The Donald isn’t a big reader, more’s the pity. Because if he was he could have found some substantiation for his quest to rename the Gulf Of Mexico from an unexpected source.
Suffice it to say that Trump and Jack E. Davis are not exactly fellow travelers. Davis is a distinguished professor of history and sustainability at the University of Florida. While Trump is…well, we all know what Trump is.
Davis is also a much-published author and one of his most celebrated books might be of some interest to Trump…if only the once and future Prez were, you know, a reader.
“The Gulf,” is Davis’ seminal work on that body of water whose name must not be spoken within the confines of Mar-a-Lago. And you don’t have to read further than the subtitle to find the substantiation of which I refer.
“The Making of an American Sea.”
In which Davis writes:
“The Gulf’s history…is America’s history; the energies of one are shared with the other. Our school books taught us that there were thirteen British colonies caught up in the war for American independence, yet in truth there were fifteen; the forgotten two were the Gulf colonies of East Florida and West Florida. The Gulf was the frontier line that advanced from the original US states, delivered opportunities to American immigrants searching for a better life and nourished the nation’s coming-of-age…
“Only three countries flank its shores, with the US occupying half its coastline miles…geopolitical, geographic, economic and especially, ecological circumstances make the Gulf largely American.
Alas, even if he were a reader, Trump wouldn’t be caught dead with a copy of Davis’ book.
A good deal of “The Gulf” is an accounting of the considerable ecological damage done to it, largely by American government and industry.
Davis writes “Arguably, humanity’s most pressing challenge in the current age is confronting climate change and sea level rise, and no region in the U.S. is more vulnerable than the Gulf.”
Liberal propaganda, right? When it comes to climate change and rising sea levels, the Great Orange One’s head is in quite another water course – the River Denial.
Neither is Davis anxious to hop onto Trump’s Gulf Of America band wagon.
“I think his proposal is consistent with our historical hubris toward the Gulf,” he told me in an email. “We’ll do whatever we damn please with it.”
Even Trump doesn’t have to be a reader to read between those lines.
FreeGNV 