The Dreadful State of the United States
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by Kenneth Bagnell
The Dreadful State of the United States
Over the years, we’ve looked to Americans as our good neighbors. I’ve begun to worry that we may find that difficult given Donald Trump. President Trump in very recent days has made a decision which Canada’s largest circulation newspaper, The Toronto Star, has put above its lead editorial: “Trump’s worst move ever.” That’s strong. In a word or two the US decision has thrown a bomb into the very heart of a world-wide organization poised to foster a healthy climate improvement which has 194 nations participating. They range from small countries like Costa Rica, Swaziland, and Tonga to larger areas including countries that used to be The United Kingdom, South Africa and The European Union. In the face of all this achievement, Donald Trump has revealed strange audacity to call for US withdrawal from the organization, Paris Agreement, formed within the UN to combat climate change. Even Trump’s colleagues call for staying in the large organization — Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson – all urging the US to remain a member. Therefore, The Star has skillfully titled its lead editorial on this dreadful decision with the words : “Trump’s worst move ever.” They are so right. Whatever is driving this is very serious and a harmful strategy. Don’t depend on the journalists. Depend on the leaders. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said two days ago: “The times in which we could rely fully on another are somewhat over; we Europeans must really take our fate into our own hands.” The reason for this is self-centered Donald Trump and his devout self-centered evangelical supporters. So much for serving and supporting others in Europe, seeking humane leaders. The New Testament is filled with admonitions they recite without obeying: “Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Galations 6.) So much for Trump and Franklin Graham. As for Angela Merkel, a national European magazine recently described her as a “devout Christian” whose faith is “deep, genuine and important.”
The first insult in recent days of Trump is the insult itself. The years of building the organization, deciding its strategy, determining its influence and so on, are being tossed aside exclusively by Trump. (So much for the vision of the National Council of Churches, which in January, had Trump repeat the oath “to preserve and protect America”. Doing as he does he reveals he’s strictly a one man band, and has the mysterious insight to read the results before he made the decision to discard the almost 200 countries that were depending on the US to help them. It is impossible not to wonder who else (Putin maybe?) was involved in this callous decision. The Star suggests: Trump voiced the full throated economic nationalism that was at the heart of his campaign for President, reminding the world that he was elected to represent “the citizens of Pittsburgh not Paris.”
I admired the Star’s editorialist when he or she ran the list of predicable issues that led to Trump’s decision. It’s wrong for a host of reasons: it will undermine the accord itself, giving other key nations an excuse to back off from their climate targets; it will encourage the climate change deniers who will then have an excuse to back off from their climate targets; it will make it much more difficult for the United States to become a leader in the now burgeoning field of clean energy. There’s more; but as for Canada, the editorialist says that following Trump on his misguided course would be clearly wrong for us and the environment. Much better to continue with efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet the Paris targets, as the Trudeau government to its credit has vowed to do.
Barack Obama, the former, now retired, President has in past weeks, more or less sat back, so as not appear an interferer in the Presidency despite the President’s error after error and day after day. But about a week or so ago, Obama stood his ground and spoke up: On June 1 the highly credible Guardian, a respected newspaper in Britain, reported Obama as saying so. In a statement released just before Donald Trump officially announced that the US would remove itself from the deal, Obama said that the administration had joined a small handful of nations that would reject the future. He warned that the more than l90 countries that remain participants will reap the benefits in jobs and industries created. But he added that US states, cities and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way and help protect for future generations on “the one planet we’ve got.”
In May, Obama happened to be in Germany and met with Chancellor Merkel, when he was asked as to the treatment of refugees, which throws light on his view of global cooperation. He said what Donald Trump would never even think of saying: “In the eyes of God a child on the other side of the border is just as worthy of compassion and love as my own child. We can’t distinguish between them in terms of their worth…. Part of the task of governments is to express solidarity, while operating within legal and national constraints.” To me, Donald Trump, is so inept as President he can’t think along such humane and compassionate lines.
It’s revealing how this rare statement was made by Obama after his Presidency. That said, a group of senior and highly respected senators have come forward sparing no indignation regarding Trump’s strategy. Really, what is truly behind it? For example, the former Secretary of State — he actually represented the United States in developing the Paris Accord — said that Trump has turned the United States into “an environmental pariah of the world.” The very respected Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi says that “there are grounds for displeasure and unease about the performance of this President who has acted in a way that is strategically incoherent, incompetent and reckless.” But as my own favorite, I choose the fine Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders. He put it at its best when asked to comment on Trump’s recent action. He called it, “an abdication of American leadership and an international disgrace.” Strong language, Bernie; but correct language. Nonetheless for all the questions in this essay and others, I‘m left with other and worse suspicions. Perhaps you would like to think for yourself.
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