Morning Briefing: 5 Things for Friday – Trump Paris Climate Exit Backfires Bigly

Here’s What You Need to Start Your Day

Good Morning! 

President Donald Trump’s horrific decision to exit the Paris Climate Agreement is backfiring, bigly. It’s wildly unpopular in the U.S. and around the world.

Here are five things you need to know for today:

•  Trump got so much wrong in his bleak Rose Garden speech on Thursday. “Mr. Trump insisted that the United States would be an environmental exemplar. ‘We’ll be the cleanest,’ he promised. ‘We’re going to have the cleanest air. We’re going to have the cleanest water.’ That optimistic statement is contradicted by Yale University’s latest annual Environmental Performance Index. The United States ranked 26th of 180 countries, according to the index, which assesses each nation’s water and air quality, biodiversity, agricultural outputs and climate change efforts. It ranked 43rd in air quality, 22nd in water sanitation, and 44th in climate and energy policies. Moreover, even after recent reductions, America’s carbon emissions per capita remain significantly higher than those of China or India — countries that Mr. Trump branded as the world’s big polluters.” (New York Times)
• French President Macron totally trolls Trump:

• Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau is now ostracizing Trump from America, telegraphing he sees the U.S. President as separate from America and Americans:

• Look at the stats above from the New York Times. Then watch EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and President Trump lie about the Paris Agreement:

• Finally, congrats to MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell!