I continue to be confused as to how one dimwit can make so many consequential decisions for all of us. And we just have to sit here like idiots and can't seem to do anything about it.
It's supposed to be the work of 535 dimwits, but each half of those 535 spends its time ensuring that the other half doesn't get anything done.
So the executive branch has assumed a lot of functions that by right belong to the legislative branch. That's not great, but it has mostly worked out, because the executive branch is made up mostly of bureaucratic civil servants who really just want to do their jobs.
There were always appointed political functionaries at the top of the departments, who in theory had a ton of power but in practice frequently deferred to the subject matter experts within the department.
But that was always tenuous, and now that has broken. Which means that a single dimwit can override all of the experts. They always could, but were generally smart enough not to.
It's not really _supposed_ to work that way, but as it turns out, the safeguards against it working that way don't really work properly. See also Weimar Germany in particular, but more generally most failed democracies; it's usually due to an insufficient structure.
Because a bunch of other dimwits voted for him and then another group of dimwits have no scruples and are too scared to stand-up to him and then these other dimwits… you get the point.
Because it isn't just one person? And I'm being serious right now, if all you contribute and believe is that the dude who got himself elected leader of the free world is a simpleton dimwit: You are the Problem
Elections have consequences. The American center has been lulled into thinking that nothing matters.
It honestly feels like we are adrift at sea, nobody sensible is in change, and there is little way to get back in control of our destiny. I suppose this is what it felt like for most sensible folks for most of history before liberal democracy took hold.
But that’s not what is happening. The Republican Party is following project 2025 almost to a t. Their goal is a complete dismantling of government because they think the country should be ruled, not governed.
A lack of government functioning isn’t a dysfunction, it is an active plan perpetrated by the absolute worst kinds of people And if you feel disillusioned and like “government doesn’t work” - that’s by design by exactly one party. The democrats frequently don’t help themselves, likely because they know they still need money to win elections. But they aren’t actively trying to subvert democracy.
Ultimately we either overturn citizens united, and ban basically all lobbying, or the only way i see this ending is unfortunately through violence. Over the last two months I think a lot of Republican representatives are starting to feel the same way.
Literally it doesn't matter though. The answer to carbon emissions is market based. Solar and batteries are cheaper due to the normal cadence of technical improvements.
Global climate change is something that will be fixed by technology.
It's 2025... You'd think malthusian thinking does decades ago, but I guess not
To be honest, this is the inevitable downstream result of the dysfunction in US government. If you can't get your policy positions legislated and instead use executive power to regulate through things like the EPA you have to assume those regulations will be reversed by the next executive. It's the same sort of dangerous game the GOP has played by trying to legislate through novel arguments in the Supreme Court - yes you get what you want today, but longer term all you're doing is establishing that the Supreme Court change just dictate policy based on political positions. All of these novel approaches weaken the democratic core of American government.
I mean, presumably some future Democratic administration will reinstate the rule. But with this precedent set, this might become a switch that turns on and off every time the political winds change. When Republicans are in power, the US will do nothing at all to fight climate change. When Democrats are in power, they will belatedly try to undo the damage.
And of course there will be knock-on effects from other countries. Why should (for example) Mexico do anything at all to fight global warming, when the US (which is much richer, and a much larger polluter) declines to help?
China is building so fast it won’t matter. They destroy 1M barrels a day in global oil consumption for every 24 months they build EVs at current production rates (which continue to increase), for example. ~25% of global light vehicle sales are EVs as of 2025, ~50% in China (the largest auto global auto market). The world is approaching 1TW/year of global solar PV deployment. Solar and storage are the cheapest form of generation, and will only continue to decline in cost.
Consider it a case study in governance failure. The US' failure is China's opportunity, and they appear to be taking it.
It sucks that Congress don't do their job of making reasonable laws. I hate that the executive and judicial branches have to do so much work that should be done by Congress.
Bold of you to assume that any other party will ever be in power - why do you think there's been talk about taking control of the elections? It's certainly not to make it easier to depose Republicans.
The idea that AGI will care to fix this, or that the US government will allow an AGI who wants to fix this to exist, feels a little like escapism to me.
As a non-American this seems very similar to what happened with Roe vs Wade.
> With a divided Congress unable to agree on legislation to tackle rising global temperatures, the EPA finding became central to federal efforts to rein in emissions in the years that followed.
Trying to get the right outcome via (arguably) the wrong process has left these policy initiatives sitting on wobbly foundations and subject to reversal. Moreover, it provides ammunition for those who would rally their base with criticism of the "technocratic elite."
Easier said than done, but Americans need to fix their democracy. If the majority of Americans want action on climate change then Congress must reflect and enact the will of the people.
One theory is that since China "won" the green energy race, the current US regime plans are to keep others dependent on oil and hence US shale, which would explain Trumps asinine comments about EU wind power. Not sure I buy it, but it seems to fit the bigger picture.
I have a feeling you're right, and I actually think the rest of the world will continue to move on with renewables just because they're cheap, effective and reduce dependency on terrorist petro states.
No: they’ve campaigned for years on behalf of their fossil fuel industry donors. The major oil and coal companies started a multi-decade push when the climate science debate was settled around 1980, with an end goal of protecting profits for as long as possible. The Republican Party has been trying to protect those donors but never had such strong backing to just ignore the scientists and EPA rule-making process before.
Au contraire
The guy is slick.
Sleight of hand trick.
A magician makes you look where they want while the magic happens elsewhere.
I would be surprised if he was not in charge in 2030 still. It seems everybody else ate too much plastic too be able to think straight.
At this point I would be surprised if he wasn't still there in 2036.
Unrelated, but it reminds me that he captured maduro, and Chavez and maduro were able to stay in charge by destroying the Congress, support of lobbying companies and accusing other parties of corruption and frauding the elections.
Because of that, like many others. He was able to push elections far from view and there was always a war to be fought or an enemy to defend against.
At some point, I kid you not, those guys accursed every single immigrant living in Venezuela of being a conspirator. All those who questioned any of this were accused of treason and the army was right there to defend the president. Sorry I mean country. Maduro lost too much gas to keep it going
Of all the terrible things that the Trump Admin has done, this is perhaps the worst of all, with the gravest repercussions for humanity.
But who cares about science, or humanity for that matter, so long as big companies can increase their profits and keep greasing the wheels of corrupt politicians!
I doubt it will end up accomplishing much more than letting 'delete' kits go legal again which have relatively weak penetration into the market. 3 years isn't enough runway to start manufacturing things without emissions unless they can get green-light to import foreign models that fast, which due to protectionism will probably get delayed as much as the admin can.
>Reversing the finding would reduce automobile manufacturers' spending by $2,400 per vehicle, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
If this is true, that is a monstrous 5% of an average new vehicle. And it's not just the cost of the vehicle, emissions equipment also can make the vehicle slightly less reliable, especially diesel engines, so it's likely to reduce the cost of vehicles by more than the initial 5%.
----- edit since I am throttled -----
I know for a fact the prices are lower non-emission vs emission. I own a tractor that is detuned 0.1 HP under the emission limit and with zero emissions controls. They sell the exact same tractor with the exact same engine with a fuel screw turned up over the limit to increase hp, plus emissions controls, and it's about $4,000 more. Manufacturers absolutely will charge more for emissions models than non-emissions models.
> I know for a fact the prices are lower non-emission vs emission. I own a tractor that is detuned 0.1 HP under the emission limit and with zero emissions controls. They sell the exact same tractor with the exact same engine with a fuel screw turned up over the limit to increase hp, plus emissions controls, and it's about $4,000 more. Manufacturers absolutely will charge more for emissions models than non-emissions models.
This is flawed logic.
BMW tried charging a subscription fee for heated seats (https://www.thedrive.com/news/bmw-commits-to-subscriptions-e...). All the cars had the seat heaters; "exact same [car] with the exact same [seats]". (I'd also note that you yourself acknowledge that people are paying for the extra horsepower, not the emissions controls.)
Acidified oceans, poisonous air, and frequent multibillion dollar extreme weather events are a small price to pay for a purely hypothetical $2,400 off my next car, which I am forced to own because the same companies that lobby against climate change regulations are the ones that tore up all the public transit infrastructure that would otherwise allow me not to own a car at all. Americans love getting fucked by our corporate overlords, we can’t get enough of it, it’s our way of life.
Wonderful. And will these amazing cost savings offset the costs of future disasters related to climate change? Or are we taking more of "the band played on" Titanic approach, now?
You really think big business will pull back pricing with this? It is as reasonable to believe that removal of the tariffs will bring back the lower prices on goods.
CEOs want to maximize their golden parachutes and their stock value ... prices will be the same or go up. USA capitalism is about maximize profits not the buying power of their citizens.
Are you fantasizing that they'll reduce the price of cars because of this and somehow benefit people?
And they'd have to take the time to redesign. And Democrats will (hopefully) reinstate it in a few years, and carmakers probably recognize that. Along with the threat of legal challenges by environmental groups.
And, further, if we eventually do get these inefficient polluting cars - who's going to want to buy them? They certainly wouldn't be able to sell them in same countries. Seems pointless overall for carmakers, generally.
Just a gift to polluting corporations and billionaires who want profit at our expense.
davesque|17 days ago
jfengel|16 days ago
So the executive branch has assumed a lot of functions that by right belong to the legislative branch. That's not great, but it has mostly worked out, because the executive branch is made up mostly of bureaucratic civil servants who really just want to do their jobs.
There were always appointed political functionaries at the top of the departments, who in theory had a ton of power but in practice frequently deferred to the subject matter experts within the department.
But that was always tenuous, and now that has broken. Which means that a single dimwit can override all of the experts. They always could, but were generally smart enough not to.
rsynnott|16 days ago
Fezzik|17 days ago
halJordan|17 days ago
scoofy|17 days ago
It honestly feels like we are adrift at sea, nobody sensible is in change, and there is little way to get back in control of our destiny. I suppose this is what it felt like for most sensible folks for most of history before liberal democracy took hold.
egonschiele|17 days ago
tw04|17 days ago
A lack of government functioning isn’t a dysfunction, it is an active plan perpetrated by the absolute worst kinds of people And if you feel disillusioned and like “government doesn’t work” - that’s by design by exactly one party. The democrats frequently don’t help themselves, likely because they know they still need money to win elections. But they aren’t actively trying to subvert democracy.
Ultimately we either overturn citizens united, and ban basically all lobbying, or the only way i see this ending is unfortunately through violence. Over the last two months I think a lot of Republican representatives are starting to feel the same way.
anon291|17 days ago
Global climate change is something that will be fixed by technology.
It's 2025... You'd think malthusian thinking does decades ago, but I guess not
SilverBirch|16 days ago
unknown|17 days ago
[deleted]
Taikonerd|17 days ago
I mean, presumably some future Democratic administration will reinstate the rule. But with this precedent set, this might become a switch that turns on and off every time the political winds change. When Republicans are in power, the US will do nothing at all to fight climate change. When Democrats are in power, they will belatedly try to undo the damage.
And of course there will be knock-on effects from other countries. Why should (for example) Mexico do anything at all to fight global warming, when the US (which is much richer, and a much larger polluter) declines to help?
toomuchtodo|17 days ago
Consider it a case study in governance failure. The US' failure is China's opportunity, and they appear to be taking it.
Ember Energy: China Cleantech Exports Data Explorer - https://ember-energy.org/data/china-cleantech-exports-data-e... - (updated monthly)
Our World In Data: Tracking global data on electric vehicles - https://ourworldindata.org/electric-car-sales (updated annually)
Bloomberg: China’s Four-Year Energy Spree Has Eclipsed Entire US Power Grid - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-28/china-s-f... | https://archive.today/H0oos - January 28th, 2026
Ember Energy: The EV leapfrog – how emerging markets are driving a global EV boom - https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/the-ev-leapfrog-how... - December 16th, 2025
Ember Energy: Over a quarter of new cars sold so far this year are electric as emerging markets reshape the global EV race - https://ember-energy.org/latest-updates/over-a-quarter-of-ne... - December 16th, 2025
Ember Energy: Solar electricity every hour of every day is here and it changes everything - https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/solar-electricity-e... - June 21st, 2025
Bloomberg: The World Hit ‘Peak’ Gas-Powered Vehicle Sales — in 2017 - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-30/world-hit... | https://archive.today/p2hl1 - January 30th, 2024
Bloomberg: Electric Cars Pass a Crucial Tipping Point in 23 Countries - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-28/electric-... | https://archive.today/e8XSt - August 27th, 2023
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46544375 (citations)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46423660 (citations)
unknown|17 days ago
[deleted]
nerdsniper|17 days ago
ndsipa_pomu|16 days ago
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm|17 days ago
gcr|17 days ago
greatgib|16 days ago
unknown|17 days ago
[deleted]
exidy|17 days ago
> With a divided Congress unable to agree on legislation to tackle rising global temperatures, the EPA finding became central to federal efforts to rein in emissions in the years that followed.
Trying to get the right outcome via (arguably) the wrong process has left these policy initiatives sitting on wobbly foundations and subject to reversal. Moreover, it provides ammunition for those who would rally their base with criticism of the "technocratic elite."
Easier said than done, but Americans need to fix their democracy. If the majority of Americans want action on climate change then Congress must reflect and enact the will of the people.
dctoedt|17 days ago
user____name|17 days ago
bamboozled|17 days ago
ndsipa_pomu|17 days ago
acdha|17 days ago
GaryBluto|17 days ago
ppap3|17 days ago
A magician makes you look where they want while the magic happens elsewhere.
I would be surprised if he was not in charge in 2030 still. It seems everybody else ate too much plastic too be able to think straight.
At this point I would be surprised if he wasn't still there in 2036.
Unrelated, but it reminds me that he captured maduro, and Chavez and maduro were able to stay in charge by destroying the Congress, support of lobbying companies and accusing other parties of corruption and frauding the elections. Because of that, like many others. He was able to push elections far from view and there was always a war to be fought or an enemy to defend against. At some point, I kid you not, those guys accursed every single immigrant living in Venezuela of being a conspirator. All those who questioned any of this were accused of treason and the army was right there to defend the president. Sorry I mean country. Maduro lost too much gas to keep it going
unknown|17 days ago
[deleted]
insane_dreamer|17 days ago
But who cares about science, or humanity for that matter, so long as big companies can increase their profits and keep greasing the wheels of corrupt politicians!
mothballed|17 days ago
mothballed|17 days ago
If this is true, that is a monstrous 5% of an average new vehicle. And it's not just the cost of the vehicle, emissions equipment also can make the vehicle slightly less reliable, especially diesel engines, so it's likely to reduce the cost of vehicles by more than the initial 5%.
----- edit since I am throttled -----
I know for a fact the prices are lower non-emission vs emission. I own a tractor that is detuned 0.1 HP under the emission limit and with zero emissions controls. They sell the exact same tractor with the exact same engine with a fuel screw turned up over the limit to increase hp, plus emissions controls, and it's about $4,000 more. Manufacturers absolutely will charge more for emissions models than non-emissions models.
ceejayoz|17 days ago
(And Leavitt is hardly a reputable source.)
ceejayoz|17 days ago
This is flawed logic.
BMW tried charging a subscription fee for heated seats (https://www.thedrive.com/news/bmw-commits-to-subscriptions-e...). All the cars had the seat heaters; "exact same [car] with the exact same [seats]". (I'd also note that you yourself acknowledge that people are paying for the extra horsepower, not the emissions controls.)
You're describing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination, not necessarily an actual difference in the BOM.
hdhdhsjsbdh|17 days ago
insane_dreamer|17 days ago
yndoendo|17 days ago
CEOs want to maximize their golden parachutes and their stock value ... prices will be the same or go up. USA capitalism is about maximize profits not the buying power of their citizens.
xorbax|17 days ago
Are you fantasizing that they'll reduce the price of cars because of this and somehow benefit people?
And they'd have to take the time to redesign. And Democrats will (hopefully) reinstate it in a few years, and carmakers probably recognize that. Along with the threat of legal challenges by environmental groups.
And, further, if we eventually do get these inefficient polluting cars - who's going to want to buy them? They certainly wouldn't be able to sell them in same countries. Seems pointless overall for carmakers, generally.
Just a gift to polluting corporations and billionaires who want profit at our expense.