Trump does not care if wildfire destroys West – it did not vote for him | Robert Reich | Comment

D.He said the air outside my window was yellow today. It was orange yesterday. The air quality index is over 200. The Environmental Protection Agency defines this as a “health alert” in which “everyone can experience serious health risks if exposed 24 hours a day.” Unfortunately, the index has been above 200 for several days.

The West is burning. Wildfire California, Oregon and Washington burn down homes, kill large numbers of people, injure hundreds, evacuate hundreds of thousands of people, burn entire cities to the ground, consume millions of acres, thick, heavy and dangerous smoke in the western third of the United States.

Yet the president did almost nothing. A month ago, Trump wanted to save lives Oregon And California “rebels and bandits”. He sent federal forces through the streets of Portland and threatened to send them to Auckland and Los Angeles.

Today, Portland is in danger of being burned And Oakland and Los Angeles are on health alerts. Trump will arrive in California on Monday, but he has said no Little.

One reason: these states voted against him in 2016, and he still has a grudge.

He rejected California’s request for emergency funding.

“He told us to stop giving money to people whose homes were burned because people in the state of California were so angry that they didn’t support him.” Said Miles Taylor, former head of the Department of Homeland Security.

Another explanation for Trump’s silence is wildfire Built Trump has done everything man can to make man-made climate change worse.

Severe weather disasters are spreading across the United States. On Wednesday, the National Maritime and Atmospheric Administration released its latest release Status of Climate ReportIn August, the United States was hit by a $ 4 billion catastrophe. Besides the wildfire, there were two massive hurricanes and one extraordinary one Midwest right.

These are the hard facts that he spent most of his presidency trying to get rid of every important climate and environmental policy that could be put in the hands of the president.

Starting with his unilateral decision to pull out of the Paris climate deal, Trump has been the most anti-environmental president in history.

He called climate change a “hoax.” He said there was no evidence that windmills cause cancer. He has weakened the Obama timeline on planetary warming carbon dioxide From power stations And from Cars and trucks. He has withdrawn the rules governing clean air, water and toxic chemicals. Has opened up more public lands for oil and gas drilling.

He has specifically targeted California, Revokes state power Establishing stricter car emissions standards than required by the federal government.

Overall, the Trump administration has been reversed, overturned, or otherwise rolled over Nearly 70 environmental regulations And Terms. More than 30 rollbacks are still in operation.

Now, seven weeks before election day, Trump is attacking Joe Biden to defend his record unhindered as much of the country is on fire or experiencing other effects of climate change.

“The core of [Biden’s] The economic agenda is a tough left-wing war against American power, ”Trump said Rose Garden talk Last month.

No. Although Biden tackled climate change as a central part of his campaign, t 2tn proposes to invest In a major green works project to build a renewable energy infrastructure, his ideas are not exactly radical. The money will be used to improve energy efficiency, build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations and increase renewable energy from wind, solar and other technologies.

Biden wants to end the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity by 2035 and bring the United States to zero zero on greenhouse gases by 2050. His goals may be very modest. If there is any sign of what is happening now in the West, 2050 will be too late.

Nevertheless, Americans have a clear choice. In a few weeks, climate change will be on the ballot when they decide whether Trump deserves another four years.

The choice should not be difficult. Like the corona virus, the ill effects of climate change – along with Trump’s utter misconduct – provide clear evidence that he is less concerned about the public good.