Trump’s Path to Mount Rushmore, or Why Climate Change is so Important To Trump and the Left, by Walter Russel Mead.

Smart energy policy could give the next President his best prospect for spurring growth in manufacturing jobs—and thus delivering on the promises his voters think matter most. …

The basis of any Trump Revolution would have to be energy. The shale-led revival of America’s energy production was the most important economic development of the Obama administration, and Trump is likely to double down on it. The turnaround in America’s energy fortunes is almost a miracle. …

Shale energy is going to be crucial to politics:

For the Obama administration, shale was the gift it couldn’t live with and couldn’t live without. The American shale boom did more than anything else to curb Russian and Iranian ambitions and kept the global (and American) economy booming even as the Middle Eastern order dissolved. The blue collar jobs that shale created, and the boost to American consumers that came from low energy prices, helped Obama win re-election in 2012 and helped keep 2016 close.

Yet many Democrats, and many powerful Democratic donors, hate shale. They see the surge in unconventional hydrocarbon production as a driver of more climate change and they fear the impact of both extraction (earthquakes and groundwater pollution) and transport (by pipeline and rail). Many greens also fear the impact that lower-than-expected fossil fuel prices will have on the future of renewables. …

Energy-led economic recovery. The West was built on cheap energy.

The Trump administration will double down on shale. Skeptical of climate change, dismissive of most environmentalist handwringing, the Trump administration will view energy production as a simple win. …

Trump’s popularity at home is likely to depend in large part on whether he can revive blue collar jobs. An energy boom offers the best prospect for growth in manufacturing jobs.

Got a book coming soon he will need.