Donald Trump’s victory is making quite a splash at the big UN climate change conference in Marrakech, Morocco.
In response to Trump’s election, European Union representatives proclaimed that they would not wait for the U.S. to catch up, which begs the question of what we would want to catch up to. Our economy is stronger and our standard of living is higher than most in the EU, so why would Americans prefer the EU’s radical environmental agenda? The EU should ask themselves why citizens in the U.K. voted for Brexit. Could it be that the Brits learned about the EU, what Americans have also learned about bureaucratic overreach by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Land Management, etc.?
Several environmental extremist groups weighed in on Trump’s election too. “Friends of the Earth” called on nations to “deliver climate finance” now, no more “pussy footing.” They ignore the fact that the Obama administration has spent $11 billion on green energy finance around the globe, including grants, development finance and export credits. And during the Marrakech meeting, it committed another $125 million to El Salvador and India, as well as $36 million to sub-Saharan Africa. As the UN in Marrakech focuses on “adaptation,” its true agenda is for American taxpayers to fund infrastructure in foreign countries, even as American roads, bridges and airports need repairs.
The radical group “Climate Action Network” proclaimed in response to Trump’s election that “no one person, no one government can stop what we’re doing.” “Politics cannot change the people’s movement for economic justice,” a.k.a. the failed Marxist promise for equality. Trump’s campaign promise to Make America Great Again, is the antithesis of Marxist ideals.
Young people from various countries traveled to Marrakech to react vociferously to Trump’s election. A student from New York with “Sustain U.S.” called Trump’s election a “disaster,” stating that “power from below must push for social and environmental justice.”
Another student from New Zealand expressed “panic” over Trump’s win and said he couldn’t fathom building the Keystone Pipeline or eliminating Obama’s radical “Clean Power Plan” that aims to destroy the last vestiges of America’s coal industry.
A Chinese Emery University student, working with the Chinese government at the Marrakech meeting, suggested that time will tell the impact of Trump’s election. She further suggested that state policies could replace Obama’s federal activism and held up California as a positive example. The state has embraced Obama’s plan to produce cars with fuel economy standards of 50.8 miles per gallon by 2025, but only time will tell whether Americans will sacrifice their families’ safety for federal standards.
A student from the Marshall Islands said the U.S. elections were “depressing” and that Trump was “terrifying” because he “mocks our struggle for survival.”  He stood under a banner stating, “Embrace Ambition, NOT Emissions” claiming that we owe it to his future children to implement strong “climate action,” adding that he deserved “more than just to survive.” He also said that the Marshall Islands could decide to remove the U.S. military base on its island, which begs the question whether it could defend itself without U.S. military might.
Another student from the Philippines called Trump a “climate denier” while lauding “climate justice,” adding that “the U.S. needs to act with us and for us.”
These responses by participants of the UN meeting in Morocco make it abundantly clear that America has strong enemies that don’t fear us. And the friends she once earned do not know if they can trust us anymore. It is time to show the world that we will cling to science, not politics, against dangers both foreign and domestic.