‘Trump pulling US out of climate pact’ Trump baffles world with ‘covfefe’ tweets
President Donald Trump will follow through on a campaign pledge to pull the United States out of a global pact to fight climate change, a source briefed on the decision told Reuters, a move that should rally his support base at home while deepening a rift with allies.
Trump, who has previously called global warming a hoax, did not confirm the decision in a post on Twitter, saying only, “I will be announcing my decision on the Paris Accord over the next few days.”
Trump had refused to endorse the landmark climate change accord at a summit of the G7 group of wealthy nations on Saturday, saying he needed more time. He then tweeted that he would make an announcement this week.
The decision will put the US in league with Syria and Nicaragua as the world’s only non-participants in the Paris Climate Agreement. It could have sweeping implications for the deal, which relies heavily on the commitment of big polluter nations to reduce emissions of gases scientists blame for sea level rise, droughts and more frequent violent storms. The accord, agreed on by nearly 200 countries in Paris in 2015, aims to limit planetary warming in part by slashing carbon dioxide and other emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. Under the pact, the US committed to reducing its emissions by 26 to 28% from 2005 levels by 2025.
Axios news outlet, which first reported the plan, said details of the pullout are being worked out by a team that includes EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. The choice is between a formal withdrawal that could take three years or leaving the UN treaty that the accord is based on, which would be quicker.
Donald Trump tweeted: “Despite the constant negative press covfefe.”
And since then, the world has been trying to find the meaning of what appears to be an incomplete sentence ending with a meaningless word.
Hours later, he teased with another tweet, “Who can figure out true meaning of covfefe??? Enjoy!”
Mike Madden, deputy editor at the Washington Post, came up with a new dictionary entry.
“Covfefe (n): The feeling of simultaneously being glad you were still awake and reading Twitter but also wishing you’d already gone to bed,” Madden tweeted, in an apparent reference to the US President’s known habit of using the microblogging site late into the night.
Others Twitter users were not so subtle in their sarcasm and vitriol against Trump, who has a long history of social media gaffes and is known to constantly attack a section of the media over what he calls is “fake news”.
And Trump’s tweet – which has been retweeted more than 43,000 times so far -- had its fair share of reaction in India.
“Is covfefe the new farrago?”, wrote journalist Smita Sharma, drawing a comparison with a word used by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in his reaction to a TV report.
Over the past few weeks, several video clips purportedly showing Trump has set social media on fire.
One of them shows his wife Melania Trump curtly slapping away his attempt to hold her hand. HTC