June 1-3, 2017: World Leaders Condemn Trump after Withdrawal from Paris Climate Accord

 

June 1, 2017: The president, who can’t tell the difference between weather and climate, and has the same grasp of basic science one might expect from a hamster, withdraws the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord. In so doing, he aligns the United States with two other “leading” nations: Syria and Nicaragua. The other 194 signatories still believe climate change is a serious threat. 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: April 2018 more than a thousand members of the National Academy of Sciences will sign a letter criticizing the decision to withdraw from the accord. “The dismissal of scientific evidence in policy formation has affected wide areas of social, biological, environmental and physical sciences,” they will warn.

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6/2/2017: Reporters ask aides if the president still believes global warming is a hoax. It’s an easy question. You might as well ask if Trump believes in Santa Claus. Press Secretary Sean Spicer replies, “I have not had an opportunity to have that discussion.” (See: 8/27/17; 12/28/17; 1/6/18.) 

Kellyanne Conway gives a flippant answer, fluffs her hair, and prances away. “You should ask him,” she says.

 

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“Make Our Planet Great Again.” 

President Emmanuel Macron

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In “Fake News,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, invoking her training as a scientist, tells reporters Trump’s actions: 

…will not deter all of us who feel obliged to protect this earth [emphasis added]…We will gather all our strength – in Germany, in Europe, and in the world – to meet the great challenges of humanity, like climate change, and to successfully master these challenges. For all whom the future of this planet is important, I say: Let us continue along this path together, so that we are successful for our Mother Earth.

 

Koichi Yamamoto, Japan’s environment minister, says the president has “turned his back on the wisdom of human beings.” 

French President Emmanuel Macron is blunt, mocking Trump’s stance. He addresses an audience on TV: 

Tonight, I wish to tell the United States, France believes in you – the world believes in you.

 

I know that you are a great nation. I know your history – our common history.

 

To all scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, responsible citizens who were disappointed by the decision of the president of the United States, I want to say that they will find in France a second homeland.

 

I call on them: come and work here with us. To work together on concrete solutions for our climate, our environment. I can assure you, France will not give up the fight.

 

I call on you to remain confident. We will succeed, because we are fully committed, because wherever we live, whoever we are, we all share the same responsibility: Make Our Planet Great Again.

 

France and Britain pledge to ban the sale of gas- and diesel-powered automobiles by 2040. (See: 7/6/17.)

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6/3/17: The average American worker’s wage grows 0.2 percent in May. This brings the year-over-year gain to 2.5 percent. That surpasses inflation by 0.5 percent, meaning the average worker, earning $45,000 annually, has $225 more to stick in the bank or hide in his or her sock drawer. 

By comparison, the top 25 hedge fund managers earn a combined $11 billion in 2016. James Simons leads the way at $1.6 billion. Simon’s pay for one year equals the wage gains piled up by 7,111,111 average workers. 

You know what this proves? 

We need tax cuts for the ultra-rich!

April 30, 2018: Trump Puts the Ignoramus in Ignorance

 

4/30/18: Today might be a good day to give Trump credit for movement in relations with North Korea. President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and Kim Jong-un have met to discuss ending a state of war that has existed since 1950. Kim is talking about denuclearizing the peninsula. 

Naturally, Trump and his supporters believe this proves the president is the greatest leader ever. At a rally over the weekend the audience chanted, “Nobel, Nobel.” Still, it’s hard to imagine Trump – who often talks cavalierly about touching off nuclear war – ever receiving the Peace Prize. 

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Iran has no nuclear weapons. North Korea does.

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Of course, the president had to be a dick in discussing such matters. First, he insisted he shouldn’t have been left to deal with North Korea, as if he wanted to be elected president, but didn’t want to have to handle complicated problems. Mostly, he wanted to talk about his greatness, a greatness that rested on the many impressive skills of his great self. He would solve the North Korean nuclear puzzle when no one else could. “The United States has been played beautifully, like a fiddle, because you had a different kind of a leader,” Trump said. “We’re not going to be played, okay? We’re going to hopefully make a deal. If we don’t, that’s fine. The United States in the past was played like a fiddle.” (See: 12/24-25/18; 12/8/19.) 

Trump couldn’t just admit that previous administrations faced difficulties too. North Korea tested its first nuclear weapon when George W. Bush was in office. Pressure to force the North to halt testing failed because neither China nor Russia would back the U.S. up. North Korean missile tests while Obama was in charge increased the danger. Tough economic sanctions were imposed. China remained unhelpful. So long as China traded with the North, sanctions failed. 

Meanwhile, the Obama administration managed to put in place crippling sanctions on Iran. By 2015, Iran had enough enriched uranium to build an estimated 8-10 atomic bombs and the skill and capacity to build its first bomb in 2-3 months. In the face of danger, China, Russia, Great Britain, France, and Germany signed on along with the United States for a deal to end sanctions in return for Iranian agreement not to pursue a nuclear weapons program for ten years. Iran shipped 98% of its enriched uranium to Russia. The Iranians agreed to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to monitor facilities to ensure compliance. The IAEA has consistently reported – fiddles aside – that Iran has abided by the agreement. 

Iran has no nuclear weapons.

 

So, what does the Trump administration plan to do? Trump would like to tear up the deal, which he recently called a “disaster” and “insane.” The French, Germans and British say the deal is working as intended. 

In fact, two of Trump’s favorite people, and we do not mean Playboy Bunnies, agreed in a phone call today that the Iranian agreement should be preserved and fully implemented. Those buddies: Vladimir Putin, Trump’s Secret Santa pal, and French President Emmanuel Macron.

 

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TRUMP loves Macron – as we saw recently during the first state visit of Trump’s tenure in office. With reporters looking on, the President of the United States appeared to have a foreign policy boner. “We have a very special relationship,” Trump continued, referring to Macron, who stood by his side. 

“In fact,” Trump said, glancing at his best French friend, “I’ll get that little piece of dandruff off.” 

With that, he flicked some speck on the French president’s shoulder and grinned at TV cameras like some lovable dope. “We have to make him perfect – he is perfect,” the Big Orange Buffoon explained. 

 

“Against ignorance we have education.” 

The next day, in a speech to Congress, Macron went out of his way to point to the critical foreign policy mistakes of the Trump administration. Vox highlighted five times Mr. Perfect rebuked the Buffoon. When it came to climate change, Macron explained the different paths one might take. “I believe that against ignorance we have education,” he began, implying that Trump put the ignoramus in ignorance. He listed other dualities, finishing with this: “Against the threats on the planet, science.” 

Climate change wasn’t a “hoax, or a communist ploy dreamed up to hurt the United States. Macron explained: 

Some people think that securing current industries and their jobs is more urgent than transforming our economies to meet the global challenge of climate change. I hear these concerns. But we must find a smooth transition to a low-carbon economy. Because what is the meaning of our life, really, if we work and live destroying the planet [emphasis added]…What is the meaning of our life if our decision, our conscious decision, is to reduce the opportunities for our children and grandchildren?

 

By polluting the oceans, not mitigating CO₂ emissions, and destroying our biodiversity – we are killing our planet. Let us face it. There is no planet B.

 

Macron also mentioned the dangers of “Fake News.” With the greatest liar in U.S. history occupying the Oval Office, you knew he was thinking of Trump when he warned, “Without reason, without truth, there is no real democracy, because democracy is about true choices and rational decisions. The corruption of information is an attempt to corrode the very spirit of our democracies.” 

How about scrapping the Iran deal? Good idea or bad? 

We must ensure stability and respect sovereignty of the nations, including that one of Iran, which represents a great civilization. Let us not replicate past mistakes in the region. Let us not be naive on one side. Let us not create new walls ourselves on the other side. There is an existing framework called the JCPOA to control the nuclear activity of Iran. We signed it at the initiative of the United States. We signed it, both the United States and France. That is why we cannot say we should get rid of it like that.

 

Or to put it more succinctly, in terms of foreign affairs, the Trump administration really sucks! 

The sun sets over Washington.

December 23, 2018: Presidential Harassment! (Also Known as "Whining")

 

12/23/18: Angered by all the attention given the resignation of Secretary Mattis, Trump does what he does best. He takes the craven course. He announces, via Twitter, that Mattis is out on January 1. 

 

“Just vindictive.” 

Reaction to this and other recent presidential moves is almost unanimously negative. Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, offers this typical reaction: “And now Trump gets rid of SecDef Mattis almost immediately. No smooth transition. No effort at reassurance to allies. Just vindictive.” 

President Emmanuel Macron of France criticizes the president’s snap decision to withdraw forces from Syria, saying that “an ally must be reliable [emphasis added].” French forces have been fighting by our side against the Islamic State, but it is now unclear what will happen to that effort. Mattis was always “reliable,” Macron says, delivering a back-handed slap to the fool in the Oval Office.

 

Feeling bad about all the criticism he’s taking, Trump tweet-whines before heading off to bed.  At 11:26 p.m. we get this, including the quote from Fox News: 

“The President has been remarkable. I do not doubt that he will thrive in this new environment, and he will be a constant reminder of what populism is.” Thank you to Tammy Bruce and Steve Hilton. Presidential Harassment has been with me from the beginning!

 

The tears of a clown: Presidential Harassment!

French troops serving in Syria. Now Trump is getting out!