The 79-year-old president has repeatedly called climate change a hoax to the detriment of our well-being, so the Trump administration decided not to send any high-ranking officials to the United Nations climate conference in Brazil on Friday.
So, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is filling the void after his resounding political victory against Donald Trump, where California voters overwhelmingly approved a new congressional map drawn by state Democrats.
Via Politico:
The Democrat and likely 2028 White House aspirant will be the highest-profile government representative there from the United States after the Trump administration decided not to send any high-ranking officials.
Stepping into the vacuum plays to Newsom’s strengths, especially after his decisive win Tuesday on his congressional redistricting measure vaulted him to the position of the Democrats’ strongest retort to Trump.
Newsom put his trip squarely in that anti-Trump lineage in an interview Wednesday with POLITICO, saying he was making the trip “because of the complete abdication of the Trump administration that is joining the Saudis and Russia and the Gulf states.”
“It’s doubled down on hydrocarbons as the rest of the world is sprinting ahead on low-carbon green growth,” Newsom said. “For me, it is about our economic competitiveness, period, full stop.”
Newsom’s debut appearance at COP30 will also do no harm in raising his national and international profile ahead of a long-discussed 2028 presidential bid.
“I just want to make sure everyone understands we’re maybe 2,000 miles from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but we’re a world away in terms of our mindset on these issues,” Newsom said.
...
Climate diplomats from Europe and elsewhere, who lost their bid to impose a global carbon tax on shipping last month amid opposition from the Trump administration, are already clamoring for an alternative from the United States at the Brazil talks, even as they water down their own goals.
“The U.S. will not play a major role,” said Jochen Flasbarth, the Undersecretary in the German Ministry of Environmental Affairs, in mid-October. “The world is collectively outraged, and so we will focus — as will everyone else — on engaging in talks with those who are driving the process forward.”
Climate change is a significant concern, with overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is the primary cause. It's easy to shrug evidence off if you're an old, lazy geezer who sees nothing in it for himself, and doesn't care about mankind. Well, it's easy if you're a psychopath. Trump doesn't know how to President, so Newsom is stepping in.
