Bob Sheak, July 1, 2023
Introduction
This post continues the critique of right-wing forces in the U.S., focusing on Trump’s and Republicans’ anti-democratic record, their condemnations of and efforts to delegitimize their Democratic opponents and hope to create a one-party-dominated state. One particularly important example is how they obscure and confuse the public on the unfolding climate crisis. Their rejection or dismissal of the scientifically-established evidence on the increasing climate crisis and its myriad harmful effects is an example of how Trump, the Republican Party and their supporters deny or misconstrue the facts in their quest for total power.
Part 1: Right-wing extremism – attacking Democrats
I considered the reactions by Trump and the Republican Party to Trump’s indictment in my last post, titled “Trump and Republican Party support attacks, even violence, against Biden and all opponents” (https://wordpress.com/post/vitalissues-bobsheak.com/3093), and, before that, on June 8, a post on the climate crisis titled “The planet is getting hotter” (https://wordpress.com/post/vitalissues-bobsheak.com/3075).
As we know from media coverage, the indictment of Trump is for unlawfully keeping classified government documents after he left the White House and then misleading the FBI on this situation. Trump’s response to the indictment has been to encourage resistance, if not violence, against Democrats’ who, he claims, have “weaponized” the state.” Meanwhile, Trump hopes to see his fund-raising soar, as he expects his cult-fawning base and rich and powerful benefactors to come to his assistance in paying his mounting legal bills and in joining him in the subversion of the rule of law.
The money rolls in
Alexandra Marquez reports on NBC News, June 14, 2023, on Trump’s fund-raising after the indictment and suggests his support has not diminished
(https://nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meetthepressblog/trump-announces-raising-6-million-federal-indictment=-news-rcna89385). She writes:
“Former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign said Wednesday that it has raised $6.6 million since news of his federal indictment broke, including more than $4.5 million online.
“In an announcement, the campaign said an additional $2.1 million came in at a pre-planned fundraiser Tuesday night at Trump’s Bedminster golf course in New Jersey.
“Altogether, that’s a bit more than half of the $12 million Trump’s campaign previously announced raising in the six days following the news in late March that he had been indicted in New York City.”
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Trump, the Republican “leader”
Indeed, with all his legal problems, Trump still leads by a wide margin in polls against other Republican presidential candidates (https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-primary-r/2024/national), while, unsurprisingly, his unfavorability rating in national polls remains “negative” (55.4 % negative to 38.9%)
(https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/favorability/donald-trump).
Trump’s record of disregarding the law
A Long History
His supporters are seemingly indifferent to Trump’s long history of illegal behavior. Wikipedia offers a summary of this history.
“From the 1980s until he was elected president in 2016, Donald Trump and his businesses were involved in over 4,000 legal cases in U.S. federal and state courts, including battles with casino patrons, million-dollar real estate lawsuits, personal defamation lawsuits, and over 100 business tax disputes.[1] He has also been accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault,[2][3] with one accusation resulting in Trump being held civilly libel” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_and_business_legal_affairs_of_Donald_trump). David Cay Johnston documents how not only Trump but also his family have financially benefited from the time Trump spent in the White House (The Big Cheat).
Recent cases against Trump
Nia Prater reviews the recent and pending legal cases against Trump (https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/06/what-are-the-legal-cases-against-donald-trump). Here’s Prater’s summary.
“In Georgia, he is being investigated for his attempts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results while he was president. In Washington, D.C., a Justice Department special counsel is running a fast-moving probe into both his handling of classified documents and his conduct around the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Then there are the civil case against him by E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of sexual assault and defamation, and Attorney General Letitia James’s fraud case against Trump and three of his children.”
Why does Trump still have a massive following?
I’ve addressed this question numerous times. Here’s a relevant paragraph from a post titled “Plutocracy v Democracy: A showdown of existential significance’
(https://wordpress.com/post/vitalissues-bobsheak.com/697). It was distributed on August 23, 2020.
Trump and the Republican Party have done their best to subvert our democracy, obstruct Democratic legislative initiatives in the US Senate [now House], advance a neoliberal agenda designed to benefit the mega-corporations and the rich, and also rallied an electoral base of right-wing and extreme groups that includes fundamentalist evangelicals, gun rights absolutists, anti-immigration advocates, white supremacists and racists, those who distrust the federal government, and those who espouse a variety of conspiracy theories. (E.g., see Thomas B. Edsall’s article for an in-depth analysis of what the research of experts indicates about the ties between Trump and his base and why they accept his “lies” at: https://nytimes.com/2023/06/28/opinion/donald-trump-presidency-lies.html.)
Trump diverts some of the donations of his supporters of pay his legal fees
Rich Hasen offers some evidence of this opportunistic diversion of donations in an article published on June 25, 2023
(https://electionlawblog.org/?p=137066). Here’s some of what Hasen reports.
“Facing multiple intensifying investigations, former President Donald J. Trump has quietly begun diverting more of the money he is raising away from his 2024 presidential campaign and into a political action committee that he has used to pay his personal legal fees.
“The change, which went unannounced except in the fine print of his online disclosures, raises fresh questions about how Mr. Trump is paying for his mounting legal bills — which could run into millions of dollars — as he prepares for at least two criminal trials, and whether his PAC, Save America, is facing a financial crunch.
“When Mr. Trump kicked off his 2024 campaign in November, for every dollar raised online, 99 cents went to his campaign, and a penny went to Save America.
“But internet archival records show that sometime in February or March, he adjusted that split. Now his campaign’s share has been reduced to 90 percent of donations, and 10 percent goes to Save America.
“The effect of that change is potentially substantial: Based on fund-raising figures announced by his campaign, the fine-print maneuver may already have diverted at least $1.5 million to Save America.
“And the existence of the group has allowed Mr. Trump to have his small donors pay for his legal expenses, rather than paying for them himself….”
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Trump ups his attacks on Democrats
Donald Trump Says His Enemies (e.g., Democrats) Are ‘Communists’
Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, analyzes how Trump is reviving the branding of opponents as “Communists” to frighten voters and to advance his quest for presidential power and in response to his indictment (https://politico.com/news/magazine/2023/06/22/donald-trump-red-scare-communishm-00102990). Sarat starts his analysis as follows.
“More than three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Donald Trump seems determined to resurrect red baiting as a political tactic. Calling his political opponents communists has become a regular feature of Trump’s attacks on the Biden administration, the Democratic Party, and the likes of George Soros.
“Using this tactic, Trump hopes that a single word can discredit their political views. He wants his followers to fear what the people and institutions he calls communist will do to those who don’t share their world view — including to the former president himself.
Trump’s anti-communist rhetoric goes back years to his first appearance as a national political candidate in 2015. Sarat writes:
“Trump’s effort to brand his political opponents and those who now would hold him to account for his alleged criminal conduct as communists has been a through line of his rhetoric since he became a major political figure in 2015. In October of that year, he called Sen. Bernie Sanders, then a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, ‘a socialist-slash-communist … He’s going to tax you people at 90 percent; he’s going to take everything!’”
Such rhetoric has continued.
“Trump continued his red baiting throughout his term in the White House. In September 2019, he used an address to the United Nations General Assembly to expand on his anti-communist crusade. ‘Socialism and communism,’ Trump said, ‘are not about justice. They are not about equality. They are not about lifting up the poor. They are certainly not about the good of the country. Socialism and communism are about one thing only — power for the ruling class.’
‘America,’ Trump promised, ‘will never be a socialist country.’”
For example:
“During his 2020 reelection campaign he told a rally of supporters in Vandalia, Ohio, ‘The choice in November is going to be very simple. There’s never been a time when there’s been such a difference. One is probably communism. I don’t know. They keep saying socialism. I think they’ve gone over that one. That one’s passed already.’
It has some effects.
“Three years later,” Sarat point out, “reviving the Red Scare also is part of Trump’s 2024 electoral strategy. It works for at least three reasons.
“First, it is designed to appeal to older voters who remember the days when the phrase ‘Better Dead Than Red’ signaled solidarity among white people in this country against a common enemy. Polls show that only 3 percent of people in their 70s and older have a favorable view of communism as opposed to 28 percent among Gen Z.
“Second, it stirs up fears of China, today’s most prominent and powerful communist nation.
“Finally, this language has special meaning in South Florida, where the former president is under federal indictment. It’s no accident that Trump reacted to his arraignment in the classified documents case on June 13 by waving the bloody flag of communism and describing the threat it allegedly poses.
If they [e.g., Democrats; federal and state courts] succeed in advancing their political power, Trump said they “‘won’t stop with me.” “They will not hesitate to ramp up their persecution of Christians, pro-life activists, parents attending school board meetings, and even future Republican candidates.”
It’s rhetoric that undemocratic leaders have used before. According to Sarat,
“Whatever his motivations, Trump’s kind of red baiting has a long lineage. It is right out of the playbook of authoritarians and tyrants from the early 20th century. It was instrumental in the rise of fascist leaders in mid-century Germany and Italy.”
Trump’s revival of the Red Scare also draws on an American tradition that fueled the notorious Palmer Raids in 1919 and 1920, when the Justice Department arrested and deported anarchists, communists, and radical leftists. The raids, sparked by social unrest following the First World War, were the climax of that era’s own Red Scare.
Making it up
“Trump is “hallucinating” a communist threat where there is none, according to the Guardian columnist Richard Seymour, quoted by Sarat.
‘Seymour gets it right when he suggests that for a would-be authoritarian like Trump, communism signals a ‘single, treasonous, diabolical enemy.’ ‘Rather like a racial stereotype,’ Seymour writes, “‘communism’ figuratively presents systemic crisis as … a demonic plot … Those labelled ‘communists’ are thus blamed not just for the reforms they demand, but for all the crises that call for reform.”
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Trump promises payback for his indictment over illegal possession of government documents prosecution follows years of attacking democratic traditions
Nicholas Riccardi and Gary Fields report for ABC News, June 16 2023, on Trump’s quest for revenge against political opponents in wake of his federal indictment
“Donald Trump’s attacks on the justice system after his indictment on federal charges this week are the latest step in a now eight-year campaign by the former president and his allies against the traditions and institutions that have helped maintain American democracy.”
Revenge
“Trump upped the level of his claims and threats as he faces the potential of years in prison if convicted on 37 charges of obstruction, illegal retention of defense information and other violations. Hours after pleading not guilty, Trump claimed he is being targeted by the special prosecutor, who is nonpartisan, for political reasons and vowed to retaliate against President Joe Biden if he is elected president in 2024.
“‘There was an unwritten rule’ to not prosecute former presidents and political rivals, Trump told supporters in a speech at his golf club in New Jersey. ‘I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of America, Joe Biden, and go after the Biden crime family.’”
“‘If he did that, it’d be an authoritarian system, the end of a system of laws rather than of one man,’ said Lindsay Chervinsky, a presidential historian.
A “victim”?
“Trump has long complained about being unfairly treated by the legal system, from contending that the judge in a lawsuit against his for-profit university was biased against him to targeting the FBI over its probe of Russian interference in his 2016 win. He even vowed retribution in that case, assigning a special prosecutor to review how the investigation into his campaign’s possible coordination with Russia was handled, which led to only one conviction.”
No one should be above the law
“The indictment came,” Riccardi and Fields write, “from a grand jury in Trump’s adopted state of Florida after an investigation led by a special counsel, Jack Smith, who is independent of political appointees in the Biden administration and has previously prosecuted Democrats as well as Republicans. Speaking after the indictment was made public, Smith stressed that investigations such as the one into the documents follow the facts and the law.
“‘We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone,’ he said.
Many experts, of all political persuasions, said the charges against Trump stem from the proper functioning of the legal system, rather than a political vendetta.”
“‘There is not an attorney general of either party who would not have brought today’s charges against the former president,’ Michael Luttig, a former federal judge who was a conservative favorite for a Supreme Court post, wrote on Twitter.
According to the indictment, Trump held onto classified documents after leaving the White House, admitted on tape that they were classified and that he no longer had the presidential power to declassify them, then refused to return the records when the government demanded them back.”
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Trump’s plan to take control of the Justice Department
Robert Reich explains in an article distributed online on June 19, 2023 Trump’s plan to turn the Justice Department into his personal vendetta machine (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/new-things-to-turn-the-justice). Here’s some of analysis.
“Last week [3rd week in June, 2023] Trump said that if reelected, he’d appoint a ‘real special prosecutor’ to ‘go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family.’”
“In other words,” Reich continues, “if Trump is reelected, you can kiss nonpartisan criminal justice goodbye.” Trump views “the Justice Department as an extension of his own will — even claiming, ‘I have an absolute right to do what I want to with the Justice Department.’”
The former president has a record of interfering in the Department and gives these examples.
“Trump interfered in the department’s prosecutions of Michael Flynn and Roger Stone, fired FBI Director James Comey for investigating possible collusion between Russia and Trump associates, and demanded that the department reopen a criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton.”
Reich continues.
“Now, Trump threatens that if reelected he’ll turn the Justice Department into his own personal vendetta machine. If there weren’t already enough reason to fear a second Trump presidency, this would be it.” Meanwhile, such rants have affected “public trust.”
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House GOP promotes Jan. 6 insurrectionists as heroes
Jordain Carney and Kyle Cheney consider some of the evidence (https://politico.com/news/2023/06/18/house-gop-jan-6-extremism-00101259). They write,
“House Republicans don’t want to talk about Jan. 6. They also can’t stop talking about it.
“At times, GOP lawmakers insist they’re uninterested in relitigating an attack that is political poison for the party outside of deep-red areas. But at other times, some Republicans have stoked narratives that falsely pin blame for the attack on police, Democrats or far-left agitators — or downplay the violence at the Capitol. The latter approach has seen a noticeable uptick of late.
“And it’s not just far-right conservatives who fall in that group — some House GOP leaders and key committee chiefs have shown they’re willing to flirt with the fringe without an outright embrace. Speaker Kevin McCarthy has shared security video of that day with far-right media figures who have minimized or fed inaccurate portrayals of the attack.”
“Notably, no committee chairs or party leaders participated in the biggest platform House Republicans have given Jan. 6 defendants so far: Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), joined by a handful of others from the conference’s right flank, hosted an event last week with former Trump acting assistant attorney general Jeffrey Clark, people charged in relation to Jan. 6, defendants’ family members and allies.
“The event featured a veritable kitchen sink of conspiracy theories as well as rehashed false claims, including that the 2020 election was ‘stolen’ and that the Jan. 6 committee ‘doctored’ video.”
“Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said that probing the Justice Department’s handling of Jan. 6 prosecutions should be one of the ‘top priorities’ for a Judiciary sub-panel tasked with investigating GOP claims of bias against conservatives within the federal government.
“She introduced impeachment articles against the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia who has taken the lead on prosecuting members of the mob. Meanwhile, Gaetz introduced a resolution to censure Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who led the now-closed riot select committee. Both efforts have a single-digit number of cosponsors at the moment.
“Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) did recently release a wider report that accused the FBI of artificially conflating the number of Jan. 6-related investigations. The report and a subsequent hearing also included testimony from whistleblowers who lost their security clearances due to improper actions related to Jan. 6.”
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Part 2: – Obscuring and/or denying real problems
Here I focus on “climate crisis” in the U.S. This is an example of how Trump and the Republican Party exacerbate and muddle a deadly serious problem facing the United States and all nations.
I have addressed the growing problem of the climate crisis in earlier posts, on, for example, Feb. 1, 2023 (https://wordpress.com/post/vitalissues-bobsheak.com/2705)
and recently on June 8, 2023 (https://wordpress.com/post/vitalissues-bobsheak.com/3075).
The evidence of this dire, existential-threatening problem continues unabated, while Trump and the Republican Party continue to give overwhelming support for any policy that boosts the use of fossil fuels and simultaneously sidelines proposals to advance solar or wind power. Ian Angus’s book, facing the anthropocene: fossil capitalism and the crisis of the earth system, is worth reading on these interrelated topics. So is Bill McKibben’s book, Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? Eve Darian-Smith’s Global- Burning: Rising AntiDemocracy and the Climate Crisis is full of relevant evidence.
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The Climate Crisis
The most significant sources of rising temperatures and the climate crisis are fossil fuels. Jake Johnson reports that new data indicate that fossil Fuels made up 82% of global energy consumption in 2022 (https://commondreams.org/news/fossil-fuels-global-energy-consumption). Here’s what he writes.
“Data published Monday [by the Energy Institute] show that fossil fuels made up 82% of global energy consumption in 2022, another indication that the global transition away from planet-warming sources is moving far too slowly as rich nations continue burning oil, gas, and coal at an unsustainable pace.
“Juliet Davenport, president of the Energy Institute, said in a statement that ‘2022 saw some of the worst ever impacts of climate change—the devastating floods affecting millions in Pakistan, the record heat events across Europe and North America—yet we have to look hard for positive news on the energy transition in this new data.’”
“‘Despite further strong growth in wind and solar in the power sector, overall global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions increased again,’ said Davenport. ‘We are still heading in the opposite direction to that required by the Paris Agreement.’” Wind and solar energy account for 12% of power generation.
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Oceans continue to warm
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Delger Erdenesanaa reports that “ocean warmth set a record for May”
(https://nytimes.com/2023/06/15/climate/oceans-global-warming.html).
“Temperatures are already breaking records this year: Last month was the warmest May for the world’s oceans since record-keeping began in 1850, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.”
“The average ocean temperature throughout May was 1.53 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0.85 degree Celsius, higher than normal for the month.
“For the planet as a whole May was the third warmest on record, the agency said on Thursday in its monthly climate update. North and South America had their warmest Mays on record.
“In the United States, rising temperatures hit Washington State and northern Idaho especially hard. Two cities in Washington, Bellingham and Spokane, as well as smaller communities in the region, set records for their warmest Mays.
Warmer oceans “harm ocean life and feed wildfires.”
“Warmer water tends to hold less oxygen, and large-scale fish die-offs may happen earlier in the year as the climate continues to warm. Last week, thousands of dead fish washed up on Texas beaches from unusually warm waters and lack of oxygen in the Gulf of Mexico. Across the ocean, higher temperatures contribute to coral reefs dying. The ocean also expands as it warms, raising sea levels even further on top of the added water from melting ice sheets.”
Global warming and wildfires
“Last month’s unusual heat contributed to Canada’s spate of wildfires,” according to Erdenesanaa. “As wildfire smoke spread, air quality in western Canada and the northern Great Plains in the United States deteriorated significantly. More recently, the wildfire smoke reached cities in the Northeast and Midwest, causing Air Quality Index readings to skyrocket across much of the country.”
“With climate change and global warming, it’s been an interesting start to the season,” said Rocky Bilotta, a climatologist at NOAA, during a call with reporters.
“Last week, the agency [NOAA] declared that the global ocean and atmosphere had officially entered the climate pattern known as El Niño, which occurs naturally when the surface of the Pacific Ocean becomes warmer than usual. The phenomenon generally leads to warmer temperatures globally, but Mr. Bilotta said that El Niño would most likely influence temperatures later this year and next year.
It’s hard to pinpoint a single cause for May’s heat, he said, but as the climate warms overall, increasingly hot temperatures and records are to be expected worldwide, both in the ocean and on land.
“Most of the United States can expect an unusually hot summer, with elevated drought and wildfire risks, according to NOAA. South Texas and much of New England are in for an especially hot July. On hotter days, plants lose more water to the atmosphere and dry out, worsening the effects of droughts and providing more fuel for wildfires.
“Warmer temperatures can also lead to more evaporation from the ocean and other bodies of water. More water vapor in the atmosphere can then lead to heavier rain and snowfall, and fuel tropical storms.
“For the next month, the northern Great Plains, the Mid-Atlantic region and the western Gulf Coast can expect more rain than usual, the agency forecast. Over the entire summer, the middle of the country can expect more rain while the Pacific Northwest, parts of the Southwest, the Great Lakes region and parts of the Mid-Atlantic should prepare for drought.
Longer term, El Niño conditions will almost certainly last at least until spring 2024, and could contribute to worse winter storms in the southern United States.
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The North Atlantic is hotter than usual
Dan Stillman also reports on how the North Atlantic is getting hotter; indeed, hotter than it has been in 170 years (https://washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/06/23/ocean-heatwave-northatlantic-uk-climate). The “warm waters could pose a deadly threat to marine life and impact summer weather in the U.K. and Europe.” Stillman continues.
“The ocean waters surrounding the United Kingdom and much of Europe are baking in an unprecedented marine heat wave that scientists say is being intensified by human-caused climate change. Scientists are astounded not only by how much the waters have warmed during the past month but also how early in the year the heat wave is occurring. The warm waters are a threat to marine life and could worsen heat waves over land this summer, they say.
“Sea surface temperatures are running as high as 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal, the warmest in more than 170 years, and are more typical of August and September when the waters are usually at their warmest. The event has registered as a Category 4 on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s marine heat wave scale with localized areas reaching Category 5, the two highest categories on the scale.
“NOAA defines a marine heat wave as a period with persistent and unusually warm ocean temperatures, ‘which can have significant impacts on marine life as well as coastal communities and economies.’ The agency describes Category 4 as ‘extreme’ and Category 5 as ‘beyond extreme.’”
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Texas Cities Are Setting Temperature Records in Unremitting Heat Wave
The immediacy of the climate crisis is reflected in the extraordinary hot weather now occurring in Texas. Dylan Baddour reports on this situation in an article published by Inside Climate News on June 21, 2023 (https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20162023/texas-heat-wave-record-climate-change). Here’s some of what Baddour writes.
“Readings in Laredo, Del Rio, San Angelo and Junction were the highest ever recorded, while Corpus Christi logged an all-time-high heat index of 125 degrees. Forecasters warn that no relief is in sight this month.” These data come from the National Weather Service, which also issued “excessive heat warnings and heat advisories that affect more than 40 million people.”
“The duration of the heat wave is straining utility infrastructure and drawing attention to the need for heat mitigation strategies for vulnerable populations. Sommerville said the extreme heat was expected to continue ‘for the foreseeable future, for at least the next couple of weeks.’”
Top of Form
“Temperatures in Del Rio, on the Rio Grande, hit 113 on Tuesday, exceeding the previous record of 112 measured in July 2020 and June 1988, while San Angelo posted a record 114 degrees, toppling the previous high of 111 set in 1960.”
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Republicans oppose Biden from declaring a “national emergency”
Despite the high temperatures and polluted air affecting people across the United States, Republicans in both the U.S. Senate and House take action to prevent President Biden from declaring a national emergency, according to a report by Jake Johnson (https://commondreams.org/news/gop-bill-climate-emergency).
“Senate Republicans introduced legislation earlier this week that would prohibit President Joe Biden from declaring a national climate emergency as millions across the U.S. shelter indoors to escape scorching heat and toxic pollution from Canadian wildfires, which have been fueled by runaway warming.
“Led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.)—a fossil fuel industry ally and the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee—the GOP bill would “prohibit the president from using the three primary statutory authorities available (the National Emergencies Act, the Stafford Act, and section 319 of the Public Health Service Act) to declare a national emergency solely on the basis of climate change,” according to a summary released by the Republican senator’s office.
“Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), another friend of the oil and gas industry, is leading companion legislation in the House.
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Part 3 – Two examples of what can be done to address the climate crisis
Increase support for renewable energy
The effects of the heatwave in Texas could be worse, according to an article by Julia Conley published in Common Dreams on June 24, 2023
(https://commondreams.org/news/solar-power-texas-heat). She writes,
“A sweltering heatwave has gripped Texas over the last two weeks, pushing temperatures to 115°F in parts of the state—but its status as a new leader in the development of solar power has reportedly protected many in the state from a catastrophic loss of power.”
“But this month, reported The New York Times on Friday, ‘the lights and air conditioning have stayed on across the state,’ and analysts have linked the continuation of power to Texas’s doubling of the amount of solar energy it’s generated since early 2022.
“While Texas has built its reputation in recent decades as a center of oil and gas production in the U.S., ‘solar is producing 15% of total energy right now,’ University of Texas research scientist Joshua Rhodes told the Times. The state now leads the nation in renewable energy, with 17 gigawatts of solar power operational this year.”
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Political action in Virginia makes a positive difference
Madeline Ostrander reports on the example of “down-ballot race” in Virginia and how pro-environmental candidates are doing well in these contests (https://thenation.com/article/politics/virginia-elections-climate-change). This is an example of what can be accomplished to address the climate crisis. Here’s some of what she reports.
“For decades, across the US, groups like the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club have jumped into state and local politics—endorsing candidates and supporting campaigns on issues like conservation or pollution cleanup. But only recently have environmentalists given significant attention to the role that states and local governments can play in climate change. “You’re going to get a national climate bill out of Congress every 10 years, maybe,” says Qua. “What are you going to do the rest of that time?” Since its founding in 2016, Lead Locally [A Virginia environmental group] has supported nearly 400 candidates willing to take on local and state climate issues. The scrappy, small-staffed organization always partners with regional and local groups and campaigns—and often leaps into lower-profile races, including primaries—to back candidates who have especially ambitious climate platforms.”
Twenty of the 25 candidates supported by a pro-environment political group won their primaries.
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Concluding thoughts
The United States is on the edge of losing its already tenuous democracy to a power-hungry Republican Party still led by Trump. They lie, conspire, support twofold agenda, one supporting rich and powerful benefactors (e.g., lower taxes) and the other expressing support for a host of right-wing groups and ideologies.
At times, they explicitly want their supporters to know that their “leaders” will seek revenge and extreme institutional changes, and that, if elected president in 2024, they believe Trump is the man to accomplish all this. They want right-wing Republicans to control all pillars of power at all levels of the society. And, as emphasized in this post, they have little or no tolerance for creating an energy system that is sustainable, dismiss verifiable evidence whenever it conflicts with their views, and seem content to see Trump or some other aspiring autocrats control the country.
How can such a future be avoided?
American citizens must support Democratic candidates who want to preserve and strengthen democracy and support policies that address real problems. There is a role for the Democratic Party at all levels, for democratically-based groups and citizens to participate in electoral politics, for fighting against voter suppression and preserving the rule of law in candidate selection, for combatting the lies and disinformation of the Republicans, and for keeping abreast of important issues. Certainly, it is important to educate people about the seriousness of the climate crisis and to urge them to support the rapid phasing out of fossil fuels.
Martin Wolf emphasizes the importance of “citizenship” in these processes. He writes: “It is by thinking and acting as citizens that a democratic political community survives and thrives.” Such citizenship “must have three aspects: concern for the ability of fellow citizens to have a fulfilled life; the desire to create an economy that allows citizens to flourish in this way; and, above all, loyalty to democratic political and legal institutions and the values of open debate and mutual tolerance that underpin them” (p. 380).
David Pepper has written a book of instructions on “Saving Democracy,” the title of the book. It is an in-depth “manual for every American” and what they can do to strengthen democratic institutions, while organizing with others to support democratically-oriented groups, individuals, and candidates. He says that the struggle for democracy is a long one and requires information, research, and activism at all levels of the political system. A tall order. But so much is at stake.
Vital issues - challenging pol and econ power 