Climate move seeks to please Trump’s most ardent backers
WASHINGTON — When President Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate accord, he cast the decision as being in the best interests of coal miners and other workingclass Americans whose support helped sweep him into office.
Trump cited three states in particular that would benefit: Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan — all of which were key to his electoral college victory.
And as he stood in the Rose Garden, Trump listened as Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt praised him for keeping a campaign promise and “fighting for the forgotten men and women across this country,” echoing Trump’s rhetoric from the race.
The announcement on climate change Thursday was just the latest in a series of actions orchestrated by the White House to buoy Trump’s political base at a time when he remains historically unpopular for this point in his presidency.
“It’s clear that his strategy is a constant doubling down on his base voters,” said Republican consultant Doug Heye. “Those were the people at the rallies applauding when he said these things.”
Trump allies say the president is merely trying to follow through on his campaign promises, but others see missed opportunities to broaden the appeal of a Republican president who lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton and whose job approval hovers around 40 percent.
Trump’s action on the Paris agreement carries particular risk, given polls have shown the accord was supported by a large majority of Americans, including independent voters. Moreover, some prominent Republican business leaders were among those who forcefully — but ultimately unsuccessfully — lobbied the president to stay the course.
At the urging of his chief strategist Stephen Bannon and others, Trump instead sided with those who were most enthused about his unanticipated win last year and whose support the White House deems crucial as Trump seeks to weather the turmoil of multiple investigations into Russian election meddling.
With two of Trump’s marquee campaign promises — repealing the Affordable Care Act and cutting taxes — stalled in Congress, Trump has appeared particularly eager to act in areas where he can move forward on his own.
He is continuing to press a plan to temporarily ban citizens from six mostly Muslim countries, turning this week to the Supreme Court for help in reviving a controversial campaign promise that lower courts have blocked.
Trump also recently announced an executive action intended to mitigate the impact of the so-called Johnson Amendment, which curtails the ability of churches to play an active role in elections. That was a priority of evangelicals, who overwhelmingly sided with Trump last year.
Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris accord plays particularly well with rural backers who embraced his “America First” mantra and are wary of the impact of Obama-era deals cut with allies overseas.
“When forced to choose between keeping promises to his base or broadening his appeal, President Trump always seems to choose his base,” said Michael Steel, a former senior aide to former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. “It may be smart politics to dance with the one that brung ya, but it’s another reason this looks different than any presidency in American history.”