BREAKING: Donald Trump Pulls US Out of Historic Paris Climate Agreement

• Trump Claims Exiting Agreement Is ‘Putting American Workers First’ – Which Is False

• Steve Bannon Wing of Trump White House Pushed for Exit

• GOP Only Major Political Party in the World That Denies Climate Change

Nearly eight months ago President Barack Obama stood in the White House Rose Garden to announce the United States would sign the historic Paris Agreement to battle climate change. To date, 195 nations have joined together to agree to reduce greenhouse gases, the chief cause of what used to be called global warming. 

Minutes ago, President Donald Trump, standing on the same spot as his predecessor, called the Paris Agreement “a BAD deal for Americans,” announcing he is pulling the U.S. out of the historic accord.

Exiting the Paris Agreement is not popular.

No action was required; the agreement was already signed and took effect last November. But the action was expected. Now, the U.S. Stands nearly alone, joining just the embattled nation of Syria, led by war-crimes committing president Bashar al-Assad, and Nicaragua, which didn’t sign because it wanted the agreement to be stronger.

Russia signed onto the deal, then also exited.

Trump told supporters assembled in the Rose Garden that the Paris Agreement “was negotiated poorly by the Obama Administration and signed out of desperation.”

“The U.S. is already leading the world in energy production and doesn’t need a bad deal that will harm American workers,” Trump said, according to prepared remarks.

194 other countries signed the agreement.

“Abandoning the Paris pact would isolate the U.S. from a raft of international allies who spent years negotiating the 2015 agreement to fight global warming and pollution by reducing carbon emissions in nearly 200 nations,” the AP reports. “While traveling abroad last week, Trump was repeatedly pressed to stay in the deal by European leaders and the pope. Withdrawing would leave the United States aligned only with Russia among the world’s industrialized economies.”

American corporate leaders have also appealed to the businessman-turned-president to stay in the pact. They include Apple, Google and Walmart. Even fossil fuel companies such as Exxon Mobil, BP and Shell say the United States should abide by the deal.

Exiting the Paris Agreement actually violates core tenets of Trump’s campaign promises, to improve the economy and “jobs, jobs, jobs!”

In short, it’s just bad business. It also, naturally, devastating for the planet, and all life on it.

“A U.S. exit from the Paris accord would be a rupture in policy, a dramatic departure from the record of the last four U.S. administrations, both Democratic and Republican,” Bloomberg Businessweek reported earlier Thursday. 

Voters who elected Donald Trump president often cite their (provably false) belief that he is a good businessman. Pulling out of the Paris Agreement negates that, bigly.

“Solar power is projected to be the least-expensive electricity technology in most of the world by 2030,” the Bloomberg report continues, “and onshore wind costs will fall an additional 40 percent by 2040, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.”

“It’s all part of what may become the greatest opportunity for wealth creation of the 21st century. If Trump decides to pull out of the agreement, the U.S. would be giving a gift to the rest of the world. A climate-renegade U.S. will only empower and encourage China, Europe, India, and virtually everyone else to focus on these increasingly profitable technologies and markets.”

Trump has just given China and every other nation in the world not only America’s leadership role, but our economic future.

It’s almost as if Trump decided to invest America’s money in to dial-up internet access. Or, horse-drawn carriages. Or Palm Pilots. Or 8-track tapes. The list is endless, because this is the 21st Century, and our president doesn’t get it. 

Some responses to the expected announcement:

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