Got this great email from Robert Reich (I hope he needs no introduction here) in my inbox Thursday. I will use it to piggy back on my previous story of how a few votes and a suddenly omni-potent SCOTUS is leading to ending the regulatory agencies ability to respond to changes by limiting how they can make rules.

Friends,

I wasn’t planning to say anything more about last night’s Republican debate (minus Trump) but I can’t resist pointing to what I considered the lowest point out of many low points.

It came when the candidates fielded a pre-taped question by a young person named Alexander Diaz, who spoke about how the climate crisis is “young people’s number one issue,” and asked “How will you as both president and leader of the Republican Party calm the fear that the Republican party doesn’t care about climate change?”

Before turning the question over to the candidates, Bret Baier, one of the moderators of the debate, asked the candidates to raise their hands if they believe “human behavior is causing climate change.”

Almost immediately, Florida governer Ron DeSantis shot back: “We’re not schoolchildren, let’s have the debate.” Then, instead of talking about climate change, DeSantis lashed out at Joe Biden for his response to the deadly Maui fire. (DeSantis’s criticism was utter rubbish, of course. Biden has been very much involved in the Maui fires, with federal disaster assistance and ongoing briefings, culminating in his visit several days ago.)

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After DeSantis’s attempt to avoid talking about climate change last night, Vivek Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old entrepreneur who presents himself as a non-political outsider who can tell the truth, then piped up: “The climate-change agenda,” he declared, “is a hoax.”

Hello?

Donald Trump, who did not attend the debate, has done whatever he could to impede climate action. As president, he rolled back nearly 100 climate regulations, according a New York Times tally, and backed out of the Paris Accord.

Meanwhile, rightwing groups have been working with the Republican Party to boost the fossil fuel industry while undermining the energy transition. Project 2025, a $22m endeavor by the climate-denying thinktank the Heritage Foundation, has developed a presidential proposal that lays out how a Republican president could dismantle US climate policy within their first 180 days in office. The proposal was made in collaboration with several former Trump officials.

Friends, the twin crises of the climate and democracy are intertwined. Climate change threatens life on earth. But without a working democracy, there’s little we can hope to do about it. The Republican Party — with Trump in the lead, and DeSantis and others trailing behind in the GOP presidential primaries — seems dedicated to destroying both.

My bolding in the last paragraph.

You can almost hear the anguish in Mr. Reich’s voice as he seemingly screams into the darkness “Does anybody realize what is happening?”

Thank you for this wake up call, Professor!