https://www.caringcremations.com/obituaries/Margaret-Pamela-Laux?obId=29928967#/obituaryInfo

https://www.sax-tiedemann.com/obituaries/josephine-laux

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The Fossil Fuel Prime Mover

So we have Trump 2.0. But it's different this time around. And that's exactly what one would expect.

The first time, no-one expected Trump to win, not even DJT himself. As such, the Forbes 50 companies and mega-billionaires did not take him seriously until it was too late and he was ensconced in the WH.

This time around, it was clear that he had a real chance of winning. That changed everything, given that one thing you can say about Donald Trump with absolute certainty is that the man has no integrity at all. None. Not a smidgen, not an iota, not a molecule.

So we had a presidency up for sale. Who would be interested? Who would have the most to gain, the most to lose, the most money to bet?

One answer is blindingly obvious to anyone who has been following our so-called "energy transition": the fossil fuel industry (FFI). Exxon, BP, Chevron, for starters, but also oil majors in other countries, extraction-related industries, and for that matter some other countries themselves. And, to a lesser extent, anyone who is doing well under the current FF-powered regime and would not do as well if we moved away from it. Very much including industries that seem to be trying to evolve toward a FF-free world, such as the auto industry or, less obviously, high-tech industries. Call these latter the FFI allies.

The climate crisis is, for the FFI, effectively a death sentence. If people continue to actually listen to the scientists, come to understand that continued extraction of FFs will culminate in horrific outcomes for future generations (and in any case cannot be continued much longer: "peak oil" is really real), sooner or later FF extraction will be effectively forbidden--if not by law, then by the laws of economics, in conjunction with lawsuits and other legal actions.

For FFI allies, the climate crisis will mean, at least, rough sledding. But it will not necessarily be fatal. IAC many of those FFI allies would be inclined to lend a helping hand to the FFI if they could do so without offending too many customers or other businesses.

So. For the FFI, it was time to try a Hail Mary pass. Make a big bet (tens of billions, hundreds, who's counting? they have more money than G*d), and if it works, they would be able to, at the least, mount a holding action. Use the awful power of a puppet in the WH to throw a wrench or a box of wrenches into the green energy transition, let FF extraction start in new areas both within the US and its territories and bodies of water and elsewhere, and end all international cooperation on the climate front.

There was no way to guarantee that Trump would actually win--assuming of course that there actually wasn't some voting machine tampering etc going on. I personally don't think there was. But with effectively unlimited financial resources and the cooperation of much of Silicon Valley, it was possible to do things like e.g. focus on unmotivated voters etc. I have read that the tech sector contributions to the Trump campaign totaled around $250M, and that the FFI gave the campaign $219M. Bullshit. Those numbers are both at least an order of magnitude too low, I'd bet. BTW as further corroboration of this thesis of mine, including what I say at the end about high tech and about capitalism, see this:

Opinion | How Democrats Drove Silicon Valley Into Trump’s Arms

Marc Andreessen explains the newest faction of conservatism.

 www.nytimes.com

Now, it's important to understand here that this strategy was "plausible" just because Trump is such a wildcard. You could call him the Magic 8-Ball president: any decision he makes will typically make as much sense as the child's toy that gives a random answer to any question. Thus if he loves FFs and hates green energy, well, that's just who he is, don't try to understand it.

And this in turn suggests that a lot of the other crazy shit he does--WRT immigration, tariffs, whatever--is often just distraction, misdirection. He doesn't generally really care about it, or care that much, beyond the attention it generates (which he loves, he needs to be in the spotlight 24/7). The other stuff is just window dressing. As one of Trump's favorite imaginary friends, Hannibal Lecter, put it, this is like "the elaborations of a bad liar". With perhaps a few exceptions, it's not what matters, to him or his backers, anyways.

(Parenthetical aside: so what's in it for Trump? I'm thinking the FFI cartel has promised him something like tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars, in exchange for a strong push toward FFs and squelching anything "green" or "clean". Enough money to put him solidly in the ranks of real billionaires. 'cuz that's gotta be a sore point for him: the reality is that he's a failed businessman, with nowhere near as much money as he likes to pretend he has. This would be bonafide "success" in his eyes. Never mind that the odds of his living long enough to see it and simultaneously staying out of jail, or worse, are slim to none. This, however, is speculation on my part.)

(Second parenthetical aside: This could be part of why he worships and is jealous of Putin, at least. Putin is rumored to be the world's richest man, or at least on a par with Musk and Bezos. Trump would like to be there too, of course, but he can't, because we are not (yet) an ironclad kleptocracy. This may even have been what Trump asked Putin about, at that private meeting the interpreter's notes for which were confiscated by Trump. Again, though, speculation.)

If the above thesis is correct--that Trump's position on FFs is the biggest real reason for his support by powerful interests--it would be hard to overstate its importance. The significance of Trump 2.0 is precisely this: DJT is the idiot figurehead of a movement to keep us on the FF train that will take us (Americans, industrialized countries, and ultimately homo sapiens) over a cliff and into oblivion. The Trump presidency will certainly have consequences for many other things, not least our own democratic system of government, which it seems certain will not completely recover from this and which in fact may be fated for permanent emasculation, perhaps even collapse.

But the underlying power struggle--which is also, I believe, an important if not the main reason for many of the wacky twists and turns our country has taken over the past few decades, predating Trump's appearance on the scene--is the struggle between FF dead-enders (whose MO is to make $$$ now, and to hell with the future--we CEOs and sheiks will all be dead by then) and the scientists and enviros--those who understand what the scientists are telling us, that we must act now or lose everything, and who are determined to literally fight for our children's future.

To bring home just how big a deal this is, consider these two points.

1) It is exaggerating only a little to say that "modern technology" (scare quotes needed because a definition is needed) basically consists of the skillful use of fossil fuels. Which we cannot, must not, continue using. (Both because of the climate crisis, and also just because we will inevitably run out of economically recoverable FFs; we passed "peak oil" some time ago). FFs are needed for much, much more than just cars and jets: they are necessary for microelectronics (computers, smartphones, a zillion other gadgets), construction equipment, roads, buildings, even our food (given our current industrialized ag system). This is why much of the tech sector has swung over to the Trumpian side, as noted in that interview with Andreessen, cited above.

2) Many people (including yours truly) think that getting rid of FFs means, most likely, getting rid of capitalism, or at least some of the most pernicious aspects of capitalism, in particular the emphasis on growth. Do a search on "fossil fuels" and "economic decoupling" for more. But that's another subject and another rant.

The point is, we have ringside seats at a truly titanic struggle. "We live in interesting times", unfortunately. But it will be even worse for our children and beyond.

The final thing I'd like to note is that the emergence of Trump, or someone like him, was always at least probable, and may even have been inevitable. We were always destined for a fight, or more accurately, for a war like this, which has in fact been compared to our own Civil War by many (both can be regarded as fights over an energy transition). Looking on the bright side, we should be glad that the titular head of the FF dead-ender movement is a comically narcissistic idiot. It could have been so much worse. (And I remain worried about Vance, frankly.)

FWIW, IMHO, YHIHF (maybe)