Bannon Scores Big Win In Trump’s Withdrawal From Paris Deal

Image by Getty Images

By Daniel J. Solomon June 1, 2017

As President Trump reportedly prepares to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate deal, much of the credit for the move belongs to Steve Bannon, the White House chief strategist said to have corralled the president into an exit.

According to Politico, Bannon and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt have maneuvered for months to get Trump to go along with them.

They sold him on the idea that the White House’s pro-fossil fuel agenda could only be achieved outside the agreement framework and made sure he heard from corporate leaders who agreed with them.

“We made very much the economic message argument,” David McIntosh, head of the far-right Club for Growth, told Politico. “It was bad for the U.S. economy. It would stifle economic growth and the United States should withdraw.”

The move to withdraw apparently faced resistance from supposed moderates within the administration, like senior adviser Jared Kushner, special assistant Ivanka Trump and economic adviser Gary Cohn.

With leaks coming from the White House that Trump will leave the accord, it appears the New Yorker moderates have been routed this time around.

“Ivanka is doing what she can to get him to stay,” an unnamed official told Politico. “But that doesn’t mean he’s going to do it.”

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO