Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren Issue Stern Rebukes To Trump Pulling Out Of The Paris Agreement

The progressive side of the Democratic party, including Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), have linked President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement with big-money interests and the fossil fuel industry.

Shortly before Trump made the announcement at the Rose Garden, Sanders issued a statement that described the withdrawal as an “international disgrace.”

“President Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement is an abdication of American leadership and an international disgrace. At this moment, when climate change is already causing devastating harm around the world, we do not have the moral right to turn our backs on efforts to preserve this planet for future generations,” Sanders said.

He continued, calling on America to continue on the path towards renewable energy “with or without Donald Trump” and linked the president’s decision to the fossil fuel industry.

“The United States must play a leading role in the global campaign to stop climate change and transition rapidly away from fossil fuels to renewable and more efficient sources of energy,” Sanders said. “We must do this with or without the support of Donald Trump and the fossil fuel industry.”

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Sen. Warren took a similar tact, framing the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement as a “big gift to Republican donors.”

“This isn’t jobs versus the environment,” she said Thursday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “This is a big gift to Republican donors.”

“In this democracy, government can be seized by a handful of people with money who can get government to tilt in their direction,” Warren added. “Money slithers through Washington like a snake.”

“[Congress] used to filter things by asking if it helps working families,” she lamented at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater in San Francisco before pointing out that with Republicans in control of the Congress, Senate, and White House, that the question is now “how can we help out corporate America? “

The U.S. still has a government that works great, she added, but only for “that thin slice of people at the top.”

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Warren and Sanders have both been longtime critics of the role that big money corporations play in politics, most notably during Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign. Both have framed other actions by the Trump administration, including the latest American Health Care Act (AHCA) passed by Congress as ways to benefit the rich and corporate interests. This withdrawal is no different.

Not surprisingly, the Trump administration has a different framing device explaining the withdrawal. For the administration, the move fulfills a populist agenda that got him elected in the rust belt. "I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris," he said.

The Paris Climate Agreement was signed by President Obama in April 2016 along with almost 200 other countries aimed at reducing carbon emissions to mitigate the effects of global warming. Only Nicaragua and Syria abstained from signing the agreement. Trump's decision to pull out makes the U.S. the third country to opt out of the agreement.