A survey conducted by Pew earlier this year found that 63 percent of U.S. adults say stricter environmental regulations are “worth the cost,” up from 59 percent two years ago. Among Republicans, the number who took a positive view of stricter environmental laws jumped to 45 percent in the latest poll from 36 percent in 2017.

Presumably, it’s these numbers that are behind Trump’s little branding exercise. “For the president to win these battleground states, he’s going to have to have some record of environmental achievement to showcase,” David Banks, who previously advised Trump on such issues, told Bloomberg. “The environment and environmental issues can make or break you.”

A person familiar with the plans told Bloomberg that Trump is likely to cite a decline in greenhouse gas emissions during his first year in office—a stat that can be entirely attributed to his predecessor, considering such emissions rose 3.4 percent in 2018. Officials may try to claim they’re dropping, Doniger said, “but they’re not dropping anymore—and this administration is doing everything it can to push them up.” Apparently Trump is also likely to point to his proposed replacement for the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, the one political appointees at the E.P.A. say will cut carbon dioxide emissions from electricity by between 13 million and 30 million short tons in 2025, but which is actually expected to do far greater harm.

“The Trump administration’s discussion of air pollution and climate pollution both suffer from two realities,” John Walke, a senior adviser to the NRDC Action Fund, told Bloomberg. “First, the administration has nothing to do with decreasing emissions, and second, their rollback agenda is increasing dangerous air pollution and climate pollution. Once that’s established, all the rhetoric just collapses.” Not that such realities are likely to cause Team Trump to re-evaluate its strategy:

At a rally in Michigan in March, Trump touted his support for the Great Lakes, the largest body of fresh water on Earth. He vowed to make sure a federal restoration program would get full funding, even though he asked Congress just weeks earlier to slash the E.P.A.’s Great Lakes Program by 90 percent.

“I support the Great Lakes. Always have,” Trump said. “They’re beautiful. They’re big. Very deep. Record deepness, right?”

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