> There is a reason even Trump campaigned on cleaning up the air and water. Even Americans who think the EPA or OSHA or DOL are out of control wouldn't tolerate the labor and environmental standards that exist in Bangladesh or China.
Trump says anything and everything, and his words effectively have no meaning at this point. To name one example out of thousands, Trump also campaigned on making more people insured, which is clearly not something he has any interest in actually doing.
Rather than looking at Trump for an example of the rightmost side of the "Overton window" (much as I dislike that term) on environment, I would look at politicians like Ted Cruz. Cruz has effectively never said anything about cleaning up the air or water. I think that doing absolutely nothing about the environment is much more popular of a position than you imply. Anti-environmentalism is even a religious concern for many Americans.
I'm not talking about the Overton window, but what sorts of policies you can get significant support for among actual Americans. There are certain issues like climate change that have become lightning rods, but there is broad consensus on other issues. For example, 52% of Republicans polled stated that the country "should do whatever it takes to protect the environment."
Pew: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/20/for-earth-da... (down from ~67-70% in 2005). A majority even of republicans want stricter air quality standards for many pollutants: http://grist.org/climate-policy/2011-02-16-public-trusts-epa....
Trump says anything and everything, and his words effectively have no meaning at this point. To name one example out of thousands, Trump also campaigned on making more people insured, which is clearly not something he has any interest in actually doing.
Rather than looking at Trump for an example of the rightmost side of the "Overton window" (much as I dislike that term) on environment, I would look at politicians like Ted Cruz. Cruz has effectively never said anything about cleaning up the air or water. I think that doing absolutely nothing about the environment is much more popular of a position than you imply. Anti-environmentalism is even a religious concern for many Americans.