They said it couldn't be done, but Donald John Trump did it anyway.
"That is the story of his life. He brought back Manhattan. He built the Central Park skating rink. He wrote a best-seller. He had a hit TV show. He married a model. He married a model. He married a model.
"Since then he won the presidency and saved the coal industry. The only time in his campaign when he wore headgear that was not of his own making was when he donned a coal miner's helmet in Charleston, West Virginia.
"The New York Times scoffed. In February, it ran an editorial, "Trump’s Deceptive Energy Policy."
"The Times said, "Mr. Trump’s false narrative on coal is particularly cruel, since it offers empty promises to Appalachian coal miners who are suffering grievous job losses and myriad health and economic ills. It’s true that the last two Democratic presidents — Bill Clinton and Mr. Obama — cracked down on power plant emissions like soot and mercury with rules that imposed real costs on producers; and Mr. Obama’s Clean Power Plan, aimed at cutting the carbon emissions that fuel global warming, would have pressured the industry more.
" 'But these regulations did not kill coal-fired plants, and rolling them back, as Mr. Trump is doing, will not stop the unforgiving forces of the market, chiefly the switch to cheaper natural gas, and renewables’ increasing competitiveness. These are the forces that have been largely responsible for the decline in mining jobs and the closing, or conversion to natural gas, of hundreds of coal-fired plants.' " . . .
