It’s Arguable that Donald Has Done More for the Paris Climate Accord than Obama Did

Photo Credit: Al Jazeera
Photo Credit: Al Jazeera
I know, June 1 seems like a long time ago in Trump years, but that’s the day he announced the United States was pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord.

His administration recently submitted the paperwork to the United Nations confirming that the U.S. will join Syria and Nicaragua to refuse to be part of the ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gasses and combat climate change.

But maybe Trump is actually doing more for the Paris Accord than former President Barack Obama did by just signing it:

A presumably unintended consequence, however, is that President Trump’s comments prompted 237 cities and counties, 13 states, the District of Columbia, 323 universities and colleges, 1,666 businesses and investors, and 23 foundations to commit themselves to the Paris climate agreement since June 1, 2017. This begs the question whether President Trump may have done more to further the Paris agreement than President Obama.

Statistically speaking, it’s hard to argue with those numbers ….

Trump Handed Merkel a Bill for NATO

£300 billion

President Trump handed German chancellor Angela Merkel a bill — thought to be for more than £300bn — for money her country “owed” NATO for defending it when they met last week, the Times of London reports. The bill — handed over during private talks in Washington — was described as “outrageous” by one German minister. Said the minister: “The concept behind putting out such demands is to intimidate the other side, but the chancellor took it calmly and will not respond to such provocations.”