Trump Goes Toxic

The West has polluted the world for over 200 years since the industrial revolution in the 1770S... through the 1900S

- Minhaz Merchant

President Donald Trump has overplayed his hand. Elected against the odds, Trump has made three potentially fatal errors in his young presidency. 

First, by walking out of the Paris climate agreement, he has abandoned America’s claim to global leadership – an unchallenged position it has held since the end of the Second World War. Trump’s meandering speech decrying the dangers of global warming as a pretext to walk out of the Paris accord was strong on rhetoric, weak on fact.

Second, by mollycoddling Saudi Arabia Trump has weakened the fight against Islamist terrorism. The Saudis are the fount of Wahhabism, the toxic religious philosophy that spurs radical terror groups like the Islamic State (ISIS), al-Qaeda and the Taliban. 

Third, by taking his travel ban to the Supreme Court, he has doubled down on his anti-immigration stand. If the Supreme Court either refuses to hear the matter – or finds against the ban – Trump’s presidency will be severely damaged.
 
Consider each of these three missteps. By pulling the US out of the Paris climate accord, Trump has backed America’s traditional polluters: petrol cars, coal mines and smokestack manufacturing industries that belong to the 20th Century. 
    
Forward-looking business leaders like Elon Musk, CEO of  Tesla, resigned from the President’s advisory council within 12 hours of Trump’s announcement to withdraw from Paris. Musk makes electric cars so his resignation has an element of self-interest: Trump’s move will slow the switch to electric cars by lowering the bar on carbon emissions.