Trump yanks U.S. from Paris climate pact—American exceptionalism of the worst kind

Pr*sident Donald Trump—the man who lied about all the environmental awards he has received and vacillated between being a total numbskull on climate change and just another opportunist who bends with the wind as long as it doesn’t mean erecting turbines within sight of his golf courses—told the world Thursday what has been expected with trepidation since November 9: The U.S. is pulling out of the Paris climate agreement. Given legal considerations, this ceding of U.S. leadership will take three years to complete. But the negative impacts have already begun.

From the White House Rose Garden Trump said that the United States would withdraw from the Paris agreement for the “well-being” of the American people, but begin negotiating a new deal right away that he claimed would be fairer to the U.S. Immediately, the U.S. will end its pledge to reduce carbon emissions and no longer contribute to the fund that helps developing nations deal with climate change.

The decision breaks with the precedent set, however imperfectly, by the previous four presidents, two Republicans and two Democrats. It could also spur other nations to abandon the agreement. That pact was designed with the goal of keeping average global temperatures from rising 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above the pre-industrial level by cutting greenhouse gas emissions. We’ve already seen a rise of 1.8 degrees.

Navigating the diplomatic paths necessary to get 195 nations to sign the final Paris agreement in late 2015 was a signature achievement of President Barack Obama.

Of Trump’s opting out, Jim Tankersley at Vox wrote late Wednesday:

“It is a decision made for domestic political purposes that puts the livelihood and lives of millions of people in developing countries at risk,” says Trevor Houser, a former climate negotiator for President Barack Obama who is now a partner with the Rhodium Group. “This is a craven, symbolic political move without any direct benefits for the constituents he’s targeting.”

The Paris agreement is only a step toward the reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions that scientists roundly agree is necessary in order to reduce the most catastrophic risks of climate change. But it is a crucial step, won through years of diplomatic grunt work, including a sustained effort to rebuild American climate credibility that had been torched by the Bush administration.