Posted on 09/15/2016 4:48:54 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
For the environmental lobby and politicians of the progressive stripe, Donald Trump is their worst nightmare come to life.
In defiance of liberal orthodoxy, the fire-breathing Republican presidential candidate slams climate change as a hoax, vows to approve the Keystone XL pipeline if elected and ditch any U.S. commitments to curb carbon emissions.
Love him or hate him, Trump’s verbal eruptions have provided endless fodder for TV talk show hosts and headline writers, and made this the most unlikely presidential election campaign in recent U.S. history.
Until recently, however, the billionaire developer wasn’t taken seriously. The intelligentsia dismissed his bid for the White House as a long shot at best.
He lagged Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by a hefty margin in the polls, and by August, many expected Trump’s campaign to implode.
It didn’t happen. Now, with less than two months to go before election day, the tides are turning. Against all odds, Trump trails Clinton by just two points on a national basis, according to the latest poll tracking data from RealClear Politics.
Although Clinton still holds a comfortable lead of five or six points in most so-called battleground states, and odds-makers give Trump no more than a one-in-three chance of winning Nov. 8, he’s no longer just a source of entertainment.
Meanwhile, Clinton’s campaign is stumbling. Even David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Barrack Obama, has slammed the former secretary of state’s “unhealthy penchant for privacy,” after she waited two days to disclose a bout of pneumonia.
Persistent questions about Clinton’s improper use of a private email server also resurfaced this week, when two aides who set up the server stonewalled a congressional committee, taking the Fifth Amendment. A third didn’t even bother to show up.
That hardly helped to ease public doubts about Clinton’s honesty. Even the staunchly liberal New York Times is starting to sound nervous. “Clinton’s Boost From Demographic Change is Overrated,” blared one headline Wednesday. “How Trump Might Win,” warned another.
If Trump does pull a rabbit out of a hat and defy the pundits, it could usher in a very different North American political landscape Nov. 9 — one that eco-activists and their political allies would likely rather not contemplate. Not to mention President Barack Obama, who has made climate change a legacy issue.
The German government, which has led Europe’s push for more renewable energy, is likewise worried that a Trump victory could undo much of Obama’s legacy on the climate change front, and stall the rollout of more wind and solar power.
If the world’s largest economy backs away from its commitments under the Paris Agreement, why should the 200 other nations that signed the accord feel obligated to abide by it? It’s a big question — one that few people seem willing to ask publicly right now.
Meanwhile, here in the Great White North, it is as if nothing has changed, at least publicly. The Trudeau government and Alberta’s NDP government continue to tie their political fortunes to the fight against climate change.
Environment Minister Shannon Phillips told a Calgary news conference Wednesday that 30 per cent of Alberta’s electricity will come from renewable energy sources by 2030 as coal plants are displaced by wind, solar and other sources of clean energy.
“Alberta will lead forward, not go backwards,” she told reporters. More than a third of the roughly $10 billion the NDP government expects to collect from its new carbon tax over the next five years is allocated to major renewable energy projects and related technologies.
Phillips wouldn’t offer an estimate on the cost of any future government subsidies for renewable energy sources, however. With the Ontario government taking a beating in the polls over skyrocketing electricity prices stemming from its disastrous Green Energy program, Phillips may be wary of repeating the same mistakes.
Federally, the Liberals remain committed to rolling out a national carbon tax of some kind, while continuing to sit on the fence when it comes to backing new oil pipelines. That said, it’s noteworthy that Trudeau has yet to ratify the Paris Agreement.
Behind the scenes, there are other intriguing signs of movement, as economic pressures build, oil prices sink again, the Alberta economy remains in the ditch, and the Canadian economy struggles to rebound from the worst quarter since 2009.
Bloomberg, quoting unnamed sources, reported this week that Trudeau plans to approve at least one new oil pipeline project in his first term, with Kinder Morgan’s proposed TransMountain pipeline expansion to Burnaby as the lead candidate.
The federal cabinet is expected to render its decision on the Kinder Morgan by December — a month after the U.S. election.
Stay tuned. The political drama is just starting to heat up.
Still making it seem like Trump is playing catch-up. Sorry, Trump is in the lead nationally, and once this filters down to the state polls, he’ll be leading Electorally soon enough.
I've never heard Trump call it a hoax.
Nobody wants to be the first mediot that says he is leading.
Pray America wakes
Limbaugh: The Trump Campaign Is Sneaking Up on the People Who Don’t Understand It - the race is over!
Trump isn`t closing the gap, he`s widening the gap. These people are still denying reality and yet wonder why they were taken by surprise over Trump`s sucess.
He’s been tied or leading in most polls lately. Anyone still referring to “closing the gap” is a tool. Trump is widening the gap and he’s on the right side of it with plenty of grass roots momentum. Illary is fading (literally and figuratively) and the media still lie to us and say she’s in the lead. Pssh! Not buying it.
Trump is Secretariat
:) Good comparison.
“Hmmm Trump up here, Trump up there, do you think he’s winning? Wal?” “I don’t know Beav maybe CNN says she is still ahead; who should we believe?”
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