Like your crazy uncle who spends his days yelling at the TV from the chair that no one else is allowed to sit in, Donald Trump is a man of many convictions. One of them is that climate change is a hoax created by China in order to hurt the United States. Another, that government regulations serve no purpose other than to eat into corporate profits. And of course, there’s the one about how sticking it to Barack Obama at every turn, even if it means turning the environment into a urinal cake or killing 1,400 Americans a year, is his purpose on Earth. As such, since entering office, he’s diligently worked to destroy Obama-era laws intended to combat climate change. In August, his Environmental Protection Agency proposed letting cars and trucks release an additional 321 million to 931 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The same agency unveiled a proposal to allow coal-burning plants to regulate themselves, and around the same time, we learned that the administration wants to make asbestos, that cancer-causing material much beloved by the president, great again. And while other aspects of the president’s agenda, like health care, have suffered under the weight of staffers who have no idea what they’re doing when it comes to policy-making, the White House is apparently just getting started rolling back rules meant to protect human health and the planet.

The latest, according to The New York Times, is a plan to make it “significantly easier for energy companies to release methane into the atmosphere.” The proposal, which may come as early as this week, would weaken a 2016 requirement that companies perform inspections for methane leaks every six months and repair any leaks within 30 days, by only making oil and gas drillers check for leaks once a year—and in some cases every two years—and take 60 days to make repairs. In addition, companies operating in states with their own methane standards would be allowed to follow those and ignore federal rules, which would delight firms located in places like Texas, where pollution standards are more lenient.

Shockingly, environmental advocates are unhappy about the news, given that methane “is around 25 times more effective than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere,” with one-third of methane pollution coming from oil and gas companies. California Governor Jerry Brown called the proposal “insane,” “border[ing] on criminality,” and “the most obvious and dangerous and irresponsible action by Mr. Trump,” which, he acknowledged “[is] saying quite a lot.” But perhaps Gov. Brown is not taking the upside into account! Per the Times:

If implemented, the proposal would recoup nearly all the costs to the oil and gas industry that would have been imposed by the Obama-era regulation. The E.P.A. estimated that rule would have cost companies about $530 million by 2025. The E.P.A. estimates that the proposed changes would save the oil and gas industry $484 million by the same year.

Meanwhile, industry groups can hardly believe their good luck, or that the administration would so thoroughly do their bidding.

Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, an association of independent oil and gas companies that is based in Denver . . . praised the Trump administration for turning the oil companies’ requests into policy, noting that the Obama administration frequently turned proposals from environmental groups into policy.

“It all depends on who you trust,” she said. “That administration trusted environmentalists. This one trusts industry.”

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The G.O.P. thinks it‘s time for another round of tax cuts

As you may recall, late last year, Republicans passed a massive tax cut that the majority of Americans thought was bulls--t. Now, as they face losing their majority in the House, the G.O.P. is scrambling to come up with a Hail Mary that’ll allow them to hang on for dear life come November. Here‘s what they’ve come up with: Tax Cuts, the Sequel:

House Republican lawmakers introduced legislation Monday that would make the 2017 tax cuts for individuals permanent in a bid to highlight their signature economic policy achievement ahead of the November elections. . . . The amount the tax cut 2.0 legislation would add to the deficit would likely outweigh any economic growth stemming from the cuts, according to Alan Viard, a resident scholar at the right-leaning think tank American Enterprise Institute.

But hey, when you’ve already blown a $1.5 trillion hole in the deficit, what’s another $2 trillion between friends? Democrats, unsurprisingly, are against the measure, and given that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is not expected to put the bill to a vote, it‘s more or less dead in the water already. Which is sad, because it was such a good idea!

Speaking of November . . .

For the past 20 months, whenever a scandal has arisen painting the Oval Office in a less-than-great light—whether it’s a book detailing the fact that everyone surrounding the president says he is mentally impaired, or the leader of the free world (allegedly) questioning why the U.S. should admit immigrants from African “shitholes,” or the same man in question giving neo-Nazis a glowing review—the administration has immediately attempted to change the subject to how well the economy is doing, as though strong jobs numbers or a rally in the stock market should make up for the fact that the 45th president is an unhinged maniac. Unfortunately, it appears that no matter how happy Americans are with the economy, they continue to think the Trump is an a-hole, per New York’s Eric Levitz:

A CNN/SSRS poll released Monday found that 69 percent of American voters think the economy is “good”—but only 49 percent approve of the way Trump is managing the economy. And even voters who believe the economy is doing well—and credit Trump for that fact—don’t necessarily support the president or his party. Only 36 percent of the poll’s respondents approved of Trump’s overall job performance, down from 42 percent in August. A separate Washington Post-ABC News poll documents the same phenomenon: while most voters told that survey that the economy was doing well, nearly half of those who were upbeat about the economy still voiced opposition to the president. And when asked whether they’d rather have a Democratic Congress “as a check on Trump”—or a Republican one that would “support Trump’s agenda”—60 percent of voters opted for the former.

Donald Trump gets hurricanes

In related news, President Tremendously Big ’n’ Wet gave himself an A-plus for his handling of last year’s hurricane in Puerto Rico, which revised estimates show killed 2,975, up from an original estimate of 64.

Elsewhere!

U.S.-China trade war could cause a bear market, stress test shows (CNBC

CBS’s Handling of Les Moonves Accusations Hampered by Battle for Control (W.S.J.

A Top Goldman Banker Raised Ethics Concerns. Then He Was Gone. (N.Y.T.

Exasperated Tesla Bull Says Musk Needs “Come-to-Jesus” Moment (Bloomberg

California wants to fine companies without women on their boards (The Washington Post

What We Need to Fight the Next Financial Crisis, by Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, and Hank Paulson (N.Y.T.

The Incredible Shrinking Hedge Fund (Bloomberg

U.S. regulators reject Wells Fargo's plan to repay customers (Reuters

Ray Dalio: We are in the 7th inning of the current economic cycle (CNBC

New Partners in Weed Start-up: Jimmy Buffett and Wrigley Scion (W.S.J.

Meet the contestants vying for 2018’s Miss Subways pageant title (NYP