Meanwhile, in North Korea…
More trophies and banners for Dear Leader.
Just so we don’t miss these things, let’s note a couple of recent examples of Trump acting like a petty dictator. Let’s start with the above, which shows that everyone seems to fully understand that the way to the man’s heart is a participation trophy.
More details via The Independent: Trump receives shiny trophy as he’s named ‘Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal’ by mining executives at White House.
The shallowness of all of this continues to be noteworthy to me. It reminds me of a boss I once had who always had to be introduced with a glowing biography about his accomplishments. Is your ego really that fragile that you constantly need such crass and transparent affirmations? Well…
From there, it seems worth noting that there is now a giant banner with Trump’s face on it on the building that houses the Department of Justice.
I suppose we could also file this under “Gee, I Wonder Why They Keep Calling Us Nazis?”
Beyond such comparisons, this is yet another attack on the norm of independence of the DoJ (not that it wasn’t already obvious).
Moreover, I find the focus on the person of the president to be distasteful. Truth be told, I have never been much of a fan of the fact that photos of the president are on display in federal offices, nor do I see any need to declare who the governor is on signs when one enters a state. Personalized politics should be eschewed, in my view, whenever possible.
But, this is clearly a view eschewed by some world leaders, including Donald J. Trump and Kim Jong Un.
Enough is never enough.
In this case, attention.
The Roman emperor Aurelian managed to reunite the empire near the close of the Crisis of the Third Century. For this feat, the Senate granted him the title Restitutor Orbis, meaning Restorer of the World.
I move we award El Taco the title Dissipator Orbis
“Hello, I’m Joe Buck, and I’m here with Hall-of-Famer Troy Aikman…..”
Same weak man/Trump energy – every frikken game.
May I add a pic?
Particularly since the banner has his mugshot photo on it
US coal production by year…
YEAR PRODUCTION (MILLION SHORT TONS)
2008 1,171.8
2015 896.9
2016 728.2
2017 775.0
2018 755.0
2019 640.0
2020 535.0
2021 535.0
2022 600.0
2023 600.0
2024 464.6
Coal usage may be up this year due to increased electricity demand at least partially related to data centers not any Trump policies.
Steve
@Erik:
Aww, Trump just wants everyone to know he’s mean and tough and scary.
@steve222:
It doesn’t matter how much Trump or the coal lobby ride the circus horses.
Coal is simply no longer competitive with natural gas, or with renewables.
As contiual base-load electricity generation it still has a use ; but that is declining as renewables storage costs fall.
And imho is likely to get entirely wiped out by the new “deep hot rock” geothermal tech.
It’s remaining use-case is for coking for iron and steel production; but that’s a relatively small market, and likely to decline as hydrogen based or direct electric reduction technology improves.
It would seem more sensible to plan for a “managed decline” by improving alternative employment investment, infrastructure and education in coal mining areas.
As, iirc, the Biden administration was doing.
When devising industrial policy, a basis of “don’t be silly” would seem to a reasonable approach.
But then: Trump. 🙁