Donald Trump just raised global danger levels even further. With the US presidential race underway, Trump went on a surreal rant about dishwashers, light bulbs, and toilets. Although so ludicrous it might seem funny, it’s actually truly terrifying.
“We are so fucked”
Addressing a rally in Milwaukee on 14 January, Trump pledged new dishwashers. He proclaimed:
I’m also approving new dishwashers that give you more water so you can actually wash and rinse your dishes without having to do it ten times, or five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
And the crowd erupted cheering as though he’d just offered the policy to end all policies.
Trump: "I'm also approving NEW DISHWASHERS, that GIVE YOU MORE WATER!"
Brainwashed sycophants: *delirious cheering*
We are so fucked.pic.twitter.com/1AY1F1udqT
— GET A GRIP (@docrussjackson) January 15, 2020
He also criticised energy-efficient lightbulbs, saying “the new lightbulb costs you five times as much” and (without a hint of irony) “it makes you look orange”.
Trump laments that "the new lightbulb … makes you look orange." (I think it has more to do with the spray tan-type stuff he uses …) pic.twitter.com/yN32tmdYeX
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 15, 2020
Then, he declared:
Try going and buying a new faucet. You turn it on. No water comes out… But how about the shower? … I have this beautiful head of hair. I need a lot of work.
And you go into the shower… drip, drip, drip. I call the guy: ‘is something wrong with this?’ … ‘no sir, it’s just a restrictor’. So you’re in there five times longer than you’re supposed to be, you use probably more water, and it’s a very unpleasant experience.
"You don't get any water!" — POTUS transitions from complaining about dishwashers to complaining about sinks, toilets, and showers. He then starts bragging about his hair. pic.twitter.com/o4nHUBkGSc
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 15, 2020
Again, the crowd roared approval. And while this may sound like utter, rambling gobbledygook, it actually underpins just how dangerous the Trump administration is on climate denial and reversing existing environmental policies.
Not funny
Trump’s ‘rants’ were actually deeply sinister.
For all his talk of dishwashers and showers, California droughts started in 2012 and are now “the worst… in history”. Meanwhile, crop failures in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua mean “1.4 million people…urgently need food assistance”; and “climate-induced lack of food” is forcing record numbers of people to flee their homes as emigrants.
In December 2019, Trump’s administration blocked “a rule designed to phase out older incandescent bulbs and require Americans to use energy-efficient light bulbs”.
Consumer groups estimate that Trump's reversal of tighter lightbulb standards, which stem from a bipartisan 2007 energy law, would raise energy costs by $14B/year and will generate 38M tons of carbon dioxide annually. https://t.co/u5EFI4b2Sl
— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) December 21, 2019
The Guardian also noted that his latest rant “follows months of increasing criticisms from Republican lawmakers to energy regulators over stricter environmental standards”.
In the face of an escalating climate crisis, “the most powerful people in government environment jobs… have ties to the fossil fuel industry or have fought against the regulations they now are supposed to enforce”. According to the New York Times:
During their time in government they have been responsible for loosening or undoing nearly 100 environmental protections from pollution and pesticides, as well as weakening preservations of natural resources and efforts to curb planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
The US is the “largest contributor historically to carbon emissions in the past 150 years and remains the largest per capita contributor today”. Yet as global temperatures rise, Trump’s administration continues to go backwards rather than face the terrifying truth of climate breakdown. So as the rally crowds roar approval at Trump’s utterly terrifying nonsense, the global threat increases.
Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia
.jpg){kind=link}