Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt … and Trump?
An American founding father? A pro-climate saint?
“Heroes and villains,
Just see what you’ve done”
—Brian Wilson, “Heroes and Villains”
“Trump will go down, no matter what happens from here, as one of the founders of what we’re about to become.”
—Yours truly
I want to make two short points about Donald J. Trump and his world-historical turn as president.
Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt … and Trump?
For the July 4, 2018 issue of the SF Chronicle, I wrote a piece that began to sketch out my thoughts on the Constitution. (For more on that topic, see here.)
Each year on this day, Americans celebrate our founding principles and the birth of our nation, but in these chaotic and polarized days, it is also important to remember that the United States was born from a crisis of unity and has experienced two more at roughly 70-year intervals — the Civil War and the Great Depression.
Both nearly tore us apart, yet each sparked a civic rebirth. After each great rupture, the government was restructured; each took the nation closer to its founding ideals; each brought greater liberty, justice and opportunity to expanding groups of Americans; each changed forever and for the better the relationship between government and the people.
We’re now in the midst of a fourth crisis, from which will emerge the next agreement about how and for whom our government operates. Will it produce a constitution that once again advances our founding principles and expands opportunities, or will this be the first American crisis that institutionalizes a stripping of rights, freedom and wealth?
The U.S. has been blessed (most would say) in finding exactly the right leader to deal with the three great crises we so far have faced.
For the crisis of the failed Articles of Confederation, we had George Washington to shepherd the First Constitution. To the crisis created by enslavement, we found Abraham Lincoln, or maybe Lincoln found us, to help craft our Second Constitution, the one with the Reconstruction Amendments. To sail through the near-fatal crash caused by the greed that brought in the Great Depression, we had Franklin D. Roosevelt, who created our still-modern state.
In short, we got lucky three times. Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt. World-historical figures. The greatest of men.
And now, as we face the crisis caused by predation, elite psychopathy, and loss of world domination, we have found these men’s opposite exactly — Donald Trump — who will go down, no matter what happens from here, as one of the founders of what we’re about to become.
Washington, Lincoln, FDR … and Trump. Four founding fathers, each of a new constitution.
Who’d have thought he’d be that as he rode down the golden stairs?
Donald Trump, Climate Hero?
Trump will enter the books in a great many ways, thanks to his inverse greatness. The climate crisis is one among quite a few.
A heading like the above is written in jest. Almost. Yes, Trump is a climate villain in all he does. And most believe fossil fuel is destroying our lives.
But how to remove fossil fuel? What’s the best way? I’ve been arguing for at least 15 years that restricting demand for carbon-based energy will not do the job. If someone digs carbon, another will certainly burn it. Problem not solved.
You have to restrict the supply to force enough change. Sure, people will bitch and be made uncomfortable, but unless we want to give up the process entirely, the process of saving the comfortable climate we love…
…that change will have to be forced, or we have to give up.
I know using force is a problem for quite a few people. I’m personally sympathetic to arguments against state violence — see here for my thoughts that. But the fact is, people will use carbon fuels if they are available; and people will make them available if it helps make them rich. This is how modern states work.
Enter Donald Trump, hero this time, not goat.
If you’re one of those who want to force change — to force a sink-or-swim choice, use non-carbon energy or get no energy at all — Donald Trump is exactly your man.
Why? Because one of the outcomes of his War on Iran, is Iran’s certain destruction of its Gulf state neighbors. That means the war, if it takes its full course, will remove almost 30% of world fossil fuel production — not just delivery, but infrastructure and supply — from the global energy market. For years at least, maybe decades.
Again, this is production, not delivery. No oil produced because nations have been physically razed and its people gone.
This world can’t live without fuel for more than a week. How will it adapt? As quickly as possible, is my first guess.
So if you’ve imagined a worldwide “Manhattan Project” to kick-start a non-carbon world, Trump, if he fails to stand down, is the man of your dreams. He’s also the man these same people most want to hate.
No one said God doesn’t smile.
"Atlas Shrugged" spawned Donald who dug a hole big enough to engulf him and us. In a reverse shrugging (really mugging) his administration threw away the capacity to turn to renewable energy sources. He and his bureaucrats eschewed unsightly (his wording) wind farms and solar panels. As a result we will be decades behind in the deployment of renewable energy.
There is one bright spot: our now shot military may no longer be the number one daily user of fossil fuel on the planet.