WEBCommentary(tm) - Trump Is Right Again

Even if the "true-believers" in the Paris Accord had their way, and, even if all their assumptions were correct (and that's a big IF), the most difference the Paris Accord might make if every nation lived up to its obligation, is 3.6˚F (2.0˚C) in global average temperature. Putting this in perspective, that's the same average annual temperature difference between living in Washington, DC and Chapel Hill, NC and one-fifth the average annual temperature difference between living in Washington, DC and Orlando, Florida.

I need to admit something at the very start – I know nothing whatsoever about global warming. I’ve never written about it until now because it doesn’t bother me. I’ve got a lot of other things I worry about and I am totally convinced and self-assured that people who are a lot smarter than me have the problem well-defined and ambitiously followed.

What I am far better at is recognizing the Paris Agreement, which Donald Trump got us out of this week, is a spectacular con. I spent a lot of time reading about it in the last several days and I think it is a trick by China and some other countries to create utter chaos in the United States. If you read the agreement it is nuts – it requires each country to decide what its yearly contribution should be (except for the United States) and it has no mechanism or deadlines to pay, implement programs or anything else. There is not an absolute sentence anywhere, all assumption and interpretation.

It’s an absolute ploy to take America’s money and Trump should get a Congressional Medal for catching this catastrophe when he did. Face it: Trump understands business – and cons – far better than most.

If the United States followed the brilliant suggestions by foreign speakers in Paris regarding America, our nation would cut manufacturing of paper and concrete by 15-30 percent. We would cut steel, iron ore and clean coal by 60-80 percent. Couple that with the trillion-dollar check and the Heritage Foundation now predicts the electricity cost by a family of four would increase between 13 and 20 percent a year. We would lose, quite literally, millions of jobs that would cost every family over $20,000 by 2035.

You don’t believe this? Read up! When I heard Trump was pulling out of the Paris deal, I thought he was just bugging with the deeply-panicked Al Gore types of “snowflakes.” After all, ‘global warming’ is the liberal’s cattle-call but -- whoa! – this is very serious. All the members of the Paris Agreement want the U.S. to plunk down almost $1 trillion a year and then they’ll split it up so other nations can do their part. Ain’t that a kick in the head?

But here’s the coup de grace -- If everything works perfectly, by the year 2100 – in another 83 years! -- the world’s temperature will be cut by – get this – a mere 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

History has repeatedly proven other nations don’t fulfill promises (look at NATO). Grover Norquist was on MSNBC the other day and he made sense:

Many of the world leaders were miffed and quite vocal about Trump’s decision to leave the Paris Agreement, saying they were increasingly concerned with Trump’s “America First” agenda instead of engaging with international allies.

“I really think that is the major consequence of today: it’s not about the Paris agreement,” said Christiana Figueres, the former head of the United Nation’s climate change mission. “I think the real problem today and the real sadness is the absolute death blow to the international credibly of the current U.S. leadership. … The blow to the international political credibility of the United States really cannot be underestimated.”

Now that might sound good but – let’s be stark honest -- Christiana, like 140 other countries, wants the United States money – not friendship. If that weren’t so, explain why only 31 percent of the countries who take our foreign aid vote with the U.S. at the United Nations? Please read about the Paris Agreement and try to learn what the U.S. gets out of it – zero!

James Mattis, our Secretary of Defense, was speaking in Singapore on Friday after the North Korea puzzle and after his remarks Michael Fullilove of Australia asked Mattis about Trump’s resistance to global alliances. Mattis handled the few parts of his answer with gentleness, reminding those present that the United States has a new president and that “there will be fresh approaches taken.”

But Mattis also promised the United States would always be “an international leader, and that Americans accept that “like it or not, we are part of the world,” according to the Washington Post. The former Marine general also reminded the world, through his remarks – hello! – “despite deep frustration among some that their nation has been asked to shoulder at times an “inordinate (financial) burden.”

Mattis, said to have read over 6,000 books, brought laughs when he quoted Winston Churchill: “To quote a British observer of us from some years ago: Bear with us. Once we have exhausted all possible alternatives, the Americans will do the right thing,” Mattis also laughed, before adding, “So, we will still be there. And we will be with you.”

Mattis cited his own foreign travel – to NATO, China, Japan and South Korea – as well as Trump’s visit to the Far East and Europe. “We’re there, and I can give you absolute optimism on this issue,” Mattis promised.

What cha’ wanna’ bet the Paris Agreement collapses without the $1 trillion in U.S. money?