Welcome to Bizzaro world....
236
@hdtvpete
Why not? For those who already believe that cutting taxes will raise revenues, it's a small leap from one Tooth Fairy fantasy to another.
21
@hdtvpete Sure, it's like the Laffer curve. The more you deregulate, the more you remove pollutants and greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Simple, stable genius stuff.
13
Well, they are reducing unemployment by redefining what it means to be unemployed, and reducing pollution by relaxing the standards, and solving other problems by similarly altering the assumptions behind the numbers. See where this is going? We don't have to worry any more, pretty soon everything will be absolutely freaking great, and they'll have the empirical data to prove it.
Seriously, I think this is truly the only way for this do nothing, sound bite administration to MAGA. Too bad more people can't do math.
16
Trump has been, without question, the worst president ever when it comes to our environment: Drilling in the arctic and off our coasts, opening our public lands to oil/gas/mineral extraction, shrinking national monuments (Bears Ears, Grand Staircase, etc) to allow coal and uranium extraction, rolling back close to 100 environmental laws that protect our air and water. Going all in on coal and extraction industries, when we should be going all in on renewables.
Today Washington floods and AK burns. But climate change is one big hoax and Trump is the greatest friend to the environment ever.
142
Down is up and up is down in Trump-world.
When it comes to foreign policy, Trump’s staff tell us to ignore the rhetoric and look toward his actions.
Can the same hold true here?
49
Trump is apparently unaware that the voters he is trying to win over with this speech recognize his lies.
127
That is my hope, but I have honestly lost faith in my fellow Americans. Too few people know how to think in this country.
9
@4Katydid
But his cult followers will eat this right up.
8
I believe strongly in protecting the environment. Industrial pollutants, halogenated-solvents, heavy metals, petroleum, PCBs, are all very bad and need to be regulated, controlled, and cleaned up.
Like Trump, I believe climate change is a scam. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant- it’s a naturally occurring metabolite of photosynthesis.
Climate change nonsense distracts us from REAL threats to the environment.
1
@Greg Lots of naturally occurring substances can become environmental and human health threats in excess amounts or in reaction. The fact that CO2 is naturally occurring the lower atmosphere doesn't mean it can't cause a heat-trapping reaction in the upper atmosphere. The basic reaction and likely heat-trapping effect was first hypothesized over 100 years ago and data collected since supports the hypothesis. Read some of the background on the theory of the greenhouse effect; it isn't something Al Gore dreamed up to take away your SUV.
40
@Greg, it's not that carbon dioxide is a pollutant, it goes into the atmosphere and blocks the energy that is radiated from Earth, therefore increasing the temperature. Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. Oxygen is the natural occurring metabolite of photosynthesis. The increase in carbon dioxide in our atmosphere can be directly correlated with the rising temperatures.
21
@Greg, it's really not that simple though is it? Iron, for example, is essential for the normal function in the human body. The environment is a complex and dynamic system that requires a rather delicate balance to maintain.
Even something that is naturally occurring and essential for normal function can become a pollutant above normal normal levels.
13
He can try and "protect" coal all he wants. The market has passed it by. Hilary told people this in 2016 and they didn't want to hear it. Beyond that, everything he said about his environmental policy is "fake news."
69
I suppose the media has to keep up the facade of reporting everything Trump says as something he believes in. Of course, he believes in nothing. He speaks only as an act of self-promotion. He is a walking-talking advertisement for himself.
76
@Umberto Well said. Thank you!
1
Now Trump really is testing the limits of what people will buy. More adults would buy into the Santa Claus story.
25
@David R:
The Siena College Research Institute published a public opinion survey re Santa in 2013; 30 percent of adults responded by saying they believe. That's roughly the same percentage of Trump supporters out there.
4
Trump will now take credit for all the pollution reduction measures implemented by Obama, even as he plans to reverse them.
50
Environmental leadership, sure. He and his coal industry cronies will lead our planet into oblivion.
27
“Seemingly at odds with his policy”? Seemingly? For Pete’s sake folks. No other administration has been close to the grotesque enhancements of the wrecking ball taken to our environment or ability to research it and find our place of balance within it, more than this one. Has he been ‘successful’ as President regarding the environment? Sure, if by ‘successful’ one means that Trump and his oligarchic suitors and funders are succeeding in destroying the environment and human viability absolutely. So much winning.
80
Mr. Luntz has created an entirely new language. I'm not multilingual so I have no idea what he's talking about. I wonder what the word for "double-talk" is in Luntzese?
11
More lies from what appears to be an effort to become a "softer, gentler Trump".
The speech will do the damage intended, Trump simply cannot prevent his buds from destroying the planet over money
How can anyone vote Republican?
50
The Trump administration itself is toxic.
It is polluted with lies, corruption, and anti-science or anti-environmental actions of all kinds.
164
@David Macauley
Go one step further. The zealots who swallow whatever Trump feeds them are the greatest toxic mass of all.
2
Yes, Trump's environmental policy speech will be utterly "surreal".
But then Trump being president is as surreal as anything that this nation has endured since its founding.
And Trump has learned that sycophantic Republicans and supine Democrats can absorb toxic levels of "surreality" (if it's not a word, it should be) - without any apparent gag reflex.
"Surreality" is the new Reality.
47
“Not a single casino has gone bankrupt since the start of the Trump administration”, Mr. Wheeler said. “Reports of sheer incompetence involving President Trump are a hoax invented by the Chinese”.
24
Watch what he does not what he says. Besides promoting fossil fuels including coal which is a sure way to increase greenhouse gas emissions and rolling back regulations for controlling methane emissions at fracking sites, another sure way to increase greenhouse gas emissions Trump is in effect poisoning America with his roll backs of regulations on emissions of toxic substances. In environmental terms he is the grim reaper. I believe many of his rollbacks are either tied up in court or not yet ready for implementation so the the full effect of the devastation to the environment and hence human health from Trump's action are yet evident but will be in the near future. The US has come a long way in dealing with pollution since the 1970s when the first environmental laws were passed and Trump clearly wants to go back to the way it was before the 1970s with far greater polluted air, water, and land. Darth Vader and then some.
32
@Bob Everything Trump says from this point is a matter of the distance between what he says and what he does. After gleefully playing to his "base" since November 2016, all of his words of moderation can be seen for the campaign "promises" (aka lies) they clearly are. Trump, through his actions and his words over these past years, has shown clearly who and what he is, and anybody who believes his "nice" speeches at this point is even more naive than the the Supreme Court.
11
Nothing is more exactly the opposite of the truth than Trump claiming his administration is creating the most "crystal clear" air and water in the world. The only thing crystal clear about Trump is his dishonesty.
103
@WeHadAllBetterPayAttentionNow
Most of what Trump says is "exactly opposite of the truth." Well put.
2
Ask him how many victims of floods, tornados, hurricanes, fires and, now, earthquakes, there must be before he's willing to consider doing something to rein in the environment. Ask him whether the military considers climate change to be a national security risk.
19
@Eero: At least earthquakes cannot be attributed to greenhouse gases.
4
@Steve Bolger:
Not necessarily (although the statement was likely in regard to CA). . . Think: fracking in OK. . .
2
@Steve Bolger
No, but they can be attributed as a consequence of fracking. Oklahoma, not exactly a fossil fuel unfriendly state, put a moratorium on fracking as Oklahoma was experiencing a wave of earthquakes that have been tied to the waste products of fracking being dumped deep into the earth. If the governor of a deeply red, dependent on fossil fuel state, took such a step, says something.
2
If trump is responding to the democratic presidential candidates in his public comments, if his office is offering rebuttals to campaign ideas, is he using the office of the presidency illegally by campaigning with tax payer dollars?
He uses his public position to denounce his political opponents.
If only we had a Congress and a Supreme court that functioned.
36
Surreal? That describes the entire trump presidency. I keep hoping to awaken from this nightmare. But surreal or not this is our reality. The big question is, as always, will his easily manipulated base fall for yet another con? Sadly, I believe they will.
23
" is scheduled to deliver a speech billed as “America’s Environmental Leadership.”
The shortest speech in his weird "political life".
17
There is no way he can possibly white wash his record of reversing a multitude of environmental laws, opening up federal park land to oil and gas companies, reversing car emissions standards, etc. It's done and all in black and white for all to see. Who does he think he will be kidding?
41
@Vicki It worked before. There are plenty of "independents" and Republicans like Susan Collins who are looking for any straw they can grasp at to vote for Trump and get their corporate tax cut and imprison some immigrants. This speech is not for us. It's for them.
2
@Vicki He will be "kidding" his base who apparently don't read the news as we know it.
1
Black is white and white is black in Trump's world. The House Dems should present their own speech - one in which they rebuke every one of Trump's pro anti-environmental policies.
25
"He will be flanked by his two senior environmental officials — one a former lobbyist for the coal industry and the other a former oil lobbyist."
It will be fun to find out what Trump's speech writers have come up with, not to say that Trump will actually understand a word of it. But if an environmental message becomes a regular part of his campaign strategy, an element of it may eventually sink in. There is also the chance that Trump, after droning on for awhile from his script, in frustration will depart from the prepared text. It will be revealing to see what words spontaneously pop out of his mouth.
The real importance of the speech will not be its substantive content but the mere fact that it happened. It will offer official Republican recognition both that environmental issues exist and some portion of Trump's targeted electorate cares about them. This could be the first visible crack in the solid right-wing foundation of climate change denial, one of the bedrock certainties of oligarchic Republicanism. It won't be pretty, but the speech may confer a first flicker of symbolic White House recognition to an issue heretofore defiantly unrecognized.
Another less obvious aspect is that Trump's words may impact a developing fundamentalist Biblical narrative. Fundamentalists are not unaware of climate change and its threats. Rather they view the process through the prism of apocalyptic revelation. Is Trump about to become an active player in the "end times" narrative?
9
donald giving a "surreal" speech on any subject, let alone the environment. Surely you jest?
7
"Trump Will Speak Monday on ‘America’s Environmental Leadership"
Oh please, cry me a polluted river already. The fact that he chose Ryan Zinke to be Interior Secretary and allowed him to do whatever he wanted while being the steward of 500 million acres of public land was just the tip of the melting ice burg.
Every move, every decision, every policy Trump has reversed since being elected president is contrary to the phrase "America’s Environmental Leadership." His actions simply don't support that phrase.
He must think people are asleep at the wheel if he truly believes he can change the dialogue and conversation in which his staunchest critics will believe one word that he will utter.
I would really like to know how he plans on walking back his many public mean, cruel, and spiteful mocked comments toward "the established science of human-caused climate change".
The main reason why "Trump was “never going to get” the type of voter who feels passionately about tackling climate change" is because he doesn't believe in climate change. PERIOD. He's trying to sell water to fish in the ocean.
For Trump to try and rally around the climate change barometer is as disingenuous as me stating that I believe everything Trump says. It's just not going to happen because it's all a pack of lies.
25
Trump's speech on "America’s Environmental Leadership" won't be "surreal", it will be disingenuous if not a contradiction in terms and policy.
“It is an utter farce for the president to talk about America’s environmental leadership, when he has been a champion of the polluters,” Mr. Brinkley said.
What more needs to be said?
It's Trump's actions that worries me more than his words.
15
Trump lied about everything before. How on earth could anyone believe him now? He can go back to defending healthcare reductions in cost, saving Social Security, increasing funding for Medicaid, and the rest of what he promised last time. After he does all that, we can start on this. Trump will save the environment - sure he will - and bend steel with his bare hands!
16
Anyone interested in seeing a fox talk about vegetarianism and promoting Gandhian non-violence?
32
This is just like Kim-Jong-Un making a speech about "North Korea's human rights leadership".
474
@Andy excellent analogy
15
@Andy
Or Stalin about prison reform.
5
Absolutely same. And that's a shame.
Trump thinks a manicured golf course is the wilderness. He grew up in places that were paved over and crowded. This guy does not understand our environment, he's not interested in it, and has done everything he can to destroy it.
This speech will be no more surreal than the rest of Trump's life, because it will all be one big lie.
104
@Gerry
You maybe on to something there. You suspect if he spent more time in national parks than golf courses he might see things differently and be a lot less casual about the environment and it’s destruction.
2
@Jon T - if Trump was sensitive and capable of learning you mean? He's 73 years old. His problem is far more serious than just too many golf courses. He's severely intellectually stunted is the problem.
6
Air and water qualify have not - repeat not - improved during the Trump administration. Just another lie ...
55
@Susan Anderson
Not a reply so much as an addition.
https://time.com/5609569/us-air-quality-decline/
Trump has proven to be terrible at building physical walls, but he and his entire administration are experts as walling off the truth.
2
This maybe too late (has he already given the speech?) but I’m predicting he will deny there was any flooding Washington this morning.
7
Ronald Regan had a secretary of the interior named James Watt.
Mr. Watt had a plan to open up the entire sea coast to oil drilling.
Sound familiar?
When an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara fouled the pristines California shores, Mr. Watt's plan was scraped.
Trump needs a history lesson.
17
@King Philip, His majesty "needs a history lesson."
The understatement of the day (so far).
10
@King Philip, His majesty I thought the oil spill you're referring to was in 1969, during Nixon's reign. Nixon as we all know, created the EPA.
@Tom
At the time of the 1969 oil spill, James watt was the deputy assistant director of water and power development at the dept. of the interior.
I stand corrected.
1
We are a done deal without a Green New Deal. Details can be sorted out in the process, but we need infrastructure updates and we need to substantially improve our environmental impact on the world we all live in in a short amount of time. We can do both at the same time and employ people in need of good work in the process. Ignore this clown and vote him and the GOP out in 2020 to make it happen.
18
@X
Agreed we definitely need a green new deal anything less is like using victory gardens to defeat the axis. The key is in selling it. We need a message (and messengers) that can break through tribal barriers.
The other part is actually implementing it. Hate to burst bubbles but here in solid blue California the talk is great but the walk not so much. We had a multi-billion dollar sales tax in la to fight homelessness and they’ve done close to nothing as we’ve morphed into a tent city. No new shelters and the few dozen new homeless housing at a cost of half a million per person.
Frackers and repubs blather on about co2 reduction while ignoring the huge methane emissions resulting from fracking .
Methane is a 30 times more potent greenhouse gas than co2.
Denial won’t make the problem any better
13
@macrol In addition, these destructive people have worked to eliminate the rules that made at least some efforts to control methane releases from wells. Honestly, they have no interest in making the problem any better. After all, the genius alleges that there really is no problem. Every day is more dismaying that the last.
4
Donald Trump's relationship to the truth is the same as his relationship to the environment. Which is to say that they are both toxic.
31
Trump is giving the speech so that Campaign 2029; can paste and cut words, cheering crowds, serious President speaking from the heart.....
That’s it.
2
The cynicism is stunning. I don't know whether it's willful 'know-nothingism' or just destruction for the sake of watching it all implode.
Frank Luntz, the man who brought us 'Death Tax' is trying to mount a marketing campaign to sugar coat the fact that the modern Republican has no use for the environment if it interferes with someone's ability to make a buck.
Luntz will probably be successful, after all he's the one who says 'It's not what you say, it's what people hear.' Trump will riff a stream of conscious telling everyone that he is the environmental president and it has never been better. And his followers will believe it to their death.
Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, in late breaking news, the Agriculture Department has ended a study on honeybee decline as a means of cutting costs. Is the Agriculture Department unaware that bees pollinate most of our food supply and that bees are in decline? That would appear to be an Ag problem they should investigate. But no, they cut the program.
Again, is it just ignorance or are they trying to destroy as much as they can while they can? I don't know anymore.
23
The only purpose of his speeches is to create Fox broadcast material. His marks will then believe that he's the one that will save the environment. Not one of them will ever think beyond that.
5
Some of you may remember George and the bizarro world from Seinfeld. Today we see yet another example of Trump's Bizarro World.
5
There's an awful lot of time spent fighting Trump when he says what the left wants him to say.
3
Can you blame Americans for disbelieving Trump, though? The man is completely allergic to the truth. All of his policies are based on pretext.
11
@AACNY:
Sounds like a statement that would be made by tRump.
If you don't know that tRump's words are meaningless, you need a refresher course. Actions speak louder, and those actions represent an assault on the environment.
It's interesting that even large corporations that back trump ultimately, like the rest of industry, rely on a stable and healthy environment. Where do you think "stuff" comes from?
I don't know why I bother sometimes. . .
1
@AACNY
And you can always be counted on to post the same pro-Trump drivel over and over again. The "left" doesn't want him to simply say what they want to hear. They / we like all true, patriotic, caring and thinking American's want is for just one day, one hour, or even one minute is for Trump to tell the truth.
I've been seeing your comments for years and they are always the same. Which means you and your kind are irrelevant and as far as I can tell a pack of traitors supporting the biggest grifter and cheat to ever occupy the White House.
I hope it makes you and your children feel proud to support such despicable behavior. It's just too bad that all of us and not just people like you will be forced to endure the fallout that will happen due to this administration, and what if anything will be left of the planet once this pack of takers is done trashing it.
3
Trump giving a speech on environmental stewardship is like Harvey Weinstein giving a speech on how to foster respectful workplace behavior,
23
Trump's concern with the environment begins and ends at the boundary of his properties. Mar a Lago is still above water.
22
A joke. Pure political theater.
8
Every issue debated by politicians is less important than climate change. Without a habitable planet there are no other issues. And there's only one habitable planet in our solar system. Poison that planet and this species will go extinct.
Elect a clown, expect a circus.
7
If you don't know by now that Trump has lived by the adage, "You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time...", then you haven't been paying attention.
See Trump university and every deal he made with Wall St. bankers that went bust (basically most of his professional career).
5
Trump promoting the environmental protection is like Bernie Sanders promoting elimination of taxes on inherited wealth.
3
This ought to be a real spectacle - flanked by two fossil-fuel lobbyists.
I wish Orwell and Gore Vidal were with us.
13
Why can’t we wait until he gives the speech to do a definitive fact check?
7
@Doug Lowenthal
I think that after somebody lies about 4,000 times, and their entire life and existence is a lie (he said he borrowed $1 million but inherited over $300 million), you can pretty much know what's going to happen.
Doug - how many lies would a spouse, friend, co-worker, etc., have to tell you before you before you would assume before they opened their mouth that they are going to lie? What is that number?
10
For anyone interested in learning about all of Trump's actions for the rape of the envirment, check out the long list of his executive orders. There are more than enough "little" actions in there to make a grown-up weep. Woe be the future of our kids.
28
I'm sure it will play well in Butte.
4
As a 24 year old American, I am terrified by this administration's actions, and GOP "leadership" on climate change in general. Trump and his cabal of corporate handlers have no interests beyond enriching themselves at any cost, they don't care about the unfixable damage they are committing because they will all be dead by the time that damage hits. They've bought up ideal lands and resources for their children and grandchildren to hoard when the climate collapse comes, and the rest of us are going to be left to die or fend for ourselves.
Climate change is not just about clean water and clean air, anyone who thinks this is an idiot. Climate change is a global shift in CLIMATE, the thing that has been relatively stable for most of human history. We are not prepared and no government is doing anything to advert the worse to come.
Capitalism is incompatible with climate change mitigation, nothing but a complete upending of our established consumption based system will save us. Unfortunately for us, Trump is the greatest champion of unregulated production and unprotected consumerism in American history. When society and our lives collapse 50-100 years from now, I and everyone else will place the blame squarely on the shoulders of those who thought profits were more important than life itself.
114
@Kurt excellent post
15
@Kurt
You are right but I will point out to you that other economic systems, supposedly not beholden to the quick buck, had much worse environmental records, the socialist and communist worlds were environmental disaster areas.
The irony is that capitalism may end up being the saving grace with all of this, that given the climate precipice we are heading towards some entrepeneurial types are going to shift the paradigm, see an opportunity and revolutionize things. It already is happening, there is a revolution going on with electric cars that seems to be snowballing despite trump's efforts, solar and wind have picked up steam, despite the efforts of the fossil fuel industry and the GOP.
1
@Kurt
Agreed !
Such the audacity for China! What about South China Sea and grabbing islands from smaller Asian countries, isn’t it bullying?
Just shows how bankrupt our politics is - nothing more, nothing less. If the Democrats weren’t running on a bunch of pc grievance, where a PhD can’t even figure out how to behave according to the newest standards of privilege, it would be in the bag. Shame on them, shame on Trump, shame on us.
8
"He will be flanked by his two senior environmental officials — one a former lobbyist for the coal industry and the other a former oil lobbyist."
Did the writers borrow this article from The Onion or The Borowitz Report?
77
Trumps environment? More gold in his palace, more sleaze in his administration, more hot air for the rest of us.
21
President Trump has no concerns whether he speaks the truth or not. He could tell his supporters up is down and they would scream with delight because the words came out of Donald Trump's mouth. President Trump has very successfully conned a group of people in our country into blindly and mindlessly following him. He is now digging deeper into his bag of dirty tricks to increase his number of supporters. Do not ever underestimate him or his allies in his quest to remain the ruler of America. His lies, falsehoods and fabrications must be continually reported on and he must be called out each and every time he utters these things. Donald Trump believes his re-election is a done deal. The majority of Americans must show him it is not.
14
@Howard Herman
Yes, they must, but they won't.
1
Are we going to hear how the Revolutionary army had catalytic converters on all their tanks and jeeps?
I can hardly wait to hear him stumble and bumble his way through another asinine speech.
20
@Doremus Jessup
I thought it was all about our having airports in the Revolutionary War.
Come to think of it, why did Washington cross the Delaware in that boat? Why didn't he just use the airport?
2
@Gerry, even easier, he could have just driven a few miles south and crossed the Delaware River on the I-95 (now I-295) Scudders Falls Bridge. There's no toll going eastbound now.
2
I heard he actually used a hover craft.
2
It's simple. Just lie, Mr. President.
4
Republicans yelled about balancing the budget until they decided fattening their wallets mattered more. They called Obama a liar but remain mute about Trump. Now, for any Republican to speak about responsibility of any kind is absolute hypocrisy. A moderate Republican or one "who really does care" is a liar.
There is no doubt who to blame first and foremost for all environmental issues in the US. Any person who in any way supports the Republican party.
12
Democratic leadership needs to formally rebut anything Trump says on this topic.
5
@Suzanne Moniz
Because that would be new and original and really get people's attention, right?
2
@AACNY
So you would prefer that Trump's statements be treated as truthful?
1
Again, Trump will confound his critics. All he has to say is, “I am working hard to protect the environment,” and that becomes the reality. He has spent his entire campaign and presidency establishing that anyone who tries to counter his statements with actual facts is just another liberal whiner.
Trump is awful, but he knows what works for him politically.
5
We all need some comic relief from time to time.
The speech is sure to be a joke but sadly the subject matter is not funny. Fact checkers will need their calculators handy to tally up all the lies and gross misrepresentations.
7
Trump has no concept of our natural world, its importance, or why our precious and disappearing wilderness areas need to be protected and left unchanged. His speech will be just another one of his ignoble acts of sophistry. He dishonors our planet in everything that he does.
I would no sooner believe this speech than I would if he spoke on his commitment to human rights.
8
Trump's claims of environmental progress are about as valid as: his claims about President Obama's citizenship, the crowd size at his inauguration, China paying for tariffs, the size of the aid package to Puerto Rico, his theories about fire management and on and on and on and on...
14
George Orwell's "1984" is here a little later than predicted.
We have a Department of Defense that wages wars of offense in other countries.
Now Trump flanked by government officials who were formerly lobbyists for coal & oil, will pontificate on positive news vis a vis climate change.
Regardless of pulling the US out of the Paris Climate arrangement and public comments about windmills (aka turbines by literate folk) cause cancer , solar & wind power do not work when the sun stops shining, the wind stops blowing (no batteries exist in Trumpland, apparently), Trump will now emerge as an Environmental Super Hero.
Trump started on his Alt Right version of America during his election. It now continues as a cost effective approach to doing nothing but claiming the opposite.
7
The media is complicit in the climate change issue and must stop telling us about Trump's "booming economy" and how many jobs he's creating. If you factor in the cost of any reasonable climate program that needs to start immediately the USA economy is totally in the red and will not recover until millions of "green" jobs are created. Why does the media continue supporting his lies about jobs and the economy? No one need worry about his base believing Trump but why is the media so determined to keep headlining his failures as economic triumphs? Climate programs will cost trillions over the next ten years but will create millions of real jobs for the future. Even training programs for coal miners and oil drillers will be a hopeful step in the right direction. And we need to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord ASAP so the rest of the world knows the USA is once again sane. If the media does its job and tells the public the truth Trump will not be in office in 2021 and the Democratic president can start to deal with reality. Climate change is the real economic rocket that needs to be set in motion if this planet is to be saved. LISTEN TO THE SCIENTISTS!
28
Trump takes his marching orders from Fox News (and vice versa) so likely Trump will do what they do: sow doubt and confusion. Even though almost all the world's scientists agree that earth is over-heating, nearly 70% of Fox's coverage of climate change was given to deniers. That's why Republicans think it's a hoax; Fox News is their most trusted news source. Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch have forsaken reason and prudence, and so will Trump and Republicans. That's why we haven't been able to curb pollution since 2000 when Gore ran for President. That's why Trump reversed Obama's regulations. That's why Republicans in the Senate won't raise a pinky to clean up the mess fossil-fuel industrialists make. There is no doubt in my mind Trump will do nothing too.
8
The Trump administration has withdrawn from the climate change treaty, making the US the only country not to be a signatory. He has rolled back important regulations on clean air, and water, permitted drilling on public lands, allowed offshore drilling, rolled back regulations on fuel efficiency, eliminated tax breaks for renewable energy research and development, and dismantled scientific advisory panels at EPA. He has done more to destroy this earth than any other public official in the history of this country.
3
I'm sure that we'll learn that fantastic things are happening, unbelievable (literally) things, and that we'll be hearing about them in a few days, or maybe a little later ...we'll see what happens. At any rate, I'm sure that we'll learn that if there is global climate change, it was caused by Obama, and our lack of progress is the fault of democrats who want to open our borders to polluted air and water.
I'm certainly glad that Donald Trump has decided to explain his best-ever leadership in this critical area.
22
I also look forward to President Trump's upcoming speeches on race relations, income inequality, the problems of gerrymandering, and safeguarding our elections from foreign interference.
24
They discovered these particular lies are unpopular, so they have to figure out a way to lie to cover it up.
3
Trump will lie and his supporters will believe him. All he needs to do is give a few statistics and plausible, feel-good stories. It doesn't matter if the statistics are wrong or misleading, or the stories are flat out lies. His supporters, and even those on the fence, want to believe him and they will, when given the slightest chance. Trump's consultants know that his supporters are not critical thinkers.
3
". . . the idea for the speech did not start with the president. It started with consultants on his re-election campaign who have discovered that his environmental record is a definite turnoff for two key demographics — millennials and suburban women"
Ah, excuse me. It is with the utmost respect that I take exception to these consultants who have "discovered" Trump's "environmental record is a definite turnoff for millennials and suburban women."
I am well into my vintage years and have been a practicing environmentalist my whole life. My parents lived & practiced a sound and effective environmental lifestyle, whether it be recycling or adding and coffee grounds & egg shells to the garden soil every day.
There is no more a demanding issue than the environment. People believe in climate change not from what they read or see on the Internet but from what they experience first hand - the extremes in temperatures, storms, flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires.
I cannot image what this president could possibly say that would make anyone believe he cares about the environment, especially after backing out of the international Paris climate change accord and having two lobbyists who favor the coal industry and oil industry at his side.
This guy is simply looking for votes and will say anything in hopes of convincing folks he is on Mother Nature's side. I will listen to what he has to say and will try and not smirk or throw something at the computer screen.
9
That anyone who hasn't already drunk the Kool-Aide of Trump's Presidency would believe any of this is unlikely. But, he has proven time and again the wisdom of PT Barnum's famous quote about the intelligence of the the American people.
3
It is hard to imagine anything more cynical than for Donald Trump to make a speech on "America's Environmental Leadership". This is a man who is destroying air and water quality in America. He is purging the EPA, Interior Department and other US government agencies of any respected scientists.
Likewise, Andrew Wheeler, whom Trump installed as the head of the EPA, with GOP support, is completely owned by the coal oligarchs, like the Koch brothers and Sullivan, who he was a lobbyist for.
Trump and Wheeler are selling away the future health of our children and grandchildren, to give the 70 year old coal barons ho pay them off more pocket change right now.
4
“But Monday afternoon, Mr. Trump is set to deliver a speech billed as ‘America’s Environmental Leadership.’ He will be flanked by his two senior environmental officials - one a former lobbyist for the coal industry and the other a former oil lobbyist.”
It will indeed be “surreal” for anyone who believes in climate change, but despite the concerns of his electoral consultants hoping to appeal to millennials and suburban women, Trump will still be playing to his base who believe that “clean coal” really exists, that snow on the White House lawn means global warming is a hoax, and that windmills probably do cause cancer. Same old, same old.
4
The only environmental concerns and knowledge that Donald Trump, Sr. has is any laws or regulations that may negatively impact upon whatever profitable Trump Organization advantage that Trump is hiding from the American people in his income tax returns and business accounting financial records arising from his occupation of the Oval Office of the White House.
3
It is not surreal and only seems so to those who don’t believe it is possible to preserve and protect our world while still heating our homes in winter and cooling them in summer. Trump and many conservatives belueve it is possible to do both.
1
Trump definitely doesn't believe it's possible to do both. He not only disbelieves the evidence on climate change, he fundamentally misunderstands it. He thinks the existence of "clean water" in the U.S. indicates something about the state of the global climate.
3
The Democrats talk a lot about the environment but do essentially nothing. Their addiction to illegal immigrants means any plans they do pass are going to be ineffectual. How much do we have to cut when 144000 more people are crossing the border every month? We would need to build thirty thousand homes, a month, just to house the illegal immigrants. There are thirty million illegal immigrants in this country right now- with another 1.7 million a year plus the millions of kids they will have. You can't preserve anything under those kinds of pressures.
3
Actions speak louder than words. Trump, his supporters, his deputies, and his cabinet of destroyers have done all they can, and more, to ensure that humanity's future on this planet will be lousy. He's also for toxic waste and dangerous conditions, as long as his wealthy "friends" can profit. He's all for convenience and against preservation, and he will do anything to enhance his vanity without regard to any long-term effects.
The economy would benefit from an all-out push towards the future in the form of clean energy. But climate injustice has no meaning in the land of lies and illusions Trump prefers.
1
Consider this another way to work the refs.
He's now "given a speech touting his administration's environmental record." That becomes a talking point for Sunday show panelists, debate moderators, and everyone within the right-wing hatertainment complex. It's one more means to foul the waters, so to speak, for low-engagement voters ambivalent about the incumbent but looking for a reason to vote for him.
And because our media institutions are far more dedicated to balanced both-siderism than accurate reporting, it is likely to have the desired effect.
3
So with a coal lobbyist adding lead to our water and air. And an deep state oil goon by his other side.
We will hear...
Lies and platitudes but no reality.
80
The political usefulness of lack of shame should not be underestimated. Trump and his administration are trying to both eat the cake and leave and whole while serving their coal masters. One wishes that for once, Trump supporters will be able to identify the con but that may be in vein— there is no limit to self-delusion
24
““It is still not a top-five priority” among Republicans, Mr. Luntz said. “These guys, they really do care, but they don’t know how to get it done in this polarized environment.””
This is a total lie that should not be published by the news. I’m tired of the news supporting republican propaganda.
It’s like having 99% of scientists agree climate is a serious problem and then publishing the one guy that is a political hack that disagrees and call it equal.
Stop assisting republicans in lying.
795
Yes. Stop with the obligation to always portray the lies and malarkey of Luntz and other propagandists as always to be reportable as legit views, on a par with the opposition's real legit facts.
71
@Mathias
Right on the mark Mathias.
Republicans shouldn't be getting anymore than a fraction of a percentage of the votes in the coastal counties of my state.
To quote Jon Stewart, NYT, "Do your job!
59
@Mathias - Luntz is a notorious liar that has done great damage to our political culture, democracy, media and government policy.
He has no place in a policy debate or news report among reasonable people engaged in a good faith search for the truth and the public interest.
I strongly agree with your comment!
19
The cleanest air and the clearest water, pristine!
As long as his own party doesn’t call him out on his farcical lies, a large part of your population will believe it's the democrats and the crazy liberals around the world who are inventing climate change. The fact that he pulled the US out the Paris Climate Accord to avenge Obama and to “Make America Great Again.”
is good enough for him and his base.
13
What would be the statistics since 2016?
Giving statistics since 1970 and 2005 is no reflection on his conduct since he became President.
Does he think Americans will be fooled by his 'slight of hand' magic?
5
Ha, the fox guarding the henhouse is going to brag about how good a job he’s doing.
27
Calling Trump a Darth Vader like figure on the Environment is unfair to Anakin Skywalker. I object.
3
And the members of the press who are present will vigorously question everything he says and challenge all his lies.
Just kidding.
26
So he will talk about majestic mountains, eagles flying, waves crashing all the while turning clean water to a toilet, clean air to smog and clean soil to a superfund site.
Make America Polluted Again.
12
This headline is right up there with “Trump to give major speech on women’s rights”.
60
Figures Frank Luntz is involved. He's the guy that convinced Republicans to use the term "climate change" instead of "global warming" in the first place. Read his 2002 memo for yourself: it's *exactly* the same lies and garbage he's serving up now.
http://www.motherjones.com/files/LuntzResearch_environment.pdf
The world burns, but for Luntz and the Republican Party, nothing ever changes. Especially not their sources of cash and power.
19
As they say, fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. Women and millennials are too smart to be fooled.
Before Trump was elected, he did not have a track record of harming the environment. Now he has a track record so all can see, hear, and read about the constant harm he is doing to our environment and to the world at large with his policies.
Maybe this speech will help by drawing attention to his actions over the last three years.
8
@E. Rich
Trump does have a history of environmental damage.
Quoting from "Business Insider'" June 28 2019...about his golf course opened in 2012 in Scotland...."Scottish National Heritage said the construction of the course had damaged unique natural habitats, while others had been "significantly fragmented, and ecological processes disrupted."
It will now begin the formal process of delisting the special scientific interest area."
1
Trusting Trump to protect the environment is like trusting Michael Vick to protect dogs.
16
Trump on his record improving the environment? I'll be tuning in, over popcorn, with my buddy Mitch McConnell, who's promised to regale me with a story about how he and Margaret Thatcher were abducted by an alien space ship in the Sixties.
2
Hey @SGK, Can we invite Fightin' Mike Pence, the founder of "Clean Coal" ?
When someone (here, Wheeler) doesn’t answer a direct question (does Trump believe windmills cause cancer?), don’t just regurgitate his non-answer - say that he declined to answer the question. You’re journalists, not stenographers.
65
He will say that coal is clean. That oil is clean. And that both save jobs, which he what he will harp on.
That global warming is either unproven, part of natural cycle, or it’s too late to reverse it, plus we don’t want to be the only ones doing something when China isn’t (withdrawing from climate treaty notwithstanding). Again, save jobs. (As if there were no jobs in going green).
Finally everything is the ‘best ever’, even though environmental protections, national parks have been downsized by his administration
11
At least 50% of the American audience will see the speech as an outright lie. 35-40% -- his base -- will see that this is just politics and won't care what he says. As the article notes, this is aimed at the 10-15% who are troubled by the trajectory of climate change and Trump's policies but who like the tax cuts, the rising stock market, maybe immigration hard line. They are looking for a fig leaf, some justification for voting for a second term. Whether they are any better than the 35-40% of true believers is difficult to say.
5
Trump will no doubt try to tell us he has a wonderful plan to protect the environment, it's just that it's secret, and he can't release it until he's in his second term.
19
“It is still not a top-five priority” among Republicans, Mr. Luntz said. “These guys, they really do care, but they don’t know how to get it done in this polarized environment.”
So protecting our environment so that human race can continue existing is not a top 5 priority for the GOP. I would love to hear what their top 5 priorities are.
10
Its not surreal unless one calls the last 3 years surreal. Okay, then yes it is, but its in character. Trump accurately judges voters to be completely gullible. If he says, "I care about the environment," people believe him, despite all the contrary evidence. Unfortunately, a very large portion of our populace is uninterested in factual discussions, a portion that includes people of all political stripes. We prefer to have our beliefs confirmed than challenged. As for Trump's environmental record, yeah, he may pull enough uninformed people over to his side just by lying to them. He's done it many times before.
3
How to get it done?
Start with: Require oil and gas companies to report methane emissions and limit or eliminate methane emissions on all public lands;
Enforce rules limiting toxic emissions from major industrial polluters;
Enforce the prohibitions on hydrocarbons in refrigerators and ACs;
Track emissions from vehicles on federal highways;
Strengthen the pollution limitations on power plants;
Strengthen the rules on requiring refineries to monitor pollution and its effects on surroundings;
Reinstate government social-cost-of-carbon-emissions estimations;
Require federal agencies to include greenhouse gas emissions in their environmental reviews;
Ban E15 fuel;
Strengthen fuel-economy standards on all vehicles;
Rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement;
Require coal plants to capture CO2 emissions;
Limit mercury emissions from coal plants;
Protect the national monuments and national parks from mining, drilling, and fracking;
Require mines to prove they have the funds set aside for cleaning up future pollution;
Forbid fracking on American Indian lands and federal lands;
Require Gulf oil rig owners and operators to pay for the removal of rigs that no longer produce;
Preserve and improve ocean, Great Lakes, and general coastal water quality and cleanliness
5
From every action he has taken regarding the environment since the moment he took office, it has been obvious that he doesn't care a twit about preserving any of it.
But if he thinks supporting it will bring him some votes, he'll lie and promise to fix it all - and faster and better than anyone else ever could too!
5
You really need to figure out a better tactic than reporting this speech will be surreal. Trump will deliver one lie after another, spewed forth with gusto, and there it will be. Because he said it, it will forever be true until he says it is not true. And you will have Fox News and other Right Wing Media repeat the president's speech and say how great the environment is and how proud they are witness to Trump's environmental stewardship.
You have to go after Republican congressmen and ask them if they think he is doing a good job on the environment and not allow them to get away with saying that they are protecting jobs. It is not jobs but about actual life that is in jeopardy but that's not the story that is being told. Anchorage, Alaska was in the 90's recently - something is obviously wrong and you are using terms like surreal to describe it.
Throughout his whole presidency so far, the reporting is about the short term. Temporary numbers appear good but what was perverted in order to get those numbers? Every one of Trump's policies have obvious long term detriment effects but despite this truth people won't hear that. They will hear how he is fighting for our air and water and he is the hero of Mother Nature and the reality will be lost.
Go after the Republican Party for single-handedly giving us Trump and the future destruction of our country and possibly even the world. And looking at climate models that isn't hyperbole.
3
A speech on unity on the Fourth of July followed less than a week later by a speech on the environment. Each can be called a “farce,” but that doesn’t stop Trump. Bold-faced lies are his MO and half the country and half the members of Congress are fine with that. We get different versions of the same basic news about Trump every day, some more outrageous than others, but essentially the message is the same: we have a corrupt child in the White House and the powers that be lack the will to get rid of him.
1
There inevitably will be an industrial or ecological accident directly traceable to MAGA deregulation and dismantlement of safety and environmental standards. Trump already will have been advised of this, and no doubt he said something to the effect “If there’s an accident and people die, it will be because someone wasn’t doing their job. That person will be fired. Believe me. I’ll make sure they never work again. Never get another paycheck. That’s how you handle these things”
2
@Mark If babies dying in walkers due to deregulation (yes, that really happened) doesn't faze his base, nothing will.
1
That's easy. He is going to lie. Given his record of lying I don't know why anyone expects anything else.
He is going to lie to us just like he lied to the troops in Iraq.
He is going to lie to us just like he lied to the troops in Korea.
He is going to lie to us just like he lies to everyone else all the time as has been documented over and over.
Trump has never let the truth stand in the way because he believes he is the truth. Trump measure the worth of others by how much they believe him over their own eyes and ears.
3
If he truly intends to try and sway some moderate or independent voters his way, what he says will matter less than his well demonstrated penchant for undoing his own message. Look at the debacle with the census when the leadership vacuum is sorely apparent. Or with NASA returning to the moon - first he backed it, then a few weeks ago out of the blue he Tweeted away and blasted them for that silly idea and then, by the 4th of July speech, we are apparently back on track for the moon before Mars.
Bottom line...why should voters believe what will be, at best an ephemeral position on this (and a host of other) issue?
4
It's unfortunate that the media is forced to cover the nonsense that emanates from this self-serving administration. That said, our best collective response to everything they do is to follow the money.
2
Although this weird approach won't convince any moderates or Democrats, it does give some (false) political ammunition to his base, and can perhaps provide them with an easier conscience if they have any concerns about the environment. (There's gotta be one or two out there somewhere -- maybe someone whose home has burned or flooded.)
1
Trump lies all the time and it doesn't hurt him - may even help him. Why stop?
5
If he wants to make a real mark with his speech, he could do it easily by using his power under the Antiquities Act: reverse the unprecedented cuts he made in 2017 to Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah.
1
This sounds like another disconnect from reality by Trump. This "stance" on the environment is a good example that he is losing his marbles right in front of us.
4
No surprise here. Trump has been lying in furtherance of his reelection since he was inaugurated and creating "fact checkers" as a new and in-demand occupation.
2
The minute that Frank Luntz was mentioned in this article, advising the Republicans on environmental/climate strategies, I knew for sure this was an insincere effort on Trump's part. Disgraceful.
I can't imagine what new "media-speak" words he will invent and introduce into their campaign speeches soon.
Shameful.
10