The World's Most Dangerous Man

There are a lot of unpleasant people running countries these days. North Korea's Kim Jong-un for example, surrounding himself with nuclear weapons while his people starve. Or China's Xi Jinping, who has made himself emperor. Or the homicidal crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman. Or Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, the racist, misogynistic ex-military man who has spoken favorably of torture and murder. Lots to choose from.

But the most dangerous leader in the world is not one of these. That dubious honour goes to Donald J. Trump, president of the United States. Not because he has upset the world trading system, nor because of his provocations in the Middle East, but because of his undermining of the world's efforts to deal with its biggest threat, global warming. He is the world's major climate change denier, infamously once calling it a hoax.

He is actively undermining his own country's years of environmental progress, both at the federal and state levels. For example, he has appointed a former coal lobbyist as head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. His appointee, Andrew Wheeler, has touted rolling back pollution standards and has refused to identify global warming as a crisis. At the state level, he has gone after California in particular, perhaps the most progressive state environmentally. He has revoked the ability of California and other states to set tougher auto emissions standards than the federal government and is attempting to invalidate the state’s carbon cap-and-trade agreement with Quebec. He has even investigated auto makers for antitrust violations for co-operating with California on reducing car emissions.

Not content with undermining efforts at home, he is attempting to undo efforts made by the international community. He is, for instance, withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change. His administration has also hindered other countries from taking action through the United Nations, the G-7, the G-20, the Arctic Council and other bodies.

At the Davos conference this week, he displayed his denialist views in full rhetorical ignorance, rejecting the overwhelming scientific consensus that is finally driving the rest of the world to action. No other country has the same capacity, or indeed responsibility, to lead as the United States which makes Trump's actions doubly tragic.

Nothing poses as great a threat to global stability as climate change. By aggravating the crisis, Trump imperils the future of all of us, including that of his own people. Americans obsess about their national security, yet they have elected a man who presents their greatest threat.