With the reelection of Donald Trump, a candidate who has flaunted his desire for autocracy-aided and abetted by a Republican-controlled Congress that will not constrain him with guardrails-the United States is now poised to become an authoritarian state ruled by plutocrats and fossil fuel interests. It is now, in short, a petrostate.
The truth is that Donald Trump can only slow, not stop the clean energy transition. The U.S. is only responsible for about a 10th of global emissions, and China, not America, is now the world's largest market (by far) for cars and trucks, electricity, and industrial commodities like steel and cement. Trump cannot wind back the clock on technological innovation or dampen the appetite for EVs and clean energy in the rest of the world.
Clearly we are not magically resistant to authoritarianism-indeed we've now embraced a flavor of it. And clearly America is not going to play the commanding role in helping solve the climate crisis, the greatest dilemma humans have ever encountered. For the next few years the best we can hope is that Washington won't manage to wreck the efforts of others-and that some parts of this big nation will demonstrate what's still possible.
People shouldn't think the game is over because we passed 1.5 degrees. The game is never over.
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