Ross Douthat at The Times admits that the GOP is responsible for cap-and-trade’s failure in the Senate, but he thinks his party is demonstrating “the wisdom of inaction” vis-a-vis climate change. “The evidence that carbon emissions are altering the planet’s ecology is too convincing to ignore,” says Douthat. “Conservatives who dismiss climate change as a hoax are making a spectacle of their ignorance. But this doesn’t mean that we should mourn the death of cap-and-trade. It’s possible that the best thing to do about a warming earth—for now, at least—is relatively little.”
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The GOP Killed Cap-and-Trade
Ross Douthat at The Times admits that the GOP is responsible for cap-and-trade's failure in the Senate, but he thinks his party is demonstrating "the wisdom of inaction" vis-a-vis climate change.
Monthly Issue
April 2026
In this monthly issue, we examine how our understanding of energy — and how we source and use it — is evolving.
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