Monday March 25th… Dear Diary. The main purpose of this ongoing post will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
The Mueller Report And Climate Change…Politically What’s Next
Most in the climate world and other people with progressive outlooks the last couple of years have been salivating at the thought that the Mueller probe would indicate that Trump colluded with Russia and\or obstructed justice enough to warrant impeachment. Out would go Trump before 2020, and there would be such a stain on the Republican Party that Democrats who are all calling for a Green New Deal would win in a landslide. Right? Well, wrong. It looks like as of 3/25, Dear Diary, that Trump has been exonerated; thus, the only way for Trump and his environmental unfriendly policies not to be around until 2025 is for him to loose in the upcoming 2020 election. The good news here is that we apparently don’t have a traitor as leader of the free world. The bad news, of course, is that Trump and his allies will be emboldened to press on with their agenda, which is anti climate.
There is a big danger here for Democrats. Should the public perceive that forthcoming hearings overreach during 2019/20 Trump could indeed be reelected, or at least such perception would in part work towards Trump’s favor. Don’t get me wrong. Trump could indeed be found to have committed enough crimes in association with what the Southern District of New York uncovers and obstruction of justice to warrant impeachment, but already it appears that the President will use the findings of the Mueller Report as a cudgel against Democrats for reelection purposes.
Did Trump and Putin conspire to win the 2016 so that, for one, sanctions would be removed in order for a 500 million dollar oil deal with Exxon could go through? Apparently not, but the truth may never really be known. Watch for the Administration to move to complete this deal in 2019 or 2020 with some sanction’s against Russia lifted. Also, watch for deregulation here in the U.S. to continue, meaning that coal ash and other pollutants like carbon itself can more easily be dumped into the people’s environment.
I did write that it would be “game over” for the climate if Democrats did not take over the House of Representatives in 2018 to put oversite checks on Trump. While this historic hurtle went down favorably the House is in a precarious position, as stated, politically. From 1997-98 the Republican led Congress was perceived to have overreached on impeaching Bill Clinton for the Monica Lewinsky affair per the Ken Starr probes, so Republicans did not gain as many seats as expected in the 1998 mid-term elections. Should most of the public perceive that a “witch hunt” is ongoing by Democrats causing at least in part Trump’s reelection, game over for the climate. Hopefully Democrats can continue hearings with the publics general blessing, but leaders need to be cautious about questions to be asked.
Remember, the U.S. can officially divorce itself from the Paris Accords the day after the inauguration in 2021. The U.S. could quickly regain a leadership role on climate should a Democrat strongly advocating the Green New Deal get elected as President along with both the House and Senate becoming Democratic after the 2020 election. Should this not occur I just don’t see how we turn the climate ship around before that 2030 deadline professed by most experts.
These are very scarry times. Obviously, but also unfortunately, as of 2019 the climate issue is married to the fate of what happens to Democrats. Traditionally the U.S. has been a very pro capitalistic, anti regulation country, not the Democrats forte. Is our society ready to swallow a whole scale socialistic approach to solving environmental problems? Will the Green New Deal get botched because of reverberating effects from Democratic investigation oversight? Will Trump’s renewed confidence and a strong economy be enough to reelect him in 2020 dashing hopes of Al Gore and many others at Climate Reality like myself? We will see, and I will continue to report on these politics.
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Here is more climate and weather news from Monday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see articles.)
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Guy Walton- “The Climate Guy”