…part of Trump’s love of fossil fuels – and his accompanying hostility to climate change mitigation, green initiatives, and nature conservation – might be less transactional than libidinal. Because to him, part of the appeal of climate-destroying, future-inhibiting, polluting energy industries is not merely that their executives are writing him checks. It’s that he sees these industries, and these forms of energy consumption, as more manly.
He’s also the kind of person who doesn’t feel like he’s winning unless he’s making someone else feel like they’re losing – there’s no such thing as win-win. So a “rising tide lifts all boats” scenario does nothing for him.