California is burning. Hurricanes are getting worse. Insurance rates are soaring. And yet, the left isn’t even trying to use climate change as an issue, and Trump is engaging in open energy hypocrisy by discriminating against renewables while proclaiming a fictitious “emergency.” Why is this happening?
A big part of it is the reactionary dream of the Godly Society, in which real men exploit fossil fuels and make lots of money, while real women stay home and have lots of babies. Part of it is self-interest on the part of wealthy extractors of fossil fuels. But part of it is fear of the American equivalent of the French “gilets jaunes;” people in rural areas bear a disproportionate amount of the burden of transitioning to renewables and turn their anger into political power.
For the nation as a whole, turning our back on sources of energy that will be, in the long run, limitless and cheap as well as more planet-friendly is insane. If Musk actually wants to do some good for America, converting Trump on this issue would be an appropriate place to start.