The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has startling news for everybody: "President Trump believes the climate is changing" and that man-made pollutants are partly responsible. Haley added: "Just because the US got out of a club doesn't mean we aren't going to care about the environment."
Long ago, Donald Trump tweeted that global warming -- or climate change -- was a hoax invented by the Chinese to cause U.S. manufacturers to spend more money on pollution-control equipment. During the presidential campaign he told a Miami, Florida newspaper that climate change was a naturally occurring phenomenon and there was no human cause involved. When interviewed after she became Trump's press spokesperson, Kellyanne Conway made it very clear that Trump didn't think there was a human element to the warming of the planet, even if it was taking place.
Why didn't Trump himself announce his change of mind. It may have been because he was surprised by the intensity of the negative reaction to his pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement that he wanted to try to get on the other side of the issue. Also it may be the case that Trump didn't want his die-hard supporters to hear that he had mislead them in the campaign. Thus, it was better for a surrogate to proclaim the position reversal and Nikki Haley may be one of the few Trump surrogates who retains enough credibility to convey the news without being laughed out of town.
President Trump's claim that he will try to renegotiate to get a better deal is just a ploy to create an impression that the U.S. has not really left the deal but will work to get a better one. It is safe to say that there is zero chance that 195 nations will get together to fundamentally change a deal that was very difficult to get in the first place. In addition, how many world leaders trust Trump on deal-making?
Turning now to the evolving reaction to President Trump's nine-day foreign trip starting in Saudi Arabia and including meetings with the G7 and leaders of the NATO nations. It has received generally favorable media coverage and Sen. Corker (R-TN) lavishly praised the trip. Even George Will said the bar for success was very low, he declared that Trump had cleared the bar. Now may be a good time to reflect back on how large swaths of the media went ga-ga over Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress
One promise that Trump made in that speech was that his administration would enhance the quality of the nation's air and water. Trump is dismantling the nation's environmental protections and sharply cutting the EPA budget.
Trump promised comprehensive immigration reform, worked out with Democrats. It now seems evident that Trump dangled the prospect of immigration reform to increase the size of the audience and to cast himself as a moderate. Since Democratic lawmakers will not vote for immigration reform that doesn't include a pathway to citizenship, and Trump will not embrace a legal pathway because it will be a "bridge too far" for many of his supporters, immigration reform is a dead issue.
In his joint session speech, Trump called for everyone to respect one another. This is a cruel jibe from a person who has made disrespect for others a major art of his persona and continues to disrespect those who oppose what he wants to do as president.
President Trump gave five principles for an Affordable Care Act replacement and has largely dispensed with them in his backing of a plan that greatly increases the number of the uninsured, would raise premium costs for many seniors and allow the states to waive two important provisions in the new plan.
Trump promised a giant middle-class tax cut, whereas his plan written in December 2015 would be heavily skewed toward tax savings for the top few percent of tax filers and would actually raise the taxes for millions of middle-class and low-income tax filers.
Trump's tribute to the Navy Seal's wife in the speech to the joint session seems to be the one thing that most persuaded the media and others enraptured by Trump's speech to declare him to be "presidential." Yet, saying that the Seal is very happy in eternity due to the applause generated is akin to contending that the sacrifice of his life was worth it for the applause received at a Trump-controlled event.
Much as I think that the praise for the joint session speech would be seen today as greatly overblown, the overseas trip will receive the same fate with some further reflection. Note the dichotomy between telling the Saudis that he did not come to lecture them and tell them what to do and do just that in speaking to the NATO leaders; failing to pledge U.S. support for the NATO Charter's Article 5, even though his staff was sure he would pledge just that; shoving aside the president of Montenegro to get a better position in a photo op; and riding in a golf cart while the others walked. And perhaps the biggest misstep of the whole trip was in arousing the ire of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is probably the most influential leader in the world today.
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