Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Michael Mann seems to think only a strong green President with the will to override Congress with “bold” executive orders can save the world from catastrophe.
Yes—Donald Trump Is a Threat to the Planet
In just a matter of weeks, we will be confronted with a critical decision. It is not mere hyperbole to assert that we are facing a make-or-break election as far as climate change is concerned.
My co-author Tom Toles (the Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoonist for the Washington Post) and I put it this way in the concluding chapter of our new book, The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics and Driving Us Crazy.
In the current presidential contest, we could not have a more stark choice before us, between a candidate who rejects the overwhelming evidence that climate change is happening and a candidate who embraces the role of a price on carbon and incentives for renewable energy.
If you care about the planet, the choice would seem clear.
…
In this next election, we need to decide whether we are going to build on the successes of the Obama administration — which has used a combination of bold executive actions and international diplomacy to achieve action on climate change even in the presence of intransigence, denial and outright hostility from congressional republicans—or whether we are going to retreat back into the energy-equivalent of the stone age, continuing to degrade our planet through the profligate burning of increasingly dangerous fossil carbon even as the rest of the world moves forward, embracing the renewable energy revolution destined to be the hallmark of the 21st century.
…
Read more: http://www.ecowatch.com/michael-mann-climate-change-2028789080.html
Leaving aside Mann’s overhyping of the importance of the US contribution to global greenhouse emissions, I find Mann’s apparent insistence that a strong president can pretty much ignore the will of Congress rather disturbing.
Is this really the true state of affairs in modern America?
Putting a green zealot in charge, with a mission to save the world, and the authority and will to “boldly” override the wishes of other branches of government – what could possibly go wrong?
I agree with Mann when he says, in other words, that Trump is going to be a bad president. But he forgot to mention that Hilarious C. is going to be worse, much worse. Unfortunately, the time for Ted Cruz has still to come.
When you idiots turn out wrong about Trump, will you come out and admit it, or just find something else to bitch about? He’s the first President since Reagan that has actually spoken pro US
edit: rather a “Presidential candidate”.
Who do you mean by “you idiots”?
I remember when Reagan was elected and lots of people thought WW3 was going to happen. It’s possible the Soviets also believed that. In any event they treated Reagan with way more respect than they treated Carter. Then the USSR collapsed.
Sometimes bluster and bull crap have a positive effect.
An awful lot of what Mr. Trump does is theater. I doubt he is the brightest bulb around, but a lot of folks do not understand what he is doing. Scott Adams does though. I recommend his blog attached to Dilbert. If I am correct, he has just sandbagged Hillary with the tax situation and the first debate. Tactically, he has had the center of his line fall back to tempt the opposition to charge at it. He will then close with his wings in the classic trap. Sansa will not show up with the cavalry.
I find it fascinating how idiots assume that only someone who agrees with them could possibly be pro-US.
Trump is going to be a disaster, his trade plans will create a new depression and his foreign policy plans will quite possibly lead to WWIII.
In his defense, Hillary would be worse.
So all of us who recognize Trump’s lefty past such as – contributing a few $100k to the Clinton Foundation or wanting to make the assault weapons ban permanent or flip-flopping on abortion or arguing for an enormous tax increase or indicating a desire to enact “universal healthcare” – are all “idiots”?
” … has actually spoken pro US”
Words are very very cheap especially when you have $billion$ and lefty news media, (are NYC media elites and Trump not joined at the hip?) gives you ~10x more free “news” coverage than your closest primary competitor, Ted Cruz, the most conservative and Constitution loving candidate to come along in a 100 years.
People like you told me to hold my nose and vote for McCain then Romney and now Trump. None of them are conservatives. but then … I’m just an idiot.
ShrNfr, yes, it’s difficult to ascertain what’s going on with trump. Much of what he’s doing could just be classic “art of the deal”. It’s embarrassing how the media (even fox news) fell for the “mexico’s going to pay for the wall” line. He tells you how he does it, then he does it and yet people are so stupid that they still don’t get it…
That’s what many of my friends thought when Reagan was elected. There’s a vast gulf between what politicians say and what eventually happens. Trump’s economic advisors are not a bunch of crackpots. One of them even had the foresight to predict the sub-prime crisis and make a pile of money as a result.
China will be a big deal:
Sometimes it’s better to take some pain rather than continuing to slide to eventual ruin. ymmv
@ur momisugly Non Nomen: He’s talking to you, Non Nomen.
The Original Mike M said, “Words are very very cheap especially when you have $billion$ and lefty news media, (are NYC media elites and Trump not joined at the hip?) gives you ~10x more free “news” coverage than your closest primary competitor,… ”
Trump wasn’t “given” the free media, he took it. Any candidate can get on TV any time they want. The Media is always hopeful to get the “exclusive” or with Trump especially, get the latest outrage or gaffe.
All the professional politicians were “too smart” to go in front of the cameras and talk to the people so much.
commie, the reason for our slide into ruin has nothing to do with China. It has everything to do with the insane tax and regulatory environment on this side of the Pacific. (Not to mention suicidal unions.)
Slapping big tariffs on imports benefits nobody. Forcing Americans to over pay for products, or settle for second rate products does not help the consumer, and it’s a killer for our own export industry.
If you want to ensure that the US falls further behind the rest of the world, tariffs and import bans are the best way to do it.
The trend was well established by the time China got on its feet. Now we do have a problem because China is feeling strong and confident.
America has a third of a trillion dollar annual balance of payments problem with China because they don’t buy our products. We have to do something. What do you suggest?
I’m banking on a bunch of Senators and Congressmen with D’s after their names will suddenly become quite interested in that pesky document limiting the powers of government known as The Constitution. Something they haven’t been paying much attention to the last 7.5 years.
Yes, I will point out the hypocrisy when that happens.
Mann and Hansen are both in a panic, and growing senile with crazy thoughts in their old age.
@ur momisugly Non Nomen – October 6, 2016 at 12:14 am
Are you just mimicking what you have been hearing at your government funded job site or do you personally have a legitimate reason for thinking said about Donald Trump?
…No, he’s just an idiot…..IMHO
It really is sad the way some people automatically assume the worst about anyone who disagrees with them.
It used to be only leftists who did this.
Then again, the only major difference between leftists and populists is how they feel about gays.
Interesting how most, especially liberal “know-alls” are immediate experts in everything from military operations to the economy including Trump’s “mind”. Trump is not and can not be an “expert” on all things but what he appears to be best at is gathering people who are competent in areas needed. The problem with Liberals/Warmists is exactly this attitude of smug ‘I’m a genius that’s always right and anyone that disagrees is stupid’ as in the following VOX article:
“The trouble is that stupid hicks don’t know what’s good for them. They’re getting conned by right-wingers and tent revivalists until they believe all the lies that’ve made them so wrong. They don’t know any better. That’s why they’re voting against their own self-interest.”
http://www.vox.com/2016/4/21/11451378/smug-american-liberalism
ted Cruise is a religious fundamentalist no better than ISIS.
Donald Trump is a buffoon
HC is a career politician with many closets filled with skeletons.
You guys have over 300 million people and that’s the BEST you can come up with… it truly is a tribute to modern mediocrity.
Your country is the laughing stock of the world… ‘merica…
Wattsupwiththat used to be filled with scientific research, nowdays it’s more and more like reading Infowars… pathetic.
Merica!, you can skip the occasional thread that mixes climate change and politics; you don’t have to read or comment on every one!
Oh, wait–if you were to skip every thread that mixes real politics with climate politics, there wouldn’t be much to comment on, would there?
Laugh all you want. But we still kick every other country’s ass, including yours. ‘Merica is right!
Another fascist who actually believes that anyone who is religious wants to kill everyone else.
It really is sad how filled with hate most leftists are.
Merica! – October 6, 2016 at 6:41 am
Your above comment is exactly why the US of A should never have a female POTUS.
All females are born with an inherited survival instinct, that in times of personal stress, irritability, discomfort, uncertainty, etc., ….. their aforesaid “inherited instinct” forces them to make an “emotional” decision …… rather than a “logical” decision.
If you’re smart enough to ignore the MSM when it comes to climate change, you should also be smart enough to ignore it when it comes to talking trash about Trump by taking something he said out of context and spinning it into disaster.
I had the impression that Trump isn’t „thinking the impossible – and talking about it“ but rather „talking about the impossible – without thinking about it“. If someone who is running for office goes off on a tangent like Trump, that’s not a sign of statesmanship. Well, if the US don’t like a statesman as president, then both candidates are equal.
@ur momisugly Non Nomen – October 6, 2016 at 11:45 pm
The above is a typical comment that one should always expect from a leftist socialist …. or a socialist leftist, whatever.
Non Nomen apparently can’t think of anything about Hillary Clinton to brag about ….. so his/her only recourse is to try to “drag” Donald Trump down into the “cesspool” of political corruption & demagoguery alongside of Hillary C.
“Demagoguery is an appeal to people that plays on their emotions and prejudices rather than on their rational side.
Demagoguery is a manipulative approach — often associated with dictators and sleazy politicians — that appeals to the worst nature of people. ”
Michael needs to follow the example of Hillary and Barry. If you can’t say something nice about somebody…hit ’em with a drone.
More like “Donald Trump is a threat to my unregulated pipeline to taxpayer funds, delivered by virtue-signalling, eco-brainwashed, climate obsessed ploictical elites.”
I could not put it better myself. I hope his funding get cut, along with large cuts to all the Junk Science, academic welfare programs.
We need less government and less green/red tape. Survival of the fittest.
MM – “and Driving Us Crazy.” So short a trip, he could make it in even an electric car.
Don’t worry Mikie, Musk says it is all just a computer simulation
Mr Musk spoke earlier this year about the fact that he believes that the chance that we are not living in a computer simulation is “one in billions”.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/computer-simulation-world-matrix-scientists-elon-musk-artificial-intelligence-ai-a7347526.html
Don’t forget to back up you life.
Relax. Just because one can fantasize does not mean one can perceive reality.
It comes down to the random process, or Gaussian statistics. There is no algorithm that can produce the exact results of the random process, if only because an algorithm, by being coded information, will have lower entropy than a random process, which has the highest entropy. We should easily be able to detect any departure from Gaussian statistics in the behavior of very large ensembles of events. Such as gas molecules in collision with one another. (For example, the numerical density of air molecules is 2.5 x 10^19 per cubic centimeter.) This sort of analysis uncovered the presence of short-range molecular interactions called Van der Waals forces. But otherwise, no deviation from Gaussian statistics. Ergo, there is no algorithm producing the random process. And if that is true, we cannot possibly be a simulation.
The guy is an idiot and just doesn’t know when to STFU.
Trump or Mann?
The manly Mann
and the unmanly Trump.
Both Mann and Trump are self absorbed narcissists.
We are stuck with political Sophie’s choice I suppose with Trump v Clinton. Personally I think Clinton is more likely to see reason than Trump but that’s only because she can put a sentence together without sniffling or going off on a tangent.
M Seward,
Ms. Clinton has a serious neurological condition which her campaign is hiding and the press is complicit in the coverup with their silence.
She won’t last 6 months as President. The Clinton’s though are too enamored with power. Bill will try to shadow run things rather than have her resign and have to move out of the WH and turn things over to Kaine.
JO’B,
the ‘neurological condition’ sounds like fake moon landing or ‘birther’ stuff to me frankly so perhaps you might try a bit harder.
The Clinton’s are enamoured of power, eh? And….? And Obama isn’t? The Bushes weren’t? And are you saying TRUMP ISN’T?? Donald Trump is utterly obsessed with power just like all those other privileged upbringing, Daddy funded, dribbledick frat boys out there. He would buy a pet mouse just to have power over it.
Get real. You sound just like those nuff nuffs who gave Obama the Nobel Peace Prize. Well he sure Peaced On Our Time. Trump will finish the job and Dump a Big One On Our Time and Our Children’s Time.
Just because Clinton is a lousy candidate by any objective measure does not legitimise a narcissistic nut job Caligula with a comb over like Trump.
@ur momisugly M Seward – October 6, 2016 at 1:15 am
And I personally think that 97% of all the people that have been feeding at the “government trough” for the past years n’ years n’ years …… will agree with you 100%.
Most all of the ”trough-feeders” luv singing that line from the Jerry Clower song that states …. “Mr. Trump, …… Momma don’t want you messing with the great deal she’s got going!” ”
The Turd or the Douchbag?
Whichever f***s-up the establishment the most!
M Seward –
instead of the MSM cartoon about Trump, who is happy to act the part, you need to look at the issues, which Hillary does not want you to know with her and Kaine’s attack the man strategy –
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/440399/donald-trumps-conservative-agenda-reason-hes-gaining-ground
The Clintons are already on the zero carbon band-wagon. Otherwise they would not be allied with Branson, The Carbon War Room, and the Rocky Mountain Institute.
What you see is what you will get.
‘Personally I think Clinton is more likely to see reason than Trump’
There simply cannot be any logical reasoning behind this statement.
He’s a legend in his own mind.
There are probably older lines that that, but I can’t think of one.
I agree with M. Mann title of the book: “Climate Change Denial …. Is Driving Us Crazy”. Climate Alarmists are crazy. M. Mann is crazy.
I think Michael Mann needs to stick with something he is at least reasonably good at, climate science, tree rings not withstanding. To write an obviously biased tome with of all things an editorial cartoonist as a co-author is not good career move.
but makes it very clear that this is politics and NOT science …
Twenty-two posts, and you’re the first to state the obvious that a “scientist” teaming up with a political cartoonist isn’t very intelligent.
Well, I don’t think we’re talking about a very intelligent scientist.
Just to add some authority to his co-writer, he added:
even though we are constantly told that you do not have any authority on climate unless you are a ‘climate scientist’ (whatever that is).
…not *a* good career move.
Hey Mann how’s that lawsuit you initiated coming along?
You mean the one where Mann was claiming he’s not a climate mullah to the planet?
I’m sad this nc’s piece got buried under Matthew.
With enemies like him, who needs friends?
If I was the object of Mark Steyn’s A Disgrace to the Profession in which 100 world-class scientists say what they think of Mann’s dishonesty, I’d shave off that nasty little beard, change my name and go hide in a cave.
When you live in a cave, you have to grow a full beard. It’s terribly cold inside. And, thus, I hope that tiny cave-Mann soon learns that “warmer is better”.
..When Trump becomes president, I am assuming you will be moving to a cave !! Whether you have a beard or not really does not pique my curiosity !
“@Marcus October 6, 2016 at 5:17 am
..When Trump becomes president, I am assuming you will be moving to a cave !! Whether you have a beard or not really does not pique my curiosity !”
How prickly you are if a shadow is thrown upon your beloved Saint Donald of Toupee and Queens.
[b]Get a life, boy![/b]
His boyfriend obviously must like his bit-o-fuzz beard and not into a brazilian-style experience.
Are you saying he is a d***head?
Please, no personal abuse.
One candidate is beneficial to his future income and the other detrimental….. so which does he back? If you vote Clinton Mann keeps getting richer and more influential, hell he may even enter politics himself….. scary eh!
You need to be elected for the position of city dog catcher?
I wouldn’t trust Mann even with that lowly political position. And I certainly wouldn’t want HRC within miles of a pay-for-play political office or confidential information.
Without Michael Mann’s hockeystick, non alarmism ! No delirium carbonum…Therefore Michael Mann is a threat to the planet. Elementary, my dear Watson….
Perhaps Mann should man up and run for president himself after all he’s honest well informed has no intellectual equal ,,,,,,, sarc
I hope nobody will help him out of his Mann-hole he has dug himself in.
Michael Mann better be careful — I hear Donald Trump is sue-happy 😉
PANIC. !! That is all I see in Mann’s comment !!
There’s a new Avenger: Irony Mann
…I am proud to be a “DEPLORABLE” !
The wrong people are telling me to not vote for Trump……
… and like I’ve said before, all the right people seem to hate him. Regardless of what kind of president he makes, it would almost be worth it just to see the expression on Obama’s face when he turns over the keys to the White House. Now THAT would be a Kodak moment.
When is Mike gonna turn up in court to face Steyn?
OK with me. Just sort out.
That thread is escalating to oblivion.
Me knows the borders.
Cheers
Counting tree rings is a very time-consuming occupation.
Mann is obviously “petrified” that Donald may distort tree rings.
Mann O Mann!
When Mike is done googling “bleachbit”.
Non Nomen on October 6, 2016 at 1:10 am
Who do you mean by “you idiots”?
______________________________________
[snip . . stop it . . mod]
Mann is getting beyond parody.
Considering that “Dr.” Mikey Mann has been wrong about everything (except how to skim money from the public) since he received his bogus PhD, this looks like a major enforcement for Trump.
That’s “d” as in “Denier” and “Deplorable”.
Any Republican president would be an existential threat to the global climatists’ funding gravy train and paycheck. From Mann’s own words we see that a Democrat or Green President will continue the destruction of constitutional liberties and representative democracy. Indeed. Mann shows himself to be a supporter of authoritarian kleptocracies. Democrats today support and condone such anti-constitutional high crimes by the Executive by both the words and their silence of not condemning Executive high crimes such as “ratifying” treaties without US senate consent.
All of which demonstrates why every and all Democrats are unfit for public office in the USA.
Right, ….. most every elected Democrat Politician knows damn well that they are not going to “uphold their Oath of Office” even before they are told/asked to swear and confirm to “uphold their oath of office and the Rule of Law as defined in the COTUS”.
If they violate, ignore or disregard their sworn Oath of Office, then they should be prosecuted.
“Any Republican president would be an existential threat to the global climatists’ funding gravy train and paycheck. From Mann’s own words we see that a Democrat or Green President will continue the destruction of constitutional liberties and representative democracy.”
Hillary Clinton is an existential threat to the U.S. Constitution, our form of government, and our personal freedoms. Trump is not, he is just an existential threat to CAGW, and to the terrible status quo, which is a good thing.
“Hillary Clinton is an existential threat to the U.S. Constitution, our form of government, and our personal freedoms.”
More importantly, she is an existential threat to the rest of the world. She is tied to, and supports, the current US policy of bombing everyone who can’t bomb back and stirring up war with Russia and China. Who can.
Trump, for all his faults, seems less enthusiastic about reducing the world to a pile of smoking rubble. For those who live in potential or actual rubble heaps, this is no small recommendation for Trump.
Yes. If there’s a threat to the world in the Presidential race, it’s Clinton, who seems hell-bent on starting WWIII with Russia. Americans will be lucky if their country isn’t a radioactive wasteland by the end of her first term.
But, hey, better dead than cutting ‘Global Warming’ funding.
Or something.
Donald Trump would a breath of fresh air to Washington and both national and international affairs. Also if he fouls up can be removed after a term unlike Putin who seems to go forever.
Poor Steyn! To be opposed in court by a true Force of Nature, which erupts (like Yellowstone) every so often with poisonous blather. I pray for a speedy resolution of Steyn’s case, though I know Mann won’t cooperate.
MM’s opposition may actually help Trump.
Why not the entire universe? When you start off by calling your political opponent Hitler, there’s not much elsewhere to go.
“Why not the entire universe? When you start off by calling your political opponent Hitler, there’s not much elsewhere to go.”
The Left *always* calls their opponents Hitler. It’s what they do. It’s part of the deception they use to demonize any and all opposition. Calling someone Hitler, stops the conversation, and that is one reason the Left uses this trick because they *want* to stop the conversation on issues and turn the conversation to character assasination of the opposition.
You notice Hillary never said what she was going to do for us as far as policy, during the debate, she just trashes Trump’s character relentlessly. Without character assasination, the Left would have nothing with which to do battle. Their ideas won’t sell so they have to make the opposition out to be worse and scarier than they are.
The Left is quite good at this (mucho practice), especially since they have the huge megaphone of the Leftwing Media to parrot and spread the lies to the public, and unfortunately, they also have Trump who has a penchant to give them ammunition to use against him, even if it is for the most part innocent.
But, even if Trump didn’t give them ammunition, they would just make it up, and hype it just as much as they do now. That’s what the Left does. They are totally dishonest when it comes to getting or keeping political power.
Trump is definitely his own worst enemy. Let’s hope he gets it together soon enough to save our country from the totalitarian Leftist fools who want to dictate how we live our lives, and what we can say, embodied by Hillary Clinton.
‘Calling someone Hitler, stops the conversation.’
Heh. Well, in my case, it STARTS a conversation, usually a loud one, where I make sure the accusers learn a lot about themselves – sometimes their families, parentage, DNA and evolutionary origins.
Comes from being compared to a Holocaust denier once too often. Or sexist, racist, etc…