Remember Tangier Island?
The small, conservative island community which overwhelmingly voted for Trump made headlines earlier this year when Trump called the local mayor to assure him that the island is not going to disappear. But Trump didn't actually offer to help the community in any material way and the mayor has been asking for help ever since.
But help is never going to come, at least not under the Trump regime, and the help the island is asking for (another sea wall) won't save the island.
Former elected leaders who know what's coming have warned the island and urged them to start preparing, but the locals won't listen to reason even when a Republican tells them.
At a dinner attended by island residents Aug. 2, the activists from RepublicEn headed by former Republican Congressman Bob Inglis laid out the stakes: The sea level is rising, and some scientists estimate that within decades the island, already suffering severe erosion, will need to be abandoned. [...]
"We'll talk to everybody," said James Eskridge, mayor of the mainly Republican island community. "But they're not going to change many minds here." Residents, he said, do not believe in climate change: they want a new sea wall to prevent erosion, not a lecture about saving the world with solar panels.
One local who spoke to Reuters said they're "not looking to have our light bills cheaper, we're looking to stay here."
As far as we know, no one has recommended that the island save itself by installing solar panels. It's already far too late for that. There will be no lights or light bills to pay when the island is finally swallowed by the sea at some point in the next 20 to 30 years.
I hesitate to sit here and say these people are stupid, because that's easy, isn't it? They're just trying to save their homes.
But on the other hand, they voted for Trump. What did they think would happen? I'm not going to say they're stupid for asking the government to build them another sea wall, but I will say they're stupid for believing Trump was ever going to help them.
Federal programs that help communities prepare for and adapt to climate change are actually being dismantled under Trump. There will be no help for Tangier.
The great climate change bailout of 2050 will be epic.