to the green climate fund. So there are a LOT of countries involved. $100 billion is a lot of money, to say the least, but spread over many years among 43 nations it does not seem a great burden. I think the U.S. has committed, or pledged, $3 billion thus far. It's a big problem. You either want to be part of a global solution, and be a global leader, or you don't. We've always been a global leader. Alas, conservatives are narrow-minded and complete short-term oriented, and selfish. They're all about how can I benefit in the short-term. And so long-term problems, which need addressing, are ignored.
And let's be honest. Trump is just pandering to his base. The political right in America trots out the same lame "jobs" and "economy" BS every time it cuts or destroys some useful program or regulation. Alert me when Trump actually does something to help workers in America--it won't happen. His Labor Secretary--the owner of Hardees and other chains--has been hostile to workers and labor all his life. His Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs, was known as the "foreclosure king." Etc. They want to cut taxes on the rich--and will trot out the usual BS about how doing so will help the economy--the old "trickle down" theory that has been thoroughly discredited because there's not been any trickle down.
More generally, Trump just enjoys being a d--k. He's always been a d--k, a man without shame or scruples. He got sent to military school as a kid but it obviously didn't help him. You see people who are dumb but at least decent human beings. And you see people who are not very decent but they're smart enough to make good decisions. And then there is Trump--who is both incredible indecent and vile and a complete moron. We're talking about a guy who has as his chief strategist a crackpot named Bannon, who spent 10 years in Hollywood making weird, bad, far right documentaries--including one pean to Sarah Palin. Bannon thought Palin was the person to save America--the folksy housewife from Alaska. Seriously. He wanted her to run for president.
Trump did tap into a lot of American angst and anger about jobs and income and the economy--the loss of manufacturing, etc. There are a ton of people in America who work hard but aren't college educated. Our parents generation could still make a good living without a college degree but there were good manufacturing jobs--good paying jobs of all kinds. That is gone. Now, if you don't have a degrees it is very hard to get ahead. Workers have been systematically screwed for 30 years--wages, benefits everything. But here's the thing: Trump will do nothing to help average American workers. He's being led around by Ryan and the extreme conservative wing of the GOP. They heap pain on workers and consumers every chance they get. And then there is Trump's strange affection for Russia....
