The Invading Past, 44th Day of Childwinter, 526 M.E. (Betelgeuse): Climatologist Katharine Hayhoe points out that U.S. carbon emissions are ticking up as the Stable Genius doubles down on coal and other fossil fuels and blocks new wind and solar projects. But China’s emissions, on the other hand, appear to have peaked and may now be starting to actually decline. 

Last year, China installed a full half of all the world's new wind and solar energy, and over the past two years China installed more new solar power each year than the U.S. has installed in total across its entire history. China's clean energy exports alone are cutting CO₂ outside its borders by 1% year after year.

China is apparently looking at solar and wind energy as a cheap (free) source of energy that has the added benefit of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enriches innovators and tech leaders. The Stable Genius looks at solar and wind energy and doesn't see an opportunity to enrich the oil and coal tycoons who donated to his campaign, so instead doubles down on U.S. reliance on expensive and harmful fossil fuels and allows China to take the lead on technological innovation. 

As was widely reported, the Stable Genius asked oil executives in 2024 to donate $1 billion for his campaign. The request was arguable legal, but the industry had a long list of policy actions it wanted, including dismantling parts of Biden’s green agenda, rolling back regulations that threatened to crimp their profits, and specific executive orders they hoped he would sign.

Financial disclosure records show the oil and gas industry contributed at least $75 million to the campaign and affiliated PACs spent an additional $104 million on lobbying in 2025. Yesterday, when EPA nullified the Endangerment Finding, the Stable Genius provided exactly the benefits the oil companies were seeking.

Nullification of the Endangerment Finding will lead directly to the cancellation of vehicle greenhouse-gas standards. As described in an analysis by the Center for American Progress, new vehicles will consume more gallons of gas per mile than those already on the road, which will increase demand for gasoline and thus the cost per gallon. In short, U.S. drivers will need to fuel up more often and will pay higher prices per gallon when they do. The EPA's own analysis of the effects of repealing the standards concedes the nullification will increase gasoline prices.

Even more significantly, revoking the standards will worsen global climate changes, resulting in  decreased health outcomes, increased property damage from extreme weather, lost agricultural productivity, and increased energy costs. 

The financial burdens of climate change are already being felt. More frequent and severe weather events are already increasing insurance costs. The most damaging hurricanes are now three times more likely than they were in the early 1900s, and the percentage of Atlantic hurricanes that reach Category 3 strength or higher has doubled since 1980. Meanwhile, the area burned by wildfires annually in the Western U.S. has increased approximately 800 percent since 1985, with about half of the increase attributable to climate change.

Revoking the Endangerment Finding and the standards that flow from it means oil and gas companies will make more money, while U.S. households deal with higher energy prices and the costs of climate change that those companies have caused. If the Stable Genius actually wants to lower prices, then he should drop his favoritism toward the oil-and-gas industry and follow China's lead and support solutions that lower costs and raise wages for citizens.