Why do Exxon Mobil and Donald Trump get to determine the fate of our children and a livable planet? Both use the language of violence. Both are a huge threat to our future and democracy. Both are connected.
Our leaders are calling for us to calm our rhetoric in the wake of the Trump assassination attempt. Yes, we must condemn violence. They say to avoid using words like dangerous and threat. But no one should confuse compassion for the ex-president and condemnation of violence with remaining silent. We do not need to be quiet. We also need to call out the language of violence whenever and wherever we hear it.
Trump demonizes his political opponents as “scum” and “vermin.” He urged his supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol and then stood idly by watching the violence unfold in denial of a free and fair election. His MAGA followers wanted to “hang” Mike Pence and they “hunted” Nancy Pelosi. He wants to pardon the MAGA insurrectionists. Later he mocked the attack on Pelosi’s husband while his audience laughed. Now he speaks of a bloodbath if he loses the election.
His VP nominee, J.D. Vance tweets that anti-Trump language, “led directly to Trump’s assassination attempt.” But where does violent rhetoric come from? The shooter was a registered Republican who also contributed $15 to Act Blue. There is no evidence of this Vance’s claim. The attempt was a real threat to our democracy and requires better protection of our candidates. Doesn’t it also requires the Right to turn down their rhetoric?
Vance’s comment feels like an American burning of the Reichstag narrative. It plays to the victim narrative as well. In the Reichstag burning, only a single suspect was found, Hitler blamed the fire on a broader conspiracy and persuaded the then president, Paul von Hindenburg to proclaim The Reichstag Fire Decree, a type of martial law that suspended civil rights. Being a victim to create an enemy of others is stock in trade for authoritarians. So is suppression in the wake of an assassination attempt.
History shows us that authoritarians use events like coups and assassination attempts to consolidate popularity and power. While Trump is not in office, we can expect Trump and his MAGA party to leverage the event. Ask why did Trump halt his secret service and spend extra time on the stage showing his bloody face and raising his fist calling for his followers to fight? Fight what or who? Democrats? Climate activists? Authoritarians often call for unity, but it is a unity of their own followers and the silent middle. They call for unity on the suppression of the rights of others, like the right to protest, the constitutional right of free press, and the right of free speech to speak out, even criticize our leaders.
The violence of Trump’s language extends to climate denial. It extends to drill-baby-drill and his offer to Big Oil to reverse EV support and the IRA in return for a billion dollars in campaign communications. The collaboration of authoritarians and industry is Fascism as I’ve written with regard to the climate. Both Trump and Vance’s deliberate denial and deception on climate are signs of violence not only against the planet, but against the people he is supposed to protect. Do we remember, once again, that each month of the last year was the hottest in 125,000 years and people are dying? 610 people died of heat in the pacific northwest in 2021 of all places, and there were over 11,000 heat-related deaths in the US in 2023. Hurricanes are devastating our coastal cities while our Midwest farmlands are whiplashed between drought and floods. Las Vegas reached temperatures as high as 120 °F on July 7th!
Trump’s policies as researched by Carbon Brief will result in an additional 4 Billion tons of carbon pollution spewed into our air by 2030. Killing more people. (See diagram) Atmospheric scientist, Dr. Michael Mann says it will be game over for planet earth if Trump is elected. But what does Exxon say?
Darren Woods, the CEO of Exxon Mobile recently said that the reason we are not on track to zero out carbon is that it was simply too expensive. In doing so he blames consumers for the burning of oil and gas. The language of violence extends to denying the knowledge that Exxon scientists have known for 40 years the impact of their products. The great trick here is to make us think they are working on solutions. There is an insidious violence to standing by and doing and saying nothing when millions of people’s lives are at risk.
The violence of poverty, racism, climate destruction, guns, and demonizing immigrants are not just issues that both sides happen to have different position on. They are signals that our values are being violated and our lives and future corrupted by violence. Fear is the catalyst for this violation. But it is a false fear. Trump wants us to be afraid of those that look different than us, come from someplace else, have different opinions, or believe in the truth. In an atmosphere of fear, he can then project strength, and when people are afraid, they gravitate toward leaders that con them into believing they are strong.
This is also what fossil fuel companies do when they create fear by saying, “We can’t afford to switch off fossil fuels, our economy would collapse, people would lose their jobs.” Combined with pie-in-the-sky, “Don’t be afraid, we’re working on solutions like carbon capture, or clean hydrogen, or fusion.” The implication is to be afraid and then trust them. They fight every effort to create clean energy and a livable future, and in doing so, put our lives at risk. It is another form of violence.
Exxon is rich and powerful, but morally weak. Fossil fuels will die, just like whale oil industry died. They will continue to pass laws preventing protest. They will greenwash and gaslight us. But like Trump they will eventually fail. Whether they take us with them is the question.
As for Trump. Trump is a weak man. He is what weak men believe to be strong. But both are fatal for our democratic way of life, our freedoms, and a livable planet. Regardless of our candidate, we can challenge the insanity of Trump and Exxon.
It is not time to be silent. Silence is agreement. Agreement that we can let the world burn and have Fascists collude to determine the fate of our children. We must act now to stop them. This means supporting the truth, our candidates, and talking to others, and fighting violence and the false fears of both.
Thanks for all you do.
We are all connected. Savor the Earth!’™
Hobie,
L. Hobart Stocking
SkyWaterEarth.com
hobart@skywaterearth.com
(Feature image attribution with permission: Lakota People’s Law Project – Chase Iron Eyes. https://bit.ly/3WsQFnI)
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