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Coal in good shape under Trump?? Sorry, only those completely unfamiliar with the long, sorrowful history of coal in this country are likely to buy that.
I live in Kentucky. Appalachian coal country is about an hour and a half from me. The western Kentucky coalfields are farther away, but still not far from home. Coal companies are shutting down, stiffing the miners, failing to "restore" ravaged mountains and streams as they are legally required to do - while coal executives and mine owners shed crocodile tears while packing away the big bucks. The story is the same in West Virginia, southeastern Ohio, western Virginia, east Tennessee, and Pennsylvania.
Just fly over Appalachian coal country on a sunny day, and look down. You'll see mile after mile of decapitated mountains that have never been "restored" (so-called restoration generally makes heavy use of fertilizer and non-native, fast-growing grasses, completely different from what was once the most diverse forest in the world...).
You can see that devastation from above - but you can't see the similar devastation done to the people who mined that coal and who still live nearby below. You have to get down into those hills and hollers and take those narrow, winding roads to see what's really happening. And you have to look at the years of unpaid taxes owed by the mine companies - taxes that would pay for much-needed schools, clean water, better roads, health clinics, libraries and all the other essentials of American life.
I've done that. Forget what you term MSM. I have first-hand information and experience, and the sad story of coal's impact on Appalachian Kentucky is a story I've followed sorrowfully for fifty years, since I was in college and ever since.
It's not today's Democrats who've brought about these "sad scenes of destruction, on every hand". It's not today's Democrats who hate America. It's those like Trump and his cronies, who claim to care so much - yet who have brought death and destruction in their ceaseless quest for profits, and yet cynically claim to care about those who endanger their lives daily and who are left with empty pockets' topless mountains, and filthy water when the mine owners declare bankruptcy.
Trump's heart is as black as the coal.
There is no such thing as "clean coal". And coal is in no better shape than is Trump himself. It's not coming back. Just as I doubt very much that Trump will be coming back, in 2020.
Again, the USA is transitioning away from coal-fired power plants. How is this Trump's fault?
It is simple economics that Democrats either don't understand, or don't want to understand due to Trump hate. As you and others have mentioned, Natural Gas is now cheap and very plentiful in the U.S. partly due to fracking. We now are a NET exporter of energy, and the largest oil producer in the world. We don't need coal anymore. In fact, much if not most of that is exported now.
The problem is not that whale oil is on the decline. That is in fact a good thing.
The problem is a presidential candidate telling the whalers that the demise of whale oil was all due to business-hating regulatory policies, that he'd personally see to it that whale oil (clean whale oil) would come back, and that he made the whalers believe it. Because that was a promise he couldn't possibly deliver on, and it kept people out hunting whales who could otherwise have spent that time finding something with better long-term prospects.
The problem is not that whale oil is on the decline. That is in fact a good thing.
The problem is a presidential candidate telling the whalers that the demise of whale oil was all due to business-hating regulatory policies, that he'd personally see to it that whale oil (clean whale oil) would come back, and that he made the whalers believe it. Because that was a promise he couldn't possibly deliver on, and it kept people out hunting whales who could otherwise have spent that time finding something with better long-term prospects.
Bingo.
Trump lied to them.
They believed the lies. Now they're out of work and voting against a Republican governor who says he plans to take away their Medicaid-funded health insurance as well.
The problem is not that whale oil is on the decline. That is in fact a good thing.
The problem is a presidential candidate telling the whalers that the demise of whale oil was all due to business-hating regulatory policies, that he'd personally see to it that whale oil (clean whale oil) would come back, and that he made the whalers believe it. Because that was a promise he couldn't possibly deliver on, and it kept people out hunting whales who could otherwise have spent that time finding something with better long-term prospects.
So Trump comes through with at least TRYING to fulfill his campaign promises or actually has fulfilled them. He's either tried to fulfill, or has fulfilled the vast majority of his promises in just THREE YEARS, yet you focus on the one he can't fulfill, because you just irrationally hate him.
The coal industry may see gains in the future as an EXPORTER which they do now. The domestic trend is to switch to Natural Gas as the coal plants go offline due to being at the end of their useful life.
Obama wasn't able to install the Fundamental Transformation he promised. Do you hold him accountable? How about him saying everyone's healthcare costs would go down?
Let me ask you this simple question. How does me not caring about the coal country idiots losing their jobs after voting for Trump affect anything? Or is this one of those thoughts and prayers things that idiots believe will affect anything?
I can feel anything I want to feel. It has zero effect on how the world runs. Stop pretending like I have any control over how coal idiots got conned by trumpelthinskin into believing he or anyone could bring coal back.
Sooo...does this mean I shouldn't feel guilty if I think idiots in California deserve to have all their worldly possessions destroyed in fires for supporting the idiotic environmental regulations which prevented proper forest management and lead to these out of control wild fires?
No, but you should feel guilty for not being able to focus on the topic of the discussion.
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