Donald Trump's stance on climate change has changed over time, more in form than substance. On March 27, 2015, during a conversation with presidential candidates, Trump expressed skepticism about the validity of climate change, citing the fact that the names for the phenomenon have changed over the years.
In the 1920s they used to talk about 'global cooling'. They thought the earth was getting colder. Now they think it's getting warmer. (…). So now they call it 'climate change', and now, 'extreme weather'. (…). It's called climate, it's called climate!
Donald Trump, President of the United States.
Trump said that the change of perspective and the lack of consensus on the phenomenon would have undermined the credibility of the cause against climate change. He also hinted that he believes that climate change is not due to an anthropogenic effect (produced by man) , implying that the climate has its own cyclical nature and is independent of industries.
On January 21, 2020, during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump was highly critical of the apocalyptic and exaggerated element he perceives in the worldview of environmental movements that seek activism against climate change. Political agendas are reportedly using this defense of the climate as a weapon.
To embrace the possibilities of tomorrow we must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse.
Donald Trump, President of the United States.
Trump is likely referring to people like Michael Mann — not the film director behind Heat or Thief, but a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania who said the United States already poses “a major threat to the planet ” under Donald Trump as president.
Trump began by relativizing climate change, arguing that a name change implies a change in the identity of the phenomenon, which would incur in explanatory contradictions. He ended by denouncing what he feels is an exaggerated fatalism with dangerous political effects. But he also made a clear decision that reinforces his position in the face of this global problem (or, according to Trump, pseudo-problem): he signed, once again, the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement, all while encouraging the use of fossil fuels by declaring a “national energy emergency.”
The Paris Agreement is an international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 countries on 12 December 2015, and aims to limit global warming and prepare participating countries to deal with the effects of climate change, operationally and financially.
Trump, a climate change denier?
In the short term, Trump's obvious denialism could be "good" for the industry around Bitcoin (if such a thing can be), as the United States could perceive an increase in its industrial capacity and, consequently, its internal economy, affecting the production and price of the currency.
In the medium and long term, this denialism, which other government figures such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also tend to do with vaccines and COVID-19, could affect Bitcoin's reputation and slow down the maturation of public perception regarding the currency.
Mining, for example, could experience a “regression” in its practices and return to fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil or those produced by coal plants. Although this is only a hypothetical scenario, such a regression would revive old criticisms of Bitcoin, according to which mining of the currency leaves a large carbon footprint.
It would also fuel current criticism that Bitcoin consumes a lot of energy that could be used to satisfy “more immediate” needs. The denialism that would affect the reputation of mining work and the initial speculative inclination towards memecoins and altcoins are, among the good news, two wounds that Donald Trump may try to inflict on Bitcoin. Another thing is that Bitcoin bleeds and he cares.
