President Trump Scrapped the Paris Accord - Hardly a Step Towards Climate Armageddon

President Trump fulfilled one of his larger campaign promises. He scrapped the Paris Accord on global warning. It would seem like Armageddon on earth if you listen to the global outrage. If President Trump were a normal politician, he would have exercised one of two options. He could have left it in place, and then ignored it because it is not binding. Or he could have sent it to the Senate for ratification as a treaty, knowing the Senate on a bipartisan basis would have rejected it. President trump is not a normal politician. Instead he did the right thing. He rejected it outright. Period. The Paris Accord was a treaty between nations, no matter how President Obama tried to entangle the United States into an international accord by executive order without going through Congress, which never would have ratified it. Fareed Zakaria said the United States “resigns as head of the Free World.” He conveniently forgets that President Obama’s foreign policy was famously based on “Leading from behind.” President Trump’s is “America First.” President Trump said he represents the people from Pittsburgh, not Paris. 195 countries signed onto the Paris Accord. If you listen to President Trump’s critics and foreign leaders, President Trump has condemned the globe to ruination. Maureen Dowd, the great columnist for the New York Times, wrote “Trump Stomps Planet Earth.” They’re crying crocodile tears. The accord is not binding on any of the signatories, is unenforceable, and subject to change. No penalties exist for violations. Each of the 195 signatories self-determines its “Intended Nationally Determined Contributions,” (INDC) which became its non-binding obligation in the accord. For example, China, the leading greenhouse emitter in the world, agreed to increase its emissions annually until 2030, when it would cut back. If it cuts greenhouse gas emissions before 2030, it will do so because of internal political pressures and because the smog in Beijing and other major cities has become unacceptable. The third world, undeveloped countries would not make any representations that would hamper any economic development. Germany, having shut down its nuclear reactors, is increasing its use of coal. The New York Times even wrote “In truth, the agreement does not require any country to do anything ….” Thus, we are back to Gertrude Stein’s famous quote: “There is no there, there.” The only country that obligated itself to do anything was the United States to carry through on President Obama’s war on Coal. President Obama committed the United States to reduce greenhouse emissions by 26-28% of 2005 levels by 2020. Half of these levels have been met by electric utilities switching from coal to natural gas for economic reasons. Fracking has unleashed a flood of low cost natural gas into the market. China is the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide. It can continue to increase CO2 emissions for 15 years while the United States is engaged in a self-inflicted wound on its economy. India and Russia could continue to increase CO2 emissions while the United States shut down its reliable, cheap energy industries. The Obama bias was directed at all fossil fuels. The rest of the world is upset because President Trump will not preside over the ruination of the American economy. The Third World is upset because they will not be getting economic reparations from the United States. President Obama’s environmental policy reflected the beliefs of the blue coastal state. President Trump’s environmental policy represents the red states manufacturing heartland of America. They elected him to the Presidency. He said “It is time to put Youngstown, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania along with many, many other locations within our great country before Paris, France.” Cries of Armageddon flooded the media today, prophesizing a parade of horrors to the planet from global warming. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the President’s act a “devastating failure of historic proportions,” which is basically what he says of any action by President Trump. The Los Angeles Times called President Trump “reckless and irresponsible.” Al Gore simply calls him “irresponsible.” Tom Stayer, the Silicon Valley hedge fund gazillionaire and possible candidate for office in California, called it a “traitorous act.” Max Boot, the Los Angeles Times columnist, said “The President chooses nationalism over the planet.” President Trump chose sovereignty over global bureaucrats, of which the EU bureaucrats in Brussels are an example. The same outcries of Armageddon flooded the media in 2001 when President George W. Bush withdrew from the Kyoto Agreement. The Paris Accord was one of three Obama-Kerry international agreements which are incredibly disastrous and foolhardy by objective analysis. The first is the Iranian agreement in which the President shipped $1.4 billion in crash at night in unmarked planes to the mullahs of Iran. The idealistic, naive rationale was that the mullahs would use the money to improve the economic conditions of the Iranian people rather than using it to foster terrorism and military expansionism. This agreement puts the world at risk. The second was the agreement reinstating relations with Cuba as Cuba continues its brutal dictatorship. It continues to put the Cuban people at risk. The third is the Paris Accord, which puts the American economy at risk.. How empty is the existing Paris Accord? MIT researcher estimate that if the existing agreement is fully complied with, it will only result in a .2°Celcius reduction in temperature from the predicted increase. Always keep in mind though the climate change models to date have been highly inaccurate. A related agreement is the Global Climate Fund, which purports to transfer $100 billion to third world, undeveloped countries in reparations, sorry renewables and infrastructure, by 2020. President Obama committed the United States to $3 billion of the sum, and paid in $1 billion. So far, only the United States of the major greenhouse gas emitting countries, has paid into the fund. The irony of the response is that many global leaders, corporate leaders, governors, mayors, and university presidents have vowed to continue to adhere to the Paris Accord, which in fact has nothing to adhere to.