In early June, a fortnight before the northern summer began, the world passed its 12th straight month of record high global average temperatures just as Donald Trump began a swing through US south-western battleground states.prepared to speak at a megachurch in Phoenix, Arizona, the temperature hit 44 degrees and fans began to collapse in the long queues outside. Eleven would be hospitalised.
But even on the populist right of Western politics, leaders have normally adorned their antipathy for climate action with nods towards accepting the basic science of global warming and vague promises to hit long-term targets.As far back as 2012, he declared climate change was “created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive”. Later, when the comment became a passing political inconvenience, he would dismiss it as a joke, too.
So chaotic was Trump’s first term that it took him months to make this announcement. Few believe that will be the case if he wins again.Observers expect him to actively overturn massive progress made in the US under President Joe Biden and undermine international headway by ending climate diplomacy with China and either withdrawing again from the Paris Agreement or sabotaging it from within.When it comes to the Paris Agreement, it is the latter option that prompts the most concern.
Meyer says this could only make life more difficult for middle powers that are close to the US, such as Australia. Do they align themselves with the world or with their traditional friend and ally? “A Trump victory will fuel the hard right, who are never interested in joining a global effort, who don’t want to see any transition happen, who were very happy to let the status quo operate and to run coal for as long as possible.”“I don’t think Dutton and Littleproud would have moved into this space if it hadn’t been for the long shadow cast by the Trump presidential race.