"The Clash Between Good Capital and Common Sense, with the Trump Code at the Center"

Directly reported and analyzed by a practicing ESG lawyer
Trump's Second Term: The Worldview of American Conservatives and the Changing Business Environment

“Hong Sang-beom is a global company
“He is an American lawyer and an expert in the field who has dealt with complex ESG issues.”
─ 《Korea Economic Daily》

Trump's unexpected election raised important questions for global markets and businesses.
At a time when interest in ESG (environment, society, and governance) was growing, emphasizing sustainability, why did he strongly oppose the trend of so-called “good investment” by declaring that “global warming is a hoax”?

Author Hong Sang-beom's "Trump Code, Values ​​War" begins with a reflection on his own experience of not being able to predict the outcome of the 2024 US presidential election.
In this book, the author argues that we must understand the nature of the value conflicts affecting today's global economic environment and the direction of their change.
This book examines the issues of the "ESG war" currently shaking American society and markets from various angles.
ESG has expanded into a structural issue that encompasses all aspects of corporate management, encompassing climate and energy, investment and industrial policy, education and culture, and even gender identity.

The author focuses on the question, "Why do American conservatives oppose ESG?" and seeks an answer through an analysis of facts and data, not emotions, and of institutions and reality, not ideology.
This suggests the direction in which America is moving today and the perspective from which businesses and investors should view this change.

This book consists of seven chapters, each of which can be read independently, allowing you to choose the topic that interests you.
Drawing on the author's experience working in the overseas legal department of a global corporation, the book vividly captures the author's research and analysis, providing a balanced view of how the value conflicts in American society impact the corporate environment, regulations, and investment flows.
It provides an objective view of the ongoing value shift in the United States, including debates surrounding climate regulation and new risks stemming from discussions of diversity and equality.

"Trump Code: Value War" calmly interprets the other side of ESG as seen by Trump and the American conservative camp, as well as the structure of the value war within it, helping readers develop a more balanced perspective and realistic strategies.

** The difference in climate change awareness among American conservatives lies behind Trump's ability to strongly pursue anti-climate policies.
According to the survey, about 60 to 75 percent of European conservatives responded that “climate change is a real threat to humanity,” while only about 20 percent of American conservatives agreed.
That is, a majority of American conservatives (about 80%) tend to view climate change as not a serious threat.
This public opinion has become the political basis for Trump's skeptical stance on climate policy.
He prioritized protecting the energy industry and economic growth over responding to climate change, and based on this conservative sentiment, he was able to actively pursue anti-climate policies such as withdrawing from the Paris Agreement.

**There is another argument raised by climate skeptics regarding carbon dioxide.
The idea is that atmospheric carbon dioxide is already close to saturation, so even if concentrations rise further, the impact on global warming may be limited.
That is, the argument is that as the concentration of carbon dioxide increases, its efficiency as a greenhouse gas gradually decreases.
This phenomenon is called the 'saturation effect' in physics.
It is known that as the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere further increases, the radiative forcing, or its effect on temperature, gradually weakens.
This concept of 'saturation' is said to explain why Earth's temperatures have not soared to catastrophic levels despite atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations being 10 or even 20 times higher than they are today over the past hundreds of millions of years.
This can also be confirmed in the 600 million year data chart presented earlier.

** According to long-term observations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and NASA, the frequency of heat waves in the United States is actually lower than during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The following graph, released by the EPA, shows the change in the heat wave index from 1890 to 2020, and a comprehensive comparison of the records over the past 130 years shows that recent heat waves are not statistically particularly unusual.
Additionally, the highest average temperatures were recorded not recently, but during a period of climate disaster symbolized by the Dust Bowl, a massive dust storm and drought that occurred in the American Midwest in the 1930s.

** Today's climate science is no longer simply a matter of facts, but a field of vast interests intertwined with power, institutions, and economic systems.
Ultimately, the core of climate crisis skepticism is asking the fundamental question: how far can science be free from politics?

** Some forecasts suggest that AI will account for approximately 10-16% of global electricity demand by 2030.
Therefore, a sufficient and stable power supply is a key infrastructure for AI competitiveness and a central pillar of Trump's energy strategy. To win in the AI-driven future industrial competition, an affordable and stable power supply is absolutely essential.
If the United States wants to keep pace with China in terms of electricity stability and price, lowering production costs and strengthening supply are essential.
Trump sees the solution in abundant, cheap electricity production based on fossil fuels.
His energy philosophy can be summed up in one sentence:
“He who controls cheap and reliable electricity controls the future.”

** Trump uses the European Union's economic decline as a cautionary tale.
He points out that until the early 2000s, the EU's economy was larger than that of the United States, but now the US is more than 50% ahead.
He attributes the cause to the EU's unreasonable renewable energy transition policy.
According to him, the surge in electricity prices and the instability of energy supply have drastically weakened the competitiveness of manufacturing, which has ultimately led to a recession across the European economy.

** Some may ask what ESG has to do with investing, but in fact, ESG has been in the language of investors from the beginning.
In the early 2000s, then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed 'ESG investment' in collaboration with global investors to create a better world.
The purpose was to make the 'right investment' by considering the environment, society, and governance factors together during the investment process.
This is the starting point of ESG.

** There is also a more conspiratorial interpretation of why capital and investors are actively advocating for ESG.
Behind this lies a sophisticated calculation to delay or not strengthen the government's introduction of environmental regulations.
In fact, in the private sector, capital, institutional investors, and NGOs are strongly demanding that companies achieve carbon neutrality.
Through this pressure and atmosphere, an optimistic public opinion can be formed that 'carbon neutrality is possible through private efforts alone.'
But this optimism paradoxically weakens the government's political incentive to pursue stronger environmental regulations.
In other words, the capital-led 'ESG movement with a good image' actually ends up diluting the need for strengthened regulations at the national level.

** The American conservative and right-wing camps feel that at some point the PC movement degenerated from 'practicing language that is considerate of others' to 'a movement that forces the use of a specific language.'
For example, PCs claim that those who hold different views are quick to label themselves as sexist, homophobic, or xenophobic, and criticize them for their patriarchal and anti-human rights attitudes.
Conservatives and right-wingers point out that this behavior is similar to the past frenzy of accusing innocent people of being communists, and call it the "new McCarthyism."

** From a non-American perspective, one question arises: Even if PC has a somewhat oppressive nature, why is it perceived as such a serious problem that a "war on PC" has been declared? "Thoughts beget words, and words beget actions." This adage encapsulates the essence of the PC debate.
The conservative and right-wing camps claim that PC attempts to control people's 'thoughts' and 'actions' by controlling their 'words'.
Conservatives worry that PCs can influence thoughts and actions through language control.

**One question arises: DEI sounds like a responsible and positive policy that seeks diversity.
But why has this issue emerged as such a major source of conflict in American society that the 2024 US presidential election has been dubbed a "DEI referendum"?

** The debate surrounding DEI is also spreading in the AI ​​field. This is because AI can reflect specific values ​​or political leanings depending on the composition of its data, the design of its algorithms, and how it is used.
Conservatives in the US have long criticized major California tech companies for developing AI systems with inherently progressive views.
These discussions were formalized in the Executive Order “Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government,” issued on July 23, 2025.
The order mandates that the federal government use only AI models that are free of ideological bias, and defines DEI as “the most destructive and pervasive form of ideological bias.”

--- From the text