MSNBC Host Katy Tur did not allow Joe Walsh to spin Donald Trump exiting the Paris Agreement. She made his argument seem silly, petty, and uninformed.
Katy Tur challenges Joe Walsh at every turn
Joe Walsh appeared on MSNBC to defend Donald Trump quitting the Paris Climate Agreement. Host Katy Tur refuted him at every turn.
Katy Tur said it was a strawman argument to say that the Paris Agreement was bad for the United States and he wants to renegotiate it. She pointed out that given that the treaty was nonbinding, there was no reason for the U.S. to pull out. She asked Joe if the move was solely political.
“I thought yesterday was the best day he had as president,” Joe Walsh said. “He was an American president. He stood up for American jobs, the American economy. Katy, this is why he ran.”
Katy then challenged him.
“What jobs is he saving on this,” Tur asked.
Walsh began to stutter.
“Potentially, avoiding the loss of millions of jobs,” Walsh said. “And trillions of dollars to the economy.”
“Risking losing new technology jobs?” Tur rebuffed. “Allowing China to fill that hole?”
Still stuttering Joe Walsh continued.
“This kind of progress is being made without this government intervention, without this international agreement,” Walsh said. “And China and India and even Pakistan are some of the worst polluters in the world, have sort of been left alone. with this deal. This is why Trump won.”
Joe seems oblivious to the fact that most of the excess carbon in the atmosphere was generated by the United States and other Industrial powers. That is why they must bear a bigger role of fixing the problem.
“This was a nonbinding agreement though,” an exasperated Katy Tur interjected. “So how is it affecting jobs?”
“A nonbinding agreement though that still would have impacted American jobs,” Walsh replied. “If America had to hold to their 26 to 28% cuts in emissions which by the way …”
Again Katy interjected and called Joe out.
“It didn’t actually have to,” Tur said again. “It is nonbinding. He could roll it back.”
Joe started stuttering again.
“No, well but we probably would have,” Joe replied as if he has no clue of the definition of nonbinding. “But I think the other fear, Katy …”
Katy interjected again.
“He could have just not committed, to the numbers that Obama committed to.” a frustrated Tur said. ” He didn’t have to exit the deal. My question is, how does this affect American jobs?”
“If you are going to get out, get out now,” Joe said. “I think, the big fear Katy is that it would become binding. Get out now. Start over.”
“It has to be renegotiated to become binding,” Katy replied.
“Renegotiate, start with something new,” Joe continued.
“But then now we are not at the table for that renegotiation if it does change in some form or another down the line,” Tur came back proving that Walsh was making no sense.
Everyone must read the Tech Crunch article “Why pulling out of Paris Accord damages America’s economic future” to understand the opportunity loss with Trump’s spiteful act.
Pulling out of the Paris agreement on climate change will become one of the greatest economic blunders by a U.S. president in our lifetimes.
People can disagree about the scientific premise behind climate change, but it’s an inescapable fact that the world is driving ahead to replace carbon energy with clean energy anyway. That makes advanced energy technologies one of the biggest business opportunities of the next couple of decades. The companies and nations that take the lead will become the next economic superpowers.
President Trump said that he is pulling out of the agreement because it would cost American jobs. But while he might save a relatively small number of coal and oil jobs, he is harming the nation’s chances to create vast numbers of advanced energy jobs.
How much more damage, will Donald Trump inflict on America?