1. United States
2. Mo.
3. Letter

Donald Trump skipped the global climate summit — again. While the world gathered in Brazil for COP30, Trump stayed home to court oil billionaires and rage-post on Truth Social. Meanwhile, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom took his seat — and, in doing so, reminded the world what American leadership used to look like. Newsom didn’t just show up. He filled the moral void left by an administration that treats science like blasphemy. “If Washington won’t lead, California will,” he said. And he brought receipts: California cut greenhouse emissions another 3 percent last year while its economy outpaced the national average. Clean-energy jobs are booming, the air is cleaner, and the numbers destroy Trump’s fossil-fuel fantasy that pollution equals prosperity. Trump’s record speaks for itself. He’s handed over public lands for drilling, gutted renewable-energy programs, and shredded decades of environmental progress so his donors could cash out. It’s climate policy written by ExxonMobil and blessed by Mar-a-Lago. Newsom’s presence in Brazil was more than symbolic. It was a statement that America’s fight for the planet isn’t dead — even if the federal government has surrendered it. Millions of Americans still believe in science, still care about clean air and water, still understand that climate justice is economic justice. Because this isn’t just about ice caps or polar bears. It’s about the firefighters breathing toxic smoke. The families rebuilding after floods. The children coughing through smog. It’s about the people who can’t buy their way out of catastrophe while billionaires build bunkers and politicians build excuses. Trump’s absence was a message: the planet can wait. Newsom’s presence was an answer: it can’t. Leadership isn’t about who sits in the Oval Office. It’s about who shows up when the world needs them most. And only one of them boarded the plane to Brazil.