Green activists have been running around like headless chickens since Trump’s election, warning that
the “the planet is in danger”. What “hysterical” nonsense, says Holman W. Jenkins Jr. Trump may
be a climate change sceptic, but his presidency is unlikely to lead to any drastic shifts on this front.
At most, his election will mean that renewable sources such as solar and wind power “will have to
compete more on their merits”. While Trump wants “to lift the Obama war on coal”, he won’t seek
to stop coal’s replacement with cheaper, cleaner natural gas. Nor will he stand in the way of the
drive to make solar technology cheaper, and batteries more efficient. What Trump’s election will do,
however, is “dismantle a green gravy train powered by moral vanity that contributes nothing to the
public welfare”. Today’s climate movement has been “corrupted by self-righteousness”. Its leaders
increasingly devote their energies to “persecuting heretics” and suppressing examination of their own
policies. Thus “honest warriors” such as Bill Gates are jumped on for daring to speak up for nuclear
power, and for challenging the use of green subsidies. If the “crude, blunderbussy” Trump can help
shatter this groupthink, he “might even turn out to be good for the planet”.
