MICHAEL GRAHAM: Lot of hot air over climate decision.

When the two volatile topics came together during President Trump’s Rose Garden announcement yesterday I fully expected at least one reporter to spontaneously combust like a “Spinal Tap” drummer. Instead I got hours of over-heated handwringing (posing as journalism) on Trump dumping the Paris Agreement, with virtually no light shed on the details of the accords themselves: What did they require? How much did they cost? And — presumably most important of all — would the Paris deal stop the warming?

So, while it won’t inspire eye-catching headlines like “Trump To Planet: Drop Dead” (Huffington Post) or “Trump Bailing On Paris Agreement A Middle Finger To The World” (CNN), please indulge me while I offer a few facts.

First, the Paris Agreement isn’t a treaty and it would require America to do absolutely nothing. Treaties must be passed through the Senate (unless they involve Iran, apparently) and President Obama never sent it. In addition, there are no enforcement mechanisms to punish nations that don’t abide by it. Trump could mandate that every public-school student ride to class in a coal-fired school bus, and there would be no real-world consequences.

Or as the always level-headed Chris Hayes of MSNBC tweeted yesterday: “THE AGREEMENT QUITE LITERALLY IMPOSES NOTHING!!!”

So why all the fuss about withdrawing from it?

Here’s why:

Live by the pen and phone, die by the pen and phone.