WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential prospect Michael Bloomberg is promoting a new documentary film on climate change, but the billionaire philanthropist says the one person he thinks should see it most — President Donald Trump — likely never will because “it won’t be running on Fox.”
“The president really could learn a lot from towns and cities featured in the documentary and which are taking action on climate change,” Bloomberg, a former New York City mayor, said Wednesday at a Washington screening of the film “Paris to Pittsburgh,” which he produced.
“If he’s not willing to listen to his own administration’s scientific advisers — and he isn’t — he should at least listen to the people in this film,” Bloomberg later added.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.
Bloomberg’s film gets its name from Trump. When the president withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement in 2017, he said it was because he was elected to “represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” But Trump was quickly rebuked by Pittsburgh’s mayor, Bill Peduto, who said the decision was “disastrous for our planet, for cities such as Pittsburgh” and a step that “has made America weaker.”
Bloomberg has not yet said if he will run for president in 2020. But in the run-up to his possible Democratic bid, he has promoted the millions of his own fortune that he has invested in climate change initiatives across the US
That’s one way he has contrasted himself with many of the other Democrats who are running.
Virtually every top Democratic White House contender has embraced the recently proposed Green New Deal. The nonbinding resolution outlined ambitious plans to cut slash greenhouse gas emissions over 10 years while instituting massive investments in wind and solar production, energy-efficient buildings and high-speed rail.
But Bloomberg said the likely reality is that nothing will get done in the next two years while Trump is president and Republicans control the Senate.
“Every voter should ask the candidates not just what do you promise to do,” he said, “but also what have you done, what have you delivered and how can we implement in a practical way your proposals.”
Bloomberg rips Trump for not taking action on climate change
Bloomberg rips Trump for not taking action on climate change
Europeans push back at US over claim they face ‘civilizational erasure’
- “Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference
MUNICH: A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to European allies. He struck a less aggressive tone than Vice President JD Vance did in lecturing them at the same gathering last year but maintained a firm tone on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its policy priorities.
Kallas alluded to criticism in the US national security strategy released in December, which asserted that economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” It suggested that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference. “In fact, people still want to join our club and not just fellow Europeans,” she added, saying she was told when visiting Canada last year that many people there have an interest in joining the EU.
Kallas rejected what she called “European-bashing.”
“We are, you know, pushing humanity forward, trying to defend human rights and all this, which is actually bringing also prosperity for people. So that’s why it’s very hard for me to believe these accusations.”
In his conference speech, Rubio said that an end to the trans-Atlantic era “is neither our goal nor our wish,” adding that “our home may be in the Western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.”
He made clear that the Trump administration is sticking to its guns on issues such as migration, trade and climate. And European officials who addressed the gathering made clear that they in turn will stand by their values, including their approach to free speech, climate change and free trade.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that Europe must defend “the vibrant, free and diverse societies that we represent, showing that people who look different to each other can live peacefully together, that this isn’t against the tenor of our times.”
“Rather, it is what makes us strong,” he said.
Kallas said Rubio’s speech sent an important message that America and Europe are and will remain intertwined.
“It is also clear that we don’t see eye to eye on all the issues and this will remain the case as well, but I think we can work from there,” she said.
