Time to give Trump Presidency it's own Thread.Follow

All I can think of is that episode of Seinfeld where George decides to do the opposite of whatever normally works or makes sense and it all worked out somehow. Maybe this administration actually has it all figured out and we just don't know it yet.

You can't back out of a deal that you weren't actually in in the first place. Like the Kyoto Accords, this agreement was yet another feel good piece of paper that had no actual value except for people to pat themselves on the backs and claim it did. And, like the Kyoto Accords, had the US actually ever complied with the terms, would have actually resulted in increased total global pollution (greenhouse gasses in this case).

And (once again, since this is like a freaking broken record for such silly agreements/accords/whatever), it did not measure pollution in terms of units of productive output, but rather lumped countries into categories based on perceived size, industrial level, wealth, etc, and applied different rules to each category (well, except for China, by far the worst offender, which got a pass because... well... no reason I guess except the feel good need to get them to sign on, so we can all congratulate ourselves for "doing something" about climate change).

And, like the Kyoto Accords, it's yet another such silly thing that was "agreed to" by a Democrat president, knowing full well he had no authority or power to actually comply with the agreement due to the whole "no chance this will ever be ratified" problem, but so he can collect accolades for being so environmentally conscious regardless of the absolute absence of tangible benefits, and leaving it to the next GOP administration to be the "bad guy" and be a rational adult about the whole thing and call it what it is (a complete BS waste of paper and time). And yeah, calling Trump "rational" is painful to start with, but that's where we're kinda at here.

Seriously. It's the same freaking thing we went through nearly 20 years ago, just with a different label. The world demand for "widgets" doesn't change if you demand that the US reduce its domestic pollution generation by X percent. Thus, the most likely way to meet such a demand is for widget production to move from the US, where the pollution per widget rate is very very low, to some other country, most likely one where the rate is very very high. Ergo, more global pollution, not less.

It's always amazing to me how people who claim to be thinking globally fall into this same trap every single time. If you want to actually do something about global pollution (of whatever pollutant we're talking about), the only way to do this is to apply the same rules to every country, everywhere. Same rate of pollution per unit of production must exist, or the system will not work. Yet, despite this very obvious fact, we still get the same ridiculous cherry picked accords/agreements instead. And the same numskulls rave about how great it is, and how important it is for global cleanliness or whatever, and the same horrified response when the adults in the room tell them that it wont actually work.


I'll say the same thing about this agreement that I said about Kyoto. It had nothing at all to do with global pollution, the climate, saving the earth, or green anything. It had everything to do with using those things to push for economic outcomes that those involved wanted. It's a global form of class warfare, where the "rich" must pay to help the "poor". The US is "rich", so it must suffer penalties. It's as simple as that. If you think it's at all about the environment, then you've been totally snowed.

Edited, Jun 2nd 2017 5:08pm by gbaji

Well, he said he was going to make America great. He just didn't say who he was making it great for.

Either because the Trump administration is desperate for a win and this plays towards the Fortress America base or because Trump legitimately believes that pretty much any prior agreement is "bad for America". I'd lay equal odds on each (or a combination of both). Trump had voices on both sides of the issue in his circle trying to sway him but he went with the "Jobs before silly treaties" rhetoric.

Yeah, that was more-or-less how I read it as well. The treaty was basically a way to secure political points without much effort. For other 1st world nations that means signing up and tossing a few bucks towards some minor feel-good things; for us that means withdrawing with little consequence so we can toot our "you're not my mom so you don't get to tell me what to do" horn.

Edited, Jun 5th 2017 10:34am by someproteinguy

Come on, people. You have to understand that as a businessman running this country as a business the best course of action is to completely isolate us from the world and insult as many world leaders as possible.

Ideally yes, but only if you have enough conflicts of interest.

Edited, Jun 6th 2017 9:10am by someproteinguy

I mean, seriously I'm not sure there's better popcorn material than that. Twitter + major potential scandal + Trump? It's like a made-for-internet movie. Odds that he says something that'll come back to bite him later?

Edited, Jun 6th 2017 2:19pm by someproteinguy

I swear to Allah, may he sow discord for many millennia, Trump is the only thing that keeps Twitter alive. How the **** they stay afloat is beyond me.

But yeah, bring out the popcorn.

Edited, Jun 6th 2017 11:20pm by angrymnk

The biggest thing I learned from the hours of Comey testimony is that Senator McCain is off his fuckin' meds.

He's ancient. Dude belongs in a museum.

That's what she said! [:boom:]