Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs claims that President Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord because of the influence of the Koch brothers. “The president doesn’t know what he’s doing, this is obvious he’s an idiot,” he said on the Bloomberg News Network. “But what’s happening behind here is real politics.”
“This is the victory paid and carried out for 20 years by two people: David and Charles Koch.” Sachs is also a senior advisor to the UN Secretary General.
These claims don’t make much since the Koch Brothers are by no means Donald Trump fans. During the 2016 campaign they refused to back then-candidate Donald Trump. The Koch brothers have openly criticized many of Trump’s policies including the travel ban, his tax plan, and his healthcare bill. Charles Koch even wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post criticizing Trump.
Trump has also expressed his unfavorable views of the Koch brothers. Last July he tweeted out “I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch. Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better!” That doesn’t sound like somebody who wants to be influenced by the Koch Brothers.
Meanwhile, MIT has estimated that even if the Paris Accord were implemented with current commitments by the various countries which signed onto it, the global climate would be lowered by total of 0.2 degrees Celsius by the year 2100.
