The 79-year-old president has repeatedly called climate change a hoax to the detriment of our well-being, so the Trump administration decided not to send any high-ranking officials to the United Nations climate conference in Brazil on Friday.
So, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is filling the void after his resounding political victory against Donald Trump, where California voters overwhelmingly approved a new congressional map drawn by state Democrats.
Via Politico:
The Democrat and likely 2028 White House aspirant will be the highest-profile government representative there from the United States after the Trump administration decided not to send any high-ranking officials.
Stepping into the vacuum plays to Newsom’s strengths, especially after his decisive win Tuesday on his congressional redistricting measure vaulted him to the position of the Democrats’ strongest retort to Trump.
Newsom put his trip squarely in that anti-Trump lineage in an interview Wednesday with POLITICO, saying he was making the trip “because of the complete abdication of the Trump administration that is joining the Saudis and Russia and the Gulf states.”
