Donald Trump told some of America’s top oil executives that he is willing to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental policies and stop new ones from being enacted on his first day of presidency, if the oil companies agree to raise $1 billion to return Trump to the White House. The Washington Post spoke to people with knowledge of the meeting on the condition of anonymity for this news.
Trump, the guy who currently owes over a half-billion dollars in fines and fees from his array of court cases, is obviously in desperate need of money for his personal expenses and for his reelection campaign. He is willing to risk exacerbating the climate crisis and creating a more dangerous world for his own children just so he can make money. Like Trump, oil companies are proponents of perpetuating humanity’s centuries-old dependence on fossil fuels despite climate change’s rapidly accelerating and devastating effects on humanity.
Oil companies have lobbied against eco-conscious legislation for decades to continue to capitalize on the world’s dependence on fossil fuels and earn more money. As a car enthusiast, I’m trepidatious about the future of the automobile, but as a 28-year-old who hopes to enjoy many more years on this planet, I’m deeply concerned about the impacts of climate change. The Washington Post reports,
As Donald Trump sat with some of the country’s top oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago Club last month, one executive complained about how they continued to face burdensome environmental regulations despite spending $400 million to lobby the Biden administration in the last year.
Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.
Giving $1 billion would be a “deal,” Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people.
Trump’s remarkably blunt and transactional pitch reveals how the former president is targeting the oil industry to finance his reelection bid. At the same time, he has turned to the industry to help shape his environmental agenda for a second term, including the rollbacks of some of Biden’s signature achievements on clean energy and electric vehicles.”
President Biden calls climate change an existential threat, and his administration has finalized 100 new environmental regulations aimed at cutting air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and more, despite oil companies spending $400 million to lobby for Biden last year. At this dinner, Trump vowed to auction off more leases for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico on day one of his presidency, should he get elected. He also vowed to immediately end Biden’s freeze on liquified natural gas (LNG) exports and said he would reverse restrictions on drilling in the Alaskan Arctic, several hot-button topics holding oil companies back from potentially earning billions of dollars.
Trump, who has frequently called opponents puppets controlled by other forces, is straight up telling oil companies he will be their puppet if they give him enough money. Politics aside, humans want to continue living happy and healthy lives for many generations in the future. I want to continue living a happy and healthy life for as long as possible, and I don’t see increasing Gulf oil drilling operations or Alaskan Arctic oil pipelines contributing to the longevity of our species.