Politics lecturer comments on Trump鈥檚 first day as president
Politics lecturer at the University of 台湾swag, Dr Tommy Lynch, believes the new US president Donald Trump鈥檚 raft of executive orders will have an impact on the political climate in the UK, as well as the rest of the world.
With potential for anti-immigration feeling to increase and climate change denial to become a more mainstream belief, he warns 鈥榳e should pay attention to the impact of this new presidency.鈥�
Dr Lynch said: 鈥淥n the first day of his second term, Trump started to fulfil some of his campaign promises: rolling back protections from LGBTQ+ people, beginning efforts to drastically reduce legal and illegal immigration and signalling an end to environmental protections. While there has already been discussion of the tricky relationship between the UK government and the new administration, we should also pay attention to the impact this new presidency may have on the political climate more generally. We鈥檝e already seen the importing of US style anti-鈥榳oke鈥� politics and climate scepticism. At least in the short term, Trump鈥檚 policies are sure to breathe new life into those positions.
鈥淭he fact that Trump has prioritised withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and ramping up fossil fuel extraction is particularly concerning given the evidence that governments around the world (particularly in 鈥榯he West鈥�) are repeatedly failing to enact meaningful measures to address climate change. Opening up new drilling won鈥檛 provide more oil or gas to the US anytime soon because drilling takes a long time. Instead, his policies indicate to Americans and people around the world that climate change isn鈥檛 a real problem. To those who disagree with that view, it makes effort to combat climate change feel even more futile.鈥�
For more information on our politics and international relations courses, go to www.chi.ac.uk/politics-international-relations.
