Que B.B. King’s “The Thrill is gone.”
Face it, California, the rest of America doesn’t love you anymore. There won’t be a Calexit divorce. But America, especially all those Trump voters in Flyover Country, doesn’t listen and doesn’t care. You’re the neglected spouse. You voted 62 percent for Hillary, but she still lost to brutish Donald Trump, who didn’t even campaign out here after the primary, instead courting the swing states back east.
On taxes, Americans voted for Trump, who is working with Congress to implement his tax-cut promises. Out here, Californians voted for three tax increases: on incomes, tobacco and grocery bags.
California this year increased the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022. But Trump is picking as Labor Secretary Andy Puzder, the CKE Restaurants/Carl’s Jr. CEO who long has criticized high minimum wages as jobs killers, and earlier this year moved his company’s HQ to Nashville, Tenn., a state with a $7.25 minimum wage (less than half California’s future wage) and no state income tax.
Then there are the sanctuary cities. Trump’s signature issue is building a wall with Mexico and deporting illegal aliens. But Santa Ana this month became the latest to declare itself a “sanctuary city,” meaning it won’t cooperate with the deportations. According to Judge Andrew Napolitano, the only real lever Trump will have will be to halt federal funds to such cities: “He can ask Congress for legislative grants of funds to cities conditioned upon their compliance with certain federal immigration laws.”
Think Trump will do it? San Francisco, another sanctuary city, voted <10% for Trump. Although I couldn’t find a tally for all Santa Ana, an L.A. Times map shows precincts there voted about 8% to 15% for Trump. Given Congress’ hostility to California, especially re-elected House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, why wouldn’t funds be cut, at least a little, to such cities?
Worst of all, reported the anti-Trump New York Times, “Trump Picks Scott Pruitt, Climate Change Denialist, to Lead E.P.A.” Actually, he isn’t a “climate change” denialist, because the climate always changes, but a man-made global warming skeptic. The rag of record reported, “Mr. Trump has criticized the established science of human-caused global warming as a hoax, vowed to ‘cancel’ the Paris accord committing nearly every nation to taking action to fight climate change, and attacked Mr. Obama’s signature global warming policy, the Clean Power Plan, as a ‘war on coal.’
“Mr. Pruitt has been in lock step with those views.” Actually, the Paris accord was toothless. But never mind. The Times article itself shows the confusion purposely caused by climate alarmists: is it “climate change” or “global warming” that’s the threat?
California is Ground Zero for that controversy. It’s been 10 years since the Legislature passed and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. That was about the last year “global warming” was the preferred nomenclature, before the shift to “climate change,” which could mean anything from global cooling, to global warming, to having more days of pretty sunrises. Global warming can be measured; climate change is entirely subjective.
AB 32’s actual language guaranteed “action taken by California to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases will have far-reaching effects by encouraging other states, the federal government, and other countries to act.” It didn’t happen.
Meanwhile, most of America is suffering record cold temperatures this week, even as California lollygags through another balmy winter. And there was a 19-year pause in global warming, even as China, India, Indonesia and other developing countries kept building coal plants like mad to power prosperity.
Trump met with Al Gore, the world’s foremost climate alarmist. Gore won both a Nobel Peace Prize and an Academy Award for his 2006 propaganda film, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Inconveniently for him, the film predicted, by 2016: A snowless Mt. Kilimanjaro. “And of course when the oceans get warmer, that causes stronger storms,” such as hurricanes and tornadoes. South Sahara drying up. Massive flooding in China and India. Polar bear extinction.
None of that happened. Evidence here and here.
Another refutation, no doubt noticed by Trump, came from Gore himself. A Californian now, he used some of the massive fortune he accumulated after leaving the vice presidency to splurge on an $8.9 million villa in Montecito, giving him one of the most massive “carbon footprints” on the planet.
Schwarzenegger tools around L.A. in his $2.25 million Bugatti Veyron, which has energy efficiency so low it needs an entire refinery to fuel. And Gov. Jerry Brown, who is imposing AB 32 with a vengeance, this year flew on a luxurious vacation to Europe on megadonor George Marcus’ private jet.
So how do you tell Mr. & Mrs. Ohio, struggling to pay for a new heater on their 2004 Pontiac Aztek, why their local factory needs to be closed down to make Gore, Arnold, Jerry and other California enviros feel better?
Longtime California columnist John Seiler’s email: writejohnseiler@gmail.com