Opinion: Trump Screams at Shadows as the G7 Acts To Save the Rain Forest from Conspiratorial Ignorance

During the G7 summit, we saw Trump figuratively screaming at shadows while the responsible countries decided on a plan to save the Amazon rain forest.

The world laughs at America as the madman occupying the White House continues to spout insane conspiracy theories and obsesses over getting Putin readmitted to the G7.

It’s ironic that Trump of all people would criticize the G7 host, French President Macron, of focusing on “niche issues.”

The planet’s future rests in the power of a man who thinks hurricanes should be nuked.

As Axios recounts, Trump once ejaculated:

“I got it. I got it. Why don’t we nuke them?” according to one source who was there. “They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they’re moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can’t we do that?”

This is the same man who pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement and who sympathizes with Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, who is spreading conspiracy theories about the fires that continue to burn in the Amazon rain forest.

If that sounds crazy, it’s because it is crazy. It’s as crazy as Donald Trump’s belief that the media is making up the recession  most economists are warning about for the purpose of ruining Trump’s re-election party.

While sane leaders at the G7 summit discussed the crisis that climate change is, Trump and his sycophants dismissed the discussion as a “niche issue”. In fact, Trump didn’t even attend the meeting, then, when questioned, responded with classic Trump lies that included claims of being an environmentalist.

There is so much wrong with this picture. Trump has access to every expert on the subjects of climate change and hurricanes. He has no excuse to be more ignorant on these topics than I am. But even I can see the crazy in Trump’s thinking. I’d laugh if it weren’t for the fact that climate change is an existential threat to the planet and if we start nuking hurricanes, the planet will be radioactive toast in no time.

You don’t have to have a background in environmental science or nukes to understand that doing nothing about climate change and nuking hurricanes are crazy ideas.

While Democrats have a range of views on climate change and the about appropriate course of action, every candidate admits that climate change exists. Every candidate also agrees on the importance of recommitting to the Paris Agreement. While the Paris agreement is not going to solve everything that ails the environment, it is an important first step because of its scope and because so many countries are parties to it.

But the fire in the Amazon rain forest also shows us just how important it is for every country, large or small, to get with the program of addressing climate change. Just one country buying into conspiracy theories and denying the existence of climate change can undo the years of effort by all the countries to stop the damage of climate change.

The Amazon rain forest fire can be seen from space.

Last week, French President Macron and every G7 member except the United States recognized the fires in the rain forests as an international crisis. They ignored Trump’s whining and Brazil’s far right president’s nationalist paranoia as the G7 summit agreed to send financial and technical help in combatting the fire.

Additionally, the G7 countries,  “will officially launch  an initiative at the U.N. General Assembly that

“will deal with central questions about the Amazon’s future, the reforestation of the devastated areas of course, but also concrete projects, which will have to be worked on together, the good of the local population, lasting development and the area’s overall ecology,”

The rain forest matters regardless of which corner of the planet you live on because it provides 20% of the planet’s oxygen. So no, this isn’t about hegemony that lives in the imagination of Brazil’s Bolsonaro.

The data shows double the number of forest fires in Brazil this year than there was in 2013.

The fires that have the attention of the G7, the Pope and the UN General Assembly are thought to be started by farmers, loggers and ranchers to clear the land Because Bolsonaro favors commercial development of the rain forest, critics suggest that may have been seen as the government green lighting this destruction.

If that sounds as crazy as Trump’s desire to nuke hurricanes, it’s because they’re both insane ideas.

This man is unwell and yet most of the media continues to approach him and his activities as if this is business as usual.

The stakes get higher every day, with Trump not only serving as a menace to national security, or our national reputation, but also to the planet’s very existence.

But, rest assured Trump knows a great place to hold the next G7 summit. Now that he’s settled the suit about bed bugs at Doral National, there will be plenty of bungalows available. Of course it matters –it matters to him alone. Trump will profit while a big chunk of the world’s lungs burn to a crisp.