The ‘breaking news’, according to an EU official and Wall Street Journal reporting, Donald Trump and @TeamTrump might act (yet again) in ways to piss off their #MAGA-frothing base. After announcing, in front of a sweating audience of fossil fools on the White House lawn, that the United States would be leaving the Paris Accords, Saturday’s breaking news is that this might not be the case.
The U.S. has stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement
This is amid the first major international meeting on the Paris Accords since Trump’s June announcement.
White House senior adviser Everett Eissenstat unveiled the U.S. plan, according to an official at Saturday’s gathering, as Ottawa, Beijing and Brussels accelerate their joint effort to minimize the fallout from a potential U.S. withdrawal from the Paris agreement.
Putting aside the mercurial nature of Donald Trump’s gaslighting and the incertitude that anything Trump or anyone from Team Trump says will remain firm, a question that we should ask is ‘so what?’
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NOTE: Shortly after posting, word spreading that Team Trump is denying the report.
Trump Administration can't even keep track of their position on destroying the planet or not… https://t.co/nFjATwkdU6
— Jamie Henn (@Agent350) September 16, 2017
WH spox denies WSJ story claiming US might stay in Paris accords — saying position hasn't changed…
— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) September 16, 2017
WSJ story and White House statement: https://t.co/l9JwFyFm8k pic.twitter.com/uVshjGTsyo
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) September 16, 2017
And — well, the shifting sands of Team Trump has this perspective from Bloomberg:
We were told earlier today a US official said in Montreal at climate ministers mtg US open to staying in Paris accord & just tweak elements. https://t.co/GeKHGC1zEz
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) September 16, 2017
But, directly from the WH:
Our position on the Paris agreement has not changed. @POTUS has been clear, US withdrawing unless we get pro-America terms.
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) September 16, 2017
Alerted to it by this: https://twitter.com/MilesGrant/status/909175516011352064
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First, staying within the Paris Accords will not end reality … Reality that
- @RealDonaldTrump remains really ignorant about climate science and remains really enamored with coal and lots of other fossil foolish energy options.
- The Trump Administration is staffed up with climate science deniers who remain wedded to their ideological blinders promoting the worst junk science to promote policies that hurt the nation.
- @TeamTrump is working hard to turn back progress on environmental and energy fronts (not just on climate, but in health, pollution monitoring, etc …) in ways that, quite literally, are putting Americans’ lives at risk.
In or out of Paris, Trump's policies are wrecking our climate & communities to benefit a few fossil fuel billionaires.
— Jamie Henn (@Agent350) September 16, 2017
Trump slit our collective throat as far as credibility on climate goes. Made himself, federal government irrelevant. Up to the states now. https://t.co/KD55uWNCFU
— Emily J Gertz (@ejgertz) September 16, 2017
Second, exiting the Paris Accords provided a very stark statement as to the anti-humanity nature of Donald Trump and his supporters. Being out of the Accord — along with Syria and Nicaragua (which wouldn’t sign because the agreement wasn’t strong enough) — provided everyone a very clear idea of just where Donald & Team Donald stands.
The WH position on "re-negotiating" is so nonsensical it's no wonder they put out confusing & contradictory statements… https://t.co/aXUk3AibZL
— Jamie Henn (@Agent350) September 16, 2017
Anyway, the US can't formally leave Paris until 2020 so we get 3.5 more years of wild speculation and heart attacks. Fun!
— brad plumer (@bradplumer) September 16, 2017
Third, the potential exists that Team Trump will be able to leverage staying in the Accords to undermine international action and agreement. A ‘reward’ for staying in the fold might be that other nations might not band together to move aggressively on climate action — in part to demonstrate world leadership that Trump’s #MAGA America abandons.
So, maybe the United States will be staying within the Paris Accord … and maybe that is a good thing … and maybe it isn’t … It certainly isn’t, however, something to be given a standing ovation.