Trump’s April Fools Gag Backfires, Confused Congress Passes Carbon Tax

Today after a series of cryptic tweets from President Trump and press statements made by top White House officials, Congress passed a bill instituting a carbon tax. Soon after, President Trump, who appeared to be trying not to laugh, signed the bill into law. As the president held up the freshly signed law for the cameras, Senators Schumer and Sanders, who were present for the signing ceremony and who had also appeared to be trying hard not to laugh, lost their composure and fell to the floor in a fit of giggles.

Details are still emerging, but it is believed that senior Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway came up with the idea to pull an April Fools Day prank as a way to lighten the mood in the White House, which she had complained was, “lately just a bunch of angry white dudes that don’t know how to have any fun.”

Conway’s idea for the prank seems to have originated from a meeting with the Climate Leadership Council (CLC), a group of prominent Republicans, including James Baker, Henry Paulson, and George Shultz. The group met with the Trump administration last week to advocate for a sensible carbon tax modeled on their “Carbon Dividend” concept. That meeting ended abruptly when CLC representatives walked out after Ms. Conway continually asked to see the “alternative science” on climate change.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer set the prank in motion during his daily press briefing, announcing the introduction of the bill and explaining, with an uncharacteristic twinkle in his eye, “the Administration recognizes that the Carbon Dividend would be an excellent way to put money in the pocket of working-class Americans and allow market forces, rather than regulations, to achieve the targets of the Paris Climate Accord.”

Democrats refused to read the bill but railed vehemently against yet another “attempt by the Trump Administration to privatize essential public services.” The lawmakers were emboldened by throngs of protestors in Birkenstocks who showed up overnight in an endless stream of busses. That outrage was all it took to make Republicans determined to push the bill through. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell explained, “None of us really understood exactly what the bill was about, but, hey, anything that makes the Democrats that mad must be good.”

Once the Republicans realized what had happened, House Speaker Paul Ryan proposed a plan to repeal and replace the law. He failed to get enough votes, however, as the American Freedom Caucus refused to support any bill that didn’t include incentives to emit as much carbon as possible, while moderate Republicans insisted that any repeal of the tax had to be accompanied by cost cuts to offset the lost revenue.

 

For more information:

 

Climate Leadership Council
clcouncil.org