Digging Deep

There have been any number of claims that the Trump Administration attempted to "bury" a report on climate change by releasing it on Black Friday. As if this would somehow stop government watchers, on the lookout for just such a thing from finding it and shouting about it from the rooftops.

While I understand that the Trump Administration would want to avoid drawing attention to the report, attempting to somehow sneak it out seems like a pointless endeavor because the Trump Administration has no intention of making policy changes based on a) the report itself or b) critics talking about the report. And this is because President Trump draws quite a bit of his support from people who would find their livelihoods severely damaged by a wholesale shift to alternative energy sources. And while one could make the case that this refers to legacy energy company investors and executives, it's mainly coal miners and oil workers who one is likely to find at the President's rallies. And they are the people who depend most keenly on the health of the industry.

Given this, it's almost surprising that the report wasn't released with more fanfare; as this would have allowed the President to make a bigger deal of ignoring it and its conclusions.