{"id":32049,"date":"2018-03-07T14:54:11","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T19:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=32049"},"modified":"2018-03-07T14:54:11","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T19:54:11","slug":"getting-past-trump-this-is-how-democracies-die-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=32049","title":{"rendered":"Getting Past Trump: This Is How Democracies Die (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"navbar-wrapper\">\n<nav class=\"navbar navbar-static-top navbar-dark mega-menu-dark header-style-a sticky-logo-custom navbar-sticky has-nav-menu navbar-stuck\">\n<div class=\"navbar-inner\">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div class=\"navbar-header\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/nav>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"page-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumb-wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"container\"><span style=\"color: #222222;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.resilience.org\/stories\/2018-03-07\/getting-past-trump-this-is-how-democracies-die-part-1\/\">Getting Past Trump: This Is How Democracies Die (Part 1)<\/a><\/span><span style=\"color: #333333; font-size: 16px;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"container single-container\">\n<div class=\"row-primary sidebar-right clearfix has-sidebar\">\n<article id=\"post-3470754\" class=\"post-3470754 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-society tag-americanpolitics tag-collapseofindustrialcivilization\">\n<header class=\"post-image\">\n<div class=\"fimg-wrapper fimg-cl\">\n<div class=\"featured-image\">\n<div class=\"fimg-inner\">\n<div class=\"backstretch\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.resilience.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/34724813595_f0d3f100c1_k.jpg\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"backstretch\"><em>Ed note: This piece is part of a 3-part series. Part 1 is also cross-posted on <a href=\"http:\/\/buzzflash.com\/commentary\/trump-is-fracking-the-future-the-nation-s-inevitable-slide-toward-moral-and-energy-bankruptcy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Truthout<\/a>.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<section class=\"post-content\">\n<div class=\"et_social_inline et_social_mobile_on et_social_inline_top\">\n<div class=\"et_social_networks et_social_6col et_social_slide et_social_rectangle et_social_left et_social_no_animation et_social_withcounts et_social_outer_light\">\n<div class=\"et_social_network_label\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Donald Trump\u2019s 13-month tenure (so far) as president of the United States has been an exhausting sprint for onlookers concerned about the state of the global ecosystem and the fate of industrial civilization. Nearly every day begins with a new outrage \u2014 whether <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/editorials\/la-ed-trump-epa-environment-pruitt-20170905-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trump\u2019s gutting of the Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>, \u00a0his announcement of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/United_States_withdrawal_from_the_Paris_Agreement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">US exit from the Paris climate accord<\/a>, \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2017\/12\/03\/donald-trump-slash-size-national-parks-utah-allow-drilling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">his selling off of national parks<\/a>, \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/01\/04\/climate\/trump-offshore-drilling.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">his opening of coastal waters for offshore drilling<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2018\/01\/01\/574932180\/trump-reexamines-regulations-regarding-fracking-oil-drilling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">his easing of regulations on fracking<\/a>, or his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2018\/01\/10\/trump-energy-ally-robert-murray-slams-ferc-for-rejecting-coal-subsidy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">seeking subsidies for coal mining and coal power plants.<\/a> \u00a0Among my environmentalist friends and colleagues, \u201cTrump fatigue\u201d is a real and common ailment.<\/p>\n<p>But much the same could be said for millions of citizens who are only peripherally interested in environmental issues. They awake each morning to read about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/post-nation\/wp\/2018\/01\/31\/stormy-daniels-is-now-denying-her-affair-with-trump-heres-how-shes-confirmed-it-before\/?utm_term=.7f69f4ce70d3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stormy Daniels scandal<\/a>, the Rob Porter scandal, the <a href=\"http:\/\/nymag.com\/daily\/intelligencer\/2017\/07\/trump-fires-anthony-scaramucci-10-days-after-hiring-him.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Anthony Scaramucci hiring\/firing scandal<\/a>, \u00a0the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/12\/01\/politics\/michael-flynn-charged\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mike Flynn scandal<\/a>, \u00a0the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dismissal_of_James_Comey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">James Comey firing scandal<\/a>, \u00a0the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/09\/29\/politics\/tom-price-resigns\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tom Price scandal<\/a>, \u00a0the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2018\/02\/27\/white-house-downgrades-jared-kushners-security-clearance-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">White House nepotism and security clearance scandal<\/a>. \u00a0The list could go on and on; who can possibly keep up?<\/p>\n<p>The Tweeter-in-chief is monopolizing attention at a moment in history when there are plenty of other things we really should be attending to, including climate change, resource depletion, plastic pollution in the oceans, mass species extinction, the fate of US labor unions, racial and social injustice, and worsening economic inequality. These are the sorts of unaddressed problems that could cause even history\u2019s \u201cgreatest\u201d civilization to crack up. But the conversation never seems to get past Trump, who obdurately obstructs action on these issues while commanding everyone\u2019s constant adoring or horrified attention through divisive words and actions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;click on the above link to read the rest of the article&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting Past Trump: This Is How Democracies Die (Part 1)\u00a0 Ed note: This piece is part of a 3-part series. Part 1 is also cross-posted on Truthout. Donald Trump\u2019s 13-month tenure (so far) as president of the United States has been an exhausting sprint for onlookers concerned about the state of the global ecosystem and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,6],"tags":[204,209,7844,18896,331,19143,1729,6665,1081,827],"class_list":["post-32049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-2","category-environment","category-liberty","tag-democracy","tag-diminishing-returns","tag-donald-trump","tag-energy-return-on-energy-invested","tag-fracking","tag-industrial-civllization","tag-oil-and-gas-industry","tag-resilience-org","tag-richard-heinberg","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32050,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32049\/revisions\/32050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}