With regard to Trump and his toadies, we are now in the 9th circle of hell, where Virgil bade Dante: Non ragionam di lor, ma guarde e passa—“Let us think no more about them, but look once and pass on.”
By pulling out of the hard-won Paris Climate Accord, Trump’s vicious destruction of Obama’s legacy is now complete. (Note to self: Why is Barack still smiling like a Cheshire cat?) More importantly, the implosion of America has left a void in global leadership. What will fill it?
Not China. Though Mr. Xi told the newly elected French leader that China and France “should protect the achievements of global governance, including the Paris agreement.”
Amazing, China is speaking of global governance! As someone said recently, “for the Chinese there is nothing economic that isn’t also political.” (For Americans there is nothing political that isn’t also economic.)
We have a responsibility to the earth and humanity that Donald Trump is egregiously shirking, indeed sneering at. The United States has been burning coal, oil and natural gas far longer than any other country, and today this country, with just over 4 percent of the world’s population, is responsible for almost a third of the excess carbon dioxide that is heating the planet.
Make no mistake—we are dealing with unvarnished evil in the Trump Administration. It showed its true face today. Trump’s speech, pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord, dripped with maliciousness, malignancy and ugliness.
As the Atlantic said in “The Death Knell for America’s Global Leadership,” Trump “has reimagined the United States in the image of their own chief: selfish, isolated, brutish, domineering, and driven by immediate appetites rather than ideals or even longer-term interests.”
But let’s be clear. Trump is first and foremost the manifestation of these traits. America internally collapsed long before the lesser evil of George W. Bush.
Barack Obama’s whitewash lasted only as long as his presidency. By refusing to face and address the underlying rot in the body politic that preceded him, Barack and Hillary helped paved the way for Trumpism.
“America has ceased to be the leader the world once respected—but an unpredictable and dangerous force in world affairs, itself to be contained and deterred by new coalitions of ex-friends,” the Atlantic reported.
The vaunted “international order,” forged and formed by the United States after this country emerged as the indisputable world power following World War II, is collapsing before our very eyes.
But let’s face it, McMaster and Cohn are basically correct when they said in their recent op-ed: “The world is not a “global community” but an arena where nations, nongovernmental actors, and businesses engage and compete for advantage.”
Given the man-made threats to the earth, that is precisely the mentality must be psychologically overthrown. Competition has its place in business and sports, but it can no longer be put first if humanity is to survive and thrive.
“America First” is the path to total ruin. Sovereignty no longer belongs to any state, but to humanity as a whole.
Trump’s “America First” is a grotesque atavism. He is saying, “To hell with the earth and humanity; American profit and power are first. What are you going to do about it?”
This is what. California has psychologically seceded from this utterly corrupt and venal government in Washington DC. There will not be another civil war, and we will remain in the union politically. But Californians are standing against this utterly immoral and corrupt government in Washington.
California is the sixth largest economy in the world. We are the world’s leader in science and technology. We are ready to lead the world, devoting our resources to a healthy planet and the human prospect. From now on, our allegiance is to the earth and humanity ahead of this or any nation.
As a leading activist in Sacramento, who works with Governor Jerry Brown’s office and other legislators on a regular basis, said to me today after Trump’s speech: “The political leaders in California are rising to the challenges the Trump Administration poses to everything this state and country has stood for in a way that makes even cynics proud to be Californians.”
So don’t quit. We need your heart and mind wherever you live. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of humanity.
Martin LeFevre
