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Vice President Mike Pence appeared on Fox & Friends Friday to tout President Donald Trumps decision to leave the Paris Agreement combatting climate change, and painted the issue as one of partisan politics.

For some reason or another, this issue of climate change has emerged as a paramount issue for the left in this country and around the world, Pence said. Its long been a goal of the liberal left in this country to advance a climate change agenda.

Pences remarks entirely ignore the consensus among climate scientists that humans have significantly contributed to global warming. And in framing the issue as one of right versus left, he also brushes aside the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change, including food shortages, floods, fires and irreparable damage to wildlife.

Hes also disregarding that some of his fellow Republicans have also urged action on what he describes as the climate change agenda.

Pences comments, of course, echo a familiar refrain from the right. Many conservatives have attempted to paint climate change as a partisan issue promoted only by the left, or simply punt on the issue by pleading ignorance. But the reality is that its not just Democrats who are concerned about global warming.

Recent polls also show that many Republican voters including those who sided with Trump in the 2016 election believe man-made climate change is real and is something to be concerned about. A HuffPost You/Gov poll earlier this year found that 61 percent of Americans supported staying in the Paris Agreement, including 31 percent of Trump voters surveyed. A Morning Consult/Politico poll conducted in April found that most Americans are concerned about climate change, including 50 percent of Republicans. And a March Gallup poll found that 68 percent of Americans believe humans are causing global warming.

There have also been efforts on the right to make climate change action a priority for the GOP. Nineteen House Republicanssigned on to the Republican Climate Resolution calling for congressional action on global warming, and many of those same members have joined a bipartisan caucus focused on climate issues. Bob Inglis, a former GOP congressman from South Carolina, formed RepublicEn, a conservative climate advocacy group. And as Reuters reported, college Republicans at campuses across the U.S. are increasingly in favor of actively combatting global warming, suggesting a generational shift looming for the party.

And, contrary to Pences comments, there are plenty of moderate and right-leaning politicians who have publicly warned of the dangers of rising global temperatures.

Here are just some prominent figures on the right who have acknowledged that climate change is a real and pressing threat to humanity, and are advocating for action:

2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson

Trumps secretary of state has previously expressed support for the Paris Agreement, and reportedly lobbied Trumpto stay in the deal.

After Trumps announcement, he said he hopes the U.S. will reduce greenhouse gas emissions despite leaving the accord.

I dont think were going to change our ongoing efforts to reduce those emissions in the future either, so hopefully, people can keep it in perspective, he said.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry

Perry, the former Republican governor of Texas and GOP presidential candidate, also supported staying in the agreement. He advocated for renegotiating the U.S.s commitment rather than fully withdrawing.

Perry, however, expressed support for Trumps decision following the announcement.

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R)

One man cannot destroy our progress, one man cant stop our clean energy revolution, one man cant go back in time. Only I can do that, Schwarzenegger said in a video on ATTN following Trumps announcement, referencing his role in the Terminator films.Like all the great movements in human history, our clean future starts with a grassroots movement in our communities, our cities and our state.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)

Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.)

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.)

The Paris Agreement isnt perfect. But by abandoning it, America is relinquishing that seat at the table. It calls into question our commitment to protecting and preserving the environment. And it forfeits our ability to drive countries like China and India to reduce their carbon footprint and compete on a level playing field. Ultimately, this disappointing decision diminishes Americas leadership role on the world stage.

Former GOP congressman and founder of RepublicEn Bob Inglis

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)

United States innovation and business leadership have been key drivers to lowering our carbon emissions over the last 20 years, and we should continue to have an influential seat at the table as the rest of the world addresses these issues. Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement is misguided, and harms the ongoing effort to fight climate change while also isolating us from our allies.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)

Murkowski addressed Trumps decision on Thursday, KTOO reported:

My hope is that with the presidents decision to go this route it does not mean that we fall back as a nation on our efforts to address and mitigate on the impact that we see from a warming climate, she said. Because we see it here in this state and it is real and I think weve got an obligation to help address it.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)

Alexander is one of few Senate Republicans who has acknowledged the existence of man-made climate change.

According to the Times Free Press, Alexander said in a statement Friday that while he doesnt think withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is catastrophic for climate progress, he believes the most important thing the United States can do to solve our energy and climate challenge is to double funding for basic energy research.

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R)

The Presidents decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement is disappointing and concerning, particularly given the widespread and non-partisan support from business and political leaders for remaining in the Agreement.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

Although Graham expressed support for the decision to leave the Paris accord, he has previously acknowledged the gravity of climate change.

I have come to conclude that greenhouse gases and carbon pollution is not a good thing, Graham said in 2010. Whatever political push back I get, Im willing to accept because I know what Im trying to do makes sense to me. I am convinced that reason, logic and good business sense, and good environmental policy, will trump the status quo.

ExxonMobil chief Darren Woods

Woods, who has donated to GOP campaigns, wrote a personal letter to Trump last month urging him to stay in the agreement. As the Financial Times reports:

Mr Woods argues that staying in the accord will mean the US keeps a seat at the negotiating table to ensure a level playing field for all energy sources, and can argue for the most cost-effective greenhouse gas reduction options and support for innovation

Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris

Liveris, whose company gave $1 million to Trumps inauguration, was the driving force behind a letter from 30 major company executives backing the deal, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

Walmart president and CEO Doug McMillon

The frequent GOP donoralso urged Trump to uphold the U.S.s commitment to the international pact.

Defense Secretary James Mattis

Earlier this year, Mattis cited climate change as a national security threat.

Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today, he said in written testimony to the Senate Armed Forces Committee. It is appropriate for the Combatant Commands to incorporate drivers of instability that impact the security environment in their areas into their planning.

Former Defense Secretary and GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel

Hagel has also said global warming should be considered a security threat.

Preparing for climate change is about risk even if we do not understand every aspect of the scientific predictions, we know that the consequences of not acting may be significant, he wrote in a 2015 Time op-ed.

Former Secretary of State George Schultz

Schultz, who served as the head of the State Department under Ronald Reagan, warned of the dangers of climate change in 2013.

If you wait until youre boiling, you may have missed your moment. You have to look and see whats happening, and act on the basis of that, he said.

Originally posted here:
Actually, Mike Pence, Climate Change Has Nothing To Do With A 'Liberal' Agenda - HuffPost

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The Des Moines Register 1:59 p.m. CT June 3, 2017

Sen. Joni Ernst climbs into the bed of a truck Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016, to speak to participants before heading out on the second annual Roast and Ride in Des Moines.(Photo: Michael Zamora/The Register)Buy Photo

Sen. Joni Ernst's annual Roast and Ride takes place in central Iowa on Saturday, with motorcyclists leaving the Harley Davidson shop just north of Des Moines and heading to Boone for food and remarks from politicians including Vice President Mike Pence.

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Did he release a statement offering condolences to the victims? Did he grant an interview with a TV network to insist that the US remains resolute in our fight against terror even in the wake of these latest attacks? Nope! He tweeted! Five times, to be exact.

On Saturday night, Trump kicked off his tweetstorm with this: "We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!"

After a night's sleep, Trump woke up Sunday morning and, around 8 a.m., fired off three more tweets.

"We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people. If we don't get smart it will only get worse," Trump started.

"At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is "no reason to be alarmed!," he continued.

"Do you notice we are not having a gun debate right now? That's because they used knives and a truck!," he ended.

Of those five, one is the sort of thing you can imagine a president not named Donald Trump saying in the wake of a major terrorism event like the one in London; that's the second one Saurday night in which he pledges to help London in whatever way they need it and insists America stands with them.

ISIS claims responsibility for London attack 01:59

The other four tweets are pure Trump -- and the exact opposite of what we have long considered "presidential."

In one -- the first he sends out -- he uses the just-breaking terror attacks as a way to make the case for his travel ban, which continues to be hung up in the courts.

In another, he suggests political correctness is responsible for the attack, a common Trump refrain during the campaign.

In a third, he takes on those pushing gun control -- noting that they are silent because these attacks didn't involve guns.

And, finally and most Trumpian, he attacks the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, for allegedly insisting that the people of London have "no reason to be alarmed."

Witnesses saw bodies 'flipped into the air' 01:47

Khan is clearly referring not to the threat from terrorists but to the increased police presence when he uses the words "no reason to be alarmed." Trump chooses to misunderstand him for political purposes.

Trump tweeting things to forward his own agenda in the wake of terrorist attacks is nothing new. Following shootings in an Orlando nightclub that left 49 people dead, Trump offered this: "Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!" After an incident of a knife-wielding man at the Louvre Museum in Paris, Trump tweeted: "A new radical Islamic terrorist has just attacked in Louvre Museum in Paris. Tourists were locked down. France on edge again. GET SMART U.S."

In short, the tweetstorm following the London attacks isn't the exception, it's the rule for Trump. Using these attacks to prove his political point is his default position not a one-time popping off.

Trump tweets response to incidents in London 01:35

Trump's responses are the latest example of how he is radically altering the idea of what it means to be "presidential." During the 2016 campaign, Trump's attacks on John McCain's war hero status, his savaging of a Gold Star family, his wild exaggerations about his wealth and his seeming disinterest in the truth were all taken, at one point or another, as signs that he simply wasn't "presidential" enough to actually win anything. That, while voters liked his unorthodox style, they would eventually tire of him as they looked for the sort of statesman who had traditionally held the nation's top political job.

It didn't happen. And Trump has never stopped. His quintet of tweets on London are not only something that no previous American president would ever have said, they're also statements that it's hard to imagine any other leader in any other democracy around the world saying.

They are more the statements of a conservative talk radio show host than they are of what we have come to think of as a president -- bombastic, over the top and out of context. They are, by traditional standards, anti-presidential.

Which, come to think of it, is a good way to describe Trump. He is sort of an anti-president -- at least in terms of how we have always defined those terms. Trump's attitude and approach in office is closer to Jerry Springer than to Gerald Ford. He's more Limbaugh than Lincoln.

What we know: Trump isn't going to stop Trumping. The only question now is whether voters want an anti-president as their president.

Read more:
The London terror tweets prove Donald Trump is never going to be 'presidential' - CNN

This post has been updated.

President Trump is no dewy-eyed debutante, but Sunday marked his coming-out party.

The noted homebody since coming to Washington, he has socialized only at the White House and at Trump-branded properties attended his first big outing amid the citys social and philanthropic crowd, the annual gala raising money for Fords Theatre, the historic venue where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

Trump and his wife, Melania, hosted a warm-up reception before a show at the downtown theater, which marked the return of a tradition that dates back to the Carter administration. (The President and Mrs. Trump request the pleasure of your attendance read the invite to the late-afternoon event). Typically, the president hosts the black-tie gathering, which draws a crowd heavy on CEOs, lawmakers and the citys professional-partying class. So important is the exclusive mingle for donors at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., that when the Obamas werent available for last years shindig, the theater canceled the whole evening.

[No POTUS, no party: Fords Theatre cancels annual gala after White House says too busy]

I am proud to continue the tradition in honor of such a historic and cherished landmark, Melania Trump said in a statement.

The first couple she in a drapey champagne-colored Monique Lhuillier gown; he in a tux then attended a performance at the theater, in what was their first foray into the wilds of social Washington. At the gala, the president made remarks about the terrorist attack in London in which seven people were killed. Of the theater, he sounded a rare bipartisan note. Its a place where Americans of all backgrounds, from all parts, all over the world, from both parties can you believe that, from both parties; this may be one of the few times we unite; but well get there, you watch can come together and enjoy the arts in unity and in peace, Trump told the well-heeled crowd that included Vice President Mike Pence and Karen Pence, Sens.Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Though they have entertained at the White House and Mar-a-Lago, Trump has skipped the handful of premiere events that a president typically attends at least a few times during their tenure, notes Washington Life Senior EditorKevin Chaffee, a longtime observer of the citys galas-and-cocktails circuit. First, he snubbed the annual dinner put on by the Alfalfa Club, a group made up of corporate execs, military brass and senior pols. And another nope RSVP went out to the Gridiron Club, an elite group of Washington journalists and he famously turned down the White House Correspondents Dinner in April, something no president had done since Ronald Reagan (who only declined because hed been shot).

Trumps decision to attend the Fords gala was seen as a sign that perhaps the unpredictable commander-in-chief is prepared to engage in at least some of the social rites of the swamp he routinely derides.

This should certainly give hope to the folks at the Kennedy Center that he and the first lady will attend the honors gala in December, Chaffee says, mentioning another event at which the presidents attendance is a long-standing tradition.

So why this gala? Well, its not put on by the FAKE NEWS media, for one. And Trump has long expressed an affinity for Lincoln. Who could forget his praise of the Great Emancipator: Great president, Trump said at a GOP fundraising dinner in March. Most people dont even know he was a Republican, right? Well, the members of the folks who like to call themselves the party of Lincoln probably did.

He even once tweeted about the theater itself (theres a Trump tweet for everything, it seems), wondering why the 2012 biopic Lincoln didnt film there.

Perhaps, mused one longtime attendee, the often-contrarian president wanted to indicate another break with the Obamas, whose decision not to host last year was seen by some as a slight. Whatever the reason, the attendee was glad to see a glimmer of engagement: At least hes supporting the arts.

More:
Donald Trump makes Ford's Theatre gala his first Washington social outing - Washington Post

Russian President Vladimir Putin strongly denied he had any compromising material about U.S. President Donald Trump in a sometimes combative televised interview broadcast on Sunday.

"Well, this is just another load of nonsense," Putin said on NBC News' Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly,when asked whether he had any damaging information on the Republican president.

The remarks were the latest in a series of denials from Moscow that have had little impact so far on a political crisis in the United States over potential links between Russia and Trump's inner circle.

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The issue will be front and center this week in Washington, where former FBI Director James Comey is due to testify on whether Trump tried to get him to back off an investigation into alleged ties between Trump's election campaign and Moscow.

Putin was interviewed by NBC News's Megyn Kelly Sunday, and denied having compromising information on President Trump. screenshot

Comey, who was leading the Federal Bureau of Investigation's probe into alleged Russian meddling in last year's U.S. presidential election, was fired by Trump last month, four years into his 10-year term.

Putin also told NBC that regardless of Trump's previous travel to Russia as a businessman, he had had no relationship with him and had never met him. Putin noted that executives from perhaps 100 American companies were currently in Russia.

"Do you think we're gathering compromising information on all of them right now or something?" Putin asked, before saying: "Have you all lost your senses?"

Trump has offered contradictory accounts of his relationship with Putin over time but has also said the two never met. They have spoken several times by phone since Trump's election.

Trump has called an FBI investigation into alleged ties between his campaign and Russia a "witch hunt" designed to undermine the legitimacy of his 2016 election win.

Trump has also disparaged a dossier of unsubstantiated allegations that purported to show Russian intelligence operatives had compromising information about him, but which he has described as a "hoax."

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in January that Moscow tried to tilt the election campaign in Trump's favor, including by hacking into the emails of senior Democrats, a charge the Kremlin denies.

"They have been misled," Putin told NBC, in an interview NBC said was recorded on Friday. "And they aren't analyzing the information in its entirety. I haven't seen, even once, any direct proof of Russian interference in the (U.S.) presidential election."

Trump has denied any collusion but the FBI and congressional probes into the Russia matter have dogged the early months of his presidency.

Former CIA director John Brennan said last month he had noticed contacts between Trump's campaign associates and Russia during the 2016 election and grew concerned Moscow had sought to lure Americans down "a treasonous path."

After Comey's dismissal, news reports emerged that Trump asked Comey to end the probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn during a February meeting in the Oval Office, the day after Flynn was fired for misrepresenting his contacts with the Russian ambassador, Sergei Kislyak.

Flynn has declined to testify to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee about his Russian ties, invoking his constitutional right to avoid self-incrimination.

Putin downplayed Flynn's appearance with him at a December 2015 gala dinner in honor of the Russian television network Russia Today (RT), which U.S. officials consider a state-run propaganda outlet.

"I made my speech. Then we talked about some other stuff. And I got up and left. And then afterwards I was told, 'You know there was an American gentleman, he was involved in some things. He used to be in the security services'," Putin said.

"That's it. I didn't even really talk to him. That's the extent of my acquaintance with Mr Flynn," he added.

Reuters has reported that Flynn and Trump's son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, discussed with Kislyak the idea of creating a back channel between Trump and Putin that could have bypassed diplomats and intelligence agencies.

Putin said he was unaware of any such discussion and criticized NBC for asking about contacts between the ambassador and the Trump administration.

"You created a sensation out of nothing. And out of this sensation, you turned it into a weapon of war against the current (U.S.) president," Putin said.

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Vladimir Putin Denies Having Compromising Information on Donald Trump - Newsweek