What If Donald Trump Kept Joe Biden's Climate Policies, Saved The World, And Took The Credit? :D
He's never been shy about that before! Except the world-saving. He's a modest man.
On New Year’s Eve, Business Insider ran a story with the wanly optimistic headline “The economic projects that could reshape Biden's legacy,” which made the truly innovative, fresh observation that even though Biden got a lot of legislation passed during his presidency, he never really seemed to get much recognition for it. Dang, we wish someone had pointed that out!
The article noted that Biden would leave behind a legacy of several major infrastructure projects that “could enhance the president's legacy long after he's left office,” and might even “change some minds on his economic record.”
You see, the article pointed out, “While many of the upgrades are already in the works, the ramifications of these investments may not be felt for years.” And perhaps once people notice that the roads and bridges are better, they’ll think more fondly of Old Handsome Joe Biden, whose Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, and CHIPS and Science Act revitalized American infrastructure, industry, and manufacturing, and created record job growth, not that anyone noticed.
Or, as Yr Editrix reflected when she saw the headline, “But people will just give Trump credit for that.” (And he capped medication costs for seniors at $2000 a year , which starts … NOW? Really? NOW?)
Which would also make sense, given the polls since the election in which there’s been a measurable increase in people saying the economy’s doing better now than it was before the election, even though the economy hasn’t actually changed much in that little time.
So in the spirit of bipartisan cooperation that’s all the rage with Democrats these days, we’d like to offer to help the incoming president become a real success: Just leave in place all the great stuff Biden did and announce it all as his idea. He could call it “Make America Great Infrastructure and Manufacturing Week.” Especially if he kept all the clean energy and manufacturing incentives of the Inflation Reduction Act, which would be easier than trying to repeal them with a tiny GOP majority. In the short term, Biden isn’t likely to get any credit for finally turning around 40 years of inaction on climate. So why not keep the climate progress, and urge Trump to say he did it?
Business Insider lists a number of programs that were funded under Biden’s infrastructure and climate legislation, noting the potential they have to create jobs and economic growth, like for instance provisions in the Infrastructure Law that are greatly expanding commuter rail services in California, and even helping to fund high-speed rail.
Some $3 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is going to help fund Brightline West, which is building a high-speed rail line connecting Las Vegas with Southern California; it should begin operations in 2028, with fast electric trains like other first-world countries have.
As you can see in our top image, we photoshopped the old “Trump Shuttle” logo from Donald Trump’s failed airline onto the concept art for one of those Brightline trains, just to illustrate how this would be good for America and Donald Trump’s ego. He could mention his uncle, the MIT professor, and say his great science genes are why he thinks clean, high-speed trains are so incredibly smart that everyone should ride them. He could even add that he always used to take the train from Scranton, a relaxing, convenient commute.
But beyond the airport upgrades and new bridges and microchip factories that the Business Insider story discusses, there are so many other opportunities for Trump to take Biden ideas and run with them. The article notes that Georgia-based school bus manufacturer Blue Bird received $80 million to build electric school buses, as part of Biden’s $1.7 billion program aimed at keeping auto plants open by refurbishing them to build EVs and EV components, as Wonkette discussed previously. Not only could Trump brag that electric buses would be an efficient way to deport people, we bet he’d jump at the chance to have his picture taken sitting in the driver’s seat of a big electric truck, as long as the factory makes sure there are no sharks anywhere in the vicinity.
Trump could also point out that there’s a lot of money to be made in clean energy, because it’s just so much more efficient than the alternative, which he wouldn’t have to name, to avoid hurt feelings.
In any case, we would just like to let the incoming president know that if he really wants to be known for prosperity and jobs, he should just leave Joe Biden’s climate policy in place, call it his own, and watch the media fall all over itself praising the terrific job he’s doing, the end.
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>> a high-speed rail line connecting Las Vegas with Southern California; it should begin operations in 2028, with fast electric trains like other first-world countries have. <<
Oh, haha. We love the jokes of one Dok Zoom, PhD. Ha and ha, we say for the "other first-world countries" line, for we love the jokes and we love the optimism of thinking the USA is a first world country, also, too, still.
This Mssr. Zoom is a clever one. You Wonkettes should keep him handy to hand as the English speakers say! He will be useful in maintaining your faces up during your times to come ahead.
Not apologizing for being off topic:
My mom was just driven to the ER after exhibiting stroke symptoms. My sister is upset with me because I didn't call 911, but I made the decision after seeing her signs improve. I know Time is the critical part of FAST, but every other metric was improving. Plus, our volunteer fire department is shit. I've ridden in their ambulances twice.
I'm worried.