Trump’s Climate Plans Are Such a Disaster Even Exxon Is Worried

Even the Exxon CEO is telling Trump to reel it in on the environment.

Exxon Mobil chair and chief executive Darren Woods warned President-elect Donald Trump against withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement—as Trump has promised to do again—at the annual United Nations COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Tuesday.

“I don’t think the challenge or the need to address global emissions is going to go away. Anything that happens in the short term would just make the longer term that much more challenging,” the executive said in an interview with Politico.

The Exxon CEO warned about the danger of carbon border tariffs, in particular, which have been floated by some in Trump’s inner circle and would levy taxes on imports produced at a higher carbon emissions level than in the United States.

“I think it’s a bad idea. It’s a really bad idea,” said Woods. “I think carbon border adjustment is going to introduce a whole new level of complexity and bureaucratic red tape. I don’t think it’s going to be very effective.” He said he prefers a regulatory apparatus based on carbon intensity.

While Woods complained about Biden’s energy policies, he still warned Trump about making too dramatic a rightward shift on the climate issue in general.

“We all have a responsibility to figure out, given our capabilities and ability to contribute, how can we best do that,” Woods said. “How the Trump administration can contribute in this space is to help establish the right, thoughtful, rational, logical framework for how the world starts to try to reduce the emissions.”

The only problem is that Trump is completely uninterested in a “rational, logical framework.” The president-elect thinks climate change is a “hoax,” wants to “drill, baby drill,” and is sure to roll back any Biden-era environmental regulations, as he’s nominated climate denier Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

Donald Trump wants to save TikTok, after trying to get it banned during his first administration.

Before leaving office in 2020, Trump attempted to ban TikTok through an executive order claiming the app was a threat to “the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.” Now he is expected to halt a ban put in motion by President Joe Biden.

So what changed?

Kellyanne Conway explained the president-elect’s newfound support for the insidiously addictive video-sharing app.

“He appreciates the breadth and reach of TikTok, which he used masterfully along with podcasts and new media entrants to win,” Conway told The Washington Post.

“There are many ways to hold China to account outside alienating 180 million U.S. users each month. Trump recognized early on that Democrats are the party of bans—gas-powered cars, menthol cigarettes, vapes, plastic straws, and TikTok—and to let them own that draconian, anti-personal choice space,” she said.

Conway managed to describe the president promising to bring back his “travel ban” targeting people from predominantly Muslim countries, including refugees from Gaza, as being in opposition to the so-called “party of bans.”

As Conway said, Trump was able to use TikTok to appeal to younger voters, which helped propel him to victory. Trump’s social media team garnered 3.2 billion TikTok views since the president-elect started using the app in June, according to the Post. In one of his first videos on the app he declared, “I’m gonna save TikTok.”

But Trump’s affair with TikTok started before he ever used the app.

After Trump stated his intent to ban the app, TikTok altered its algorithm and content moderation so that pro-Trump content would do better, according to The Information.

Trump would go on to court Jeff Yass, a major Republican donor and one of the largest investors in TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Yass also reportedly donated to Accuracy in Media, which funded the doxxing of pro-Palestinian college students.

The deadline by which ByteDance must divest from its U.S.-based TikTok operations is January 19, the day before Trump’s inauguration. The company has given no indication that it intends to comply, and challenged the ban as being unconstitutional.

Donald Trump has tapped former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to serve as the next ambassador to Israel.

“Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, and Leader in Faith for many years,” Trump said Tuesday in a statement. “He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to bring about Peace in the Middle East!”

This will be the first time that the two-term ex-governor has held a diplomatic post, and the nomination gives little indication that Trump has legitimate intentions to deescalate the war. Huckabee has been a vocal defender of Israel amid its lopsided conflict against Palestine. In June, he came out against a potential ceasefire deal between the two countries, arguing to NewsNation that Hamas should not be negotiated with and that the only solution for the war would be their complete surrender.

“This is like trying to negotiate with the Nazis in World War II. You just don’t,” Huckabee told the network. “You beat them. You defeat them. You eradicate them.”

Israel has killed more than 43,000 people in Gaza in the more than yearlong war, with an additional 102,000 people injured in the conflict, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. A report by the United Nations Human Rights Office, published last week, found that close to 70 percent of those killed were women and children, with five- to nine-year-old children comprising the majority of the dead. Roughly 80 percent of the victims were killed in residential buildings or similar housing.

Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, first visited Israel in the early 1970s at the age of 17, and has since visited the country dozens of times. In 2011, Politico reported that the two-time Republican presidential candidate would make a meal out of his trips to Israel, often spending several weeks in the country, while other visiting politicos would simply stop there to “check a box” along their campaign trail.

Huckabee has argued that the term “West Bank” is offensive—he prefers referring to the region in the Old Testament terms “Judea” and “Samaria.”

And Huckabee has landed himself in the midst of a litany of other Middle East controversies for his staunch defenses of Israel. In 2015, the conservative drew ire for likening the Obama administration’s maneuverings on the Iran Nuclear Deal to the Holocaust, claiming that the president was “marching Israelis to the door of the oven.”

This story has been updated.

President Biden’s last appointment to the National Labor Relations Board has not yet been confirmed by the Senate, and Democrats only have a small window of time until Republicans take control of Congress. 

Two of the board’s five members are Republicans, and two are Democrats, with its chairperson being chosen by the sitting president. In June, Biden nominated the current chair, Democrat Lauren McFerran, to a third term and Joseph Ditelberg to fill a vacant Republican seat. But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has not yet brought either nomination up for a vote. 

The NLRB protects the right to form a union and enforces labor law, and McFerran’s confirmation in particular would ensure a Democratic board until late 2026. This would allow for more pro-labor decisions and policies and protect against right-wing attacks on unions and workers’ rights. But Schumer and Senate Democrats have to act quickly before January, when a new Republican Senate majority is sworn in. 

The NLRB is a frequent target of conservatives and powerful executives, who are seeking to cripple and even dissolve the labor body. In September, a judge appointed by Donald Trump granted a request in a legal case seeking to demolish the National Labor Relations Board. Tech CEO and close Trump ally Elon Musk is working with Amazon, Starbucks, and Trader Joe’s in another legal challenge seeking to destroy the agency on constitutional grounds. 

Unions have praised Biden’s record on labor, calling him the best president on workers’ rights since Franklin D. Roosevelt. But he was unable to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO, Act and he was criticized for breaking a railroad strike in 2022. Filling this appointment may protect the gains he has made for working people at least in the short term while Democrats regroup for the 2026 midterm elections. But Schumer and the rest of the Democrats have to act soon, or it will be too late. 

It looks like the guy who has made it perfectly clear he doesn’t care about federal law is violating federal law. Oh, and also he’s about to be the president of the United States.

Donald Trump and his campaign are currently in violation of the Presidential Transition Act, a federal law that coordinates and funds the transition of power from one administration to the next.

The PTA has a few components that must be submitted by the Trump campaign—and so far, the president-elect’s team hasn’t handed over a single one.

Trump has yet to submit a Memo of Understanding to the General Services Administration, which would theoretically articulate an ethics policy pledging not to hire individuals with conflicts of interest to assist with its transition. The document would provide $7.2 million to fund Trump’s transition, and was due at the beginning of October.

It’s become increasingly clear the president-elect has no intention to submit one. That’s possibly because the PTA also requires candidates to disclose all of their private donors, and places a $5,000 cap on individual donations to the transition.

Trump will be sworn in regardless of whether he complies with the Presidential Transition Act, but his noncompliance will likely stall and disrupt the transition process. In lieu of federal funding, Trump might look elsewhere for big dollar donations, such as his inaugural committee, which is set to be headed by millionaire real estate investor Steve Witkoff and Kelly Loeffler, a former Republican U.S. senator.

Trump has also failed to submit security clearance requests for members of his administration, with each appointment more disturbing than the last.

Last week, the Department of Justice said that it was ready to “process requests for security clearances for those who will need access to national security information.” Trump’s top advisers have previously suggested that the president-elect hand out security clearances without FBI vetting.