Climate world learns to speak Republican

By Karl Mathiesen | 01/24/2025 06:09 AM EST

Instead of fuming over President Donald Trump’s moves this week, climate advocates stayed mostly mum and plotted ways to make climate change MAGA-friendly.

Donald Trump is pictured.

President Donald Trump is seen at an election night viewing party Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. Alex Brandon/AP

In 2017, volcanic diplomatic outrage erupted when Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord.

Eight years later, there was no explosion when he did it again.

The difference cemented a change in tactics for climate-conscious officials and advocates that has been a long time coming but wasn’t guaranteed until Trump reclaimed the U.S. presidency.

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For many climate warriors, Joe Biden’s presidency gave the illusion of permanent ascendency. Trump’s first term had been marked not by climate retreat but by the emergence of a broad political consensus that beating climate change was as fundamental to governing as providing clean water, security and education.

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