 The party that supposedly supports states' rights is showing, yet again, how selective they are in the application of that philosophy. Because when it comes to bodily autonomy and civil rights, they're very pro-states' rights because they want to make sure that red states have the authority to discriminate against their citizens as they see fit. However, when it comes to e-cigarettes and protecting the environment, they're not very states' rights. Now, of course, you know, I am referring to Donald Trump's decision to revoke California's legal authority to set its own emission standards. And this is important because California's economy is absolutely massive. So even if they're just one state, if they set a particular environmental standard, then it would really behoove businesses to follow that standard nationally because it would be more cost-efficient since California is such a massive part of the economy. So if you're going to have one set of standards that are different for other states than it is for California and some other blue states, then that doesn't really make sense from an economic standpoint. So if you're a business, then absolutely you want to make sure to just do what California wants. So you have just one standard universally at the national level. The problem, though, is that Donald Trump didn't like this because it gives a blue state a tremendous amount of power and he sees power as a zero-sum game. So if they have power, then he doesn't. And when it comes to the environment, he absolutely does not want California to have a nationwide impact on any industry. So what does he choose to do? Well, when it comes to the auto industry, at least, he just revokes their ability to set their own standards, simple as that. So instead, he wants these auto emissions to be subject to federal standards as opposed to the standard that California sets. And let me remind you with Donald Trump in charge, with a right-wing EPA in control, these federal standards are more lax. They are worse for the environment. So what he's doing here, it just shows how antagonistic he is towards the environment. But I'm talking about this story even though it's late because this isn't going to be just a one-and-done deal. He's not just going to be able to say, you know what, California, you're no longer going to be able to set your own emission standards. Because guess what? California, thankfully, is pushing back. And this is most likely going to end up being a pretty huge legal battle. And as Lydia O'Connor of HuffPost writes, California officials said Wednesday that they're prepared to fight President Donald Trump over his announcement that he's revoking the state's legal authority to set its own car emission standards. At a press conference, state leaders emphasized that they've long anticipated this move by the Trump administration and that they plan to take Trump to court over it as soon as possible. This is the fight of a lifetime for us. We have to win this California Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols said, adding that she's been paying her dues to the state bar of California just in readiness for this moment. So that she could be part of the litigation. Shortly before she spoke, Trump tweeted out confirmation that he was revoking the waiver that's long allowed the state to establish its own tailpipe emissions policy, upending decades of bipartisan support for that exception. The president argued that revoking the waiver would make cars cheaper and safer while making little difference in emissions and creating more jobs. This is simply inaccurate, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom retorted on Twitter, saying the looser standards Trump wants would cost consumers 400 billion and result in 320 billion more gallons of oil burned and spewed into our air. And in this instance, Governor Newsom is 100% correct. And I don't even know how Donald Trump would reach that type of conclusion. And you can only logically assume that he's following some type of libertarian philosophy where he thinks that if you just, you know, you deregulate, you allow the market to self-regulate, then that will be the best thing for consumers. Except we're not talking about a particular company making cookies and, you know, maybe they go out of business because it makes people feel sick. There is a real information imbalance here that people aren't considering. Who is going to purchase a car and then think about all of these really specific things with regard to, you know, emissions and whatnot. This is why the state should be handling something like that. But, you know, this is part of the course for Donald Trump, who it seems like he doesn't just not care about the environment, which would be one thing. I mean, if he just was ambivalent, that would still be awful. But he is actively trying to ruin the planet faster. And it's one thing that is puzzling. It's what him and his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro, is doing. And it just, I mean, on one hand you can say, well, look, they're old, so they don't have to see the consequences, you know, and they don't care about destruction on a mass scale. They don't care about the habitability of our planet because they're older. But I mean, if you have a kid, don't you have any concern whatsoever? I mean, there's no way that he actually is a climate change denier because if you look at the stories regarding his golf courses, he absolutely is concerned with the effects of climate change. So I mean, to just be overly antagonistic, what's the reason? To own the libs? Like, I just, I don't get it. I think there's multiple things that come into play. I think part of it is power. He's power hungry. He doesn't want California to kind of reduce from his power because they don't want California to, you know, take away from what the federal government can do and since he's in control of the federal government, maybe that has something to do with it. I don't know. But all I know is that this is psychopathic at this point and Donald Trump absolutely must be defeated if we want a fighting chance just as a species. Like, we're not just talking about the Supreme Court. We're not just talking about public policy. We're talking about our survivability, the habitability of our planet. If we don't defeat him, that's four more years that we lose that we just don't have. So, um, I'm watching all of this in terror and I just, it makes no sense to me how Republicans don't care. Like, if you are a young Republican, I'll reason with you. Let's say, hypothetically speaking, you don't believe in climate change. Do you still not worry about the consequences of our actions having breathable air that's not polluted that is healthy? You know, I mean, if you want to be healthy and breathe clean air, don't you have an interest in that just from the standpoint of you being a self-interested rational actor? I just, I don't get it. I don't understand conservatism and this Republican philosophy. Everything they do seems to be motivated by, you know, some way to trigger the libs or fuck up the planet and it's just, it's psychopathic. It's psychopathic and it's time that we call it like we see it. This is absolutely insanity. And Donald Trump, this is probably just about power, but either way, you know, I hope that California wins this fight because, um, you know, it's just one more nail in the planet's coffin and we don't need that now.