A Review of Trump's Positions on Climate, Energy and the Economy

What would a Trump presidency look like? This is the question that thinking people must ask. Trump is notoriously vague but he has offered some insight into his positions on the climate and energy fronts.

If Trump were to become President it would signal the end of the Paris Climate Agreement, environmental regulations would be gutted and fossil fuel extraction would multiply. This is a recipe for disaster.

Here is a review of his positions on climate change, energy, the economy, and government regulations. Included is a review of his shady business practices, and his love for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

Denier

Trump has vowed to kill climate action. When asked about anthropogenic global warming he infamously said:

“Well, they’re saying manmade and I say it could have a minor impact but nothing, nothing to what they are talking
about. And what it is doing is putting us at a tremendous disadvantage as a country, because other counties are not
adhering to the rules, we are, and it makes it impossible for our businesses to compete.”

California Gov. Jerry Brown, is leading a green revolution in his state. In a recent speech Brown succinctly destroyed Trump’s climate ignorance calling him a fraud and a liar.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, the liberal conscience of the Democratic Party, said at the DNC Convention. “Trump thinks he can win votes by fanning the flames of fear and hatred.” As Warren pointed out his divide and conquer politics benefits no one but himself.

Energy policy

Trump’s energy agenda is largely defined by his support for fossil fuels and his commitment to rolling back clean energy initiatives. We would see more
coal and a lot less clean energy. The Republican Platform rejects renewable energy and carbon pricing. He has specifically promised to:

Rescind all of President Obama’s executive actions, including the Climate Action Plan, cancel the Paris Climate Agreement and stop all payments of U.S. tax dollars to U.N. global warming programs.

As reviewed in a Makovsky post, in his own words here are Trump’s views opposing clean energy:

“There has been a big push to develop alternative forms of energy—so-called green energy—from renewable sources. That’s
a big mistake. To begin with, the whole push for renewable energy is being driven by the wrong motivation, the mistaken
belief that global climate change is being caused by carbon emissions. If you don’t buy that—and I don’t—then what we
have is really just an expensive way of making the tree-huggers feel good about themselves.”

Trump dismisses solar energy as an “unproven technology” with low return on investment, despite the fact that solar is revolutionizing the energy picture in the US and around the world. Trump has also stated that wind
energy is “destroying shorelines all over the world” and is a “very, very poor source of energy.”

Economic policy

Former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat who served as Michigan’s chief executive from 2003 through 2010
quotes experts who have said that his economic policies could result
in the loss of millions of jobs or that many of the products that bear his name are manufactured overseas.

A Think Progress
article described Trump’s economic policy as “devastating” for climate and his economic plan was referred to as a
“nightmare.”

For more information about the fantasy of Trump’s energy and economic policy click here.

Regulations

As reported by Grist,
a secret recording obtained by Reuters, suggests the if Trump becomes
president the first thing he will do is get rid of the Environmental
Protection Agency.
He would dismantle US environment and climate laws and effectively deregulate
pollution.

Shady business practices

The Freedom Kids performed at Trump Rallies, but did not receive due compensation. The Freedom Kids story mirrors Trump’s record in working with small business owners.

According to the USA Today there are hundreds of people who have failed to be paid by Trump despite providing the goods or services requested.

Russia

In August the New York Times said that a secret Ukrainian ledger lists the Trump campaign as having received payments. Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort is known to have advised a former pro-Putin Ukrainian President. Manaford was also named in Ukrainian investigation into shady payments.

Clearly Trump likes the Russian dictator. In July Trump suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin had once called President Barack Obama the n-word then he went on to say that he hopes Putin likes him.

Donald Trump also said he hopes Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails have fallen into the hands of Russian hackers essentially sanctioning state espionage against the United States.

Trump has been all over the place regarding his ties to Putin and others in Russia. Most recently an ABC News investigation revealed that Trump was paid hundreds of millions by Russian oligarchs.

Opposition

Democrats oppose Trump, so it is no surprise that Jennifer Granholm says that “Donald Trump is just so wildly wrong for America.” However many Republicans also oppose him.

Univision published a scathing op-ed by Republican activist by Rosario Marín on August 17 under the title, “Why this Republican is endorsing Hillary Clinton.” She publicly and
unequivocally pledged to vote for Hillary Clinton. “My party and its standard bearer leave me no choice; On November 8, I will vote for Hillary Clinton.”

Many leading Republicans and all living former Presidents have come forward to oppose Trump. Many Republicans opposing Trump say he is dangerously unqualified to be president.

Anti-science

One of the hallmarks of the Republican party and Donald Trump in particular is their ignorance of and opposition to science. This view was cemented by a science survey filled out by Trump which caused Think Progress to say his answers show “lack of either knowledge or policy.”

“Science is science and facts are facts,” Trump writes at the end of the survey.

If this were a take-home, open-book science test, Trump would have failed.

Corruption

On September 11th the Washington Post uncovered what it described as “massive” corruption At Trump Foundation

Why Trump is the wrong person at the wrong time

In August Bernie Sanders published an OpEd In LA Times, here is an excerpt:

“Donald Trump would be a disaster and an embarrassment for our country if he were elected president. His campaign is not
based on anything of substance — improving the economy, our education system, healthcare or the environment. It is based on
bigotry. He is attempting to win this election by fomenting hatred against Mexicans and Muslims. He has crudely insulted
women. And as a leader of the “birther movement,” he tried to undermine the legitimacy of our first African American
president. That is not just my point of view. That’s the perspective of a number of conservative Republicans…Trump, on the other hand, like most Republicans, rejects science and the conclusions of almost all major researchers in the
field. He believes that climate change is a “hoax,” and that there’s no need to address it…the most immediate task we face is to defeat Donald Trump.”