| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a beef bourguignon of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. Today's Agenda  He's still haunting Nissan. Photographer: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images ScapeGhosn Escapes Originally, a "scapegoat" was an animal you chased off into the desert, hoping it carried all your sins with it. By this definition, Carlos Ghosn was Nissan Motor Co.'s scapegoat. But most of its ills remained when it drove him away. Nissan claims it exorcised Ghosn over bad governance and financial improprieties. He denies the charges, for which he was jailed in Japan. Now that he has escaped — in a double-bass case on a private jet, according to the only theory this newsletter ever cares to hear — he has Nissan executives quaking at all the tea he claims he is about to spill on the company. But none of this matters as much as Nissan's true underlying weakness, writes Anjani Trivedi: It's simply bad at making money selling cars. And it doesn't seem to be doing enough to fix that. Its Ghosn problem was really part of a broader, lingering governance problem. Its profit margins keep tumbling. Its "alliance" with frenemy Renault is as fraught as ever. And it's a tricky time for even the best-run carmakers as the industry struggles with a shift to electrification. Nissan's gonna need a bigger goat. Humanity Not Yet Fully Doomed There's not much more demoralizing than watching our political leaders shrug about climate change even as they choke on the smoke from all the wildfires. And humanity isn't doing nearly enough yet to fend off ever-more-catastrophic warming:  But there is reason to not completely despair, writes David Fickling. Thanks to simple economics — renewable energy sources got really cheap really quickly — the world's carbon emissions from power plants have dropped nearly to the rosiest forecasts made by the International Energy Agency a decade ago:  There's much, much more to be done, but this is at least evidence that something can be done. This Could Be Europe's Year Divorces are usually messy and painful, but they can also free people from bad marriages to live their best lives. Europe, for example, will spend much of this year fighting the U.K. in family court. But this could be the kind of cathartic breakup that makes it stronger, writes James Stavridis. It will certainly need steel to face the many risks James sees menacing 2020, including cyberwarfare, a shaky Pakistan and the aforementioned burning planet. Much of its success will depend on the leadership of new European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Fortunately for Europe, not to mention the rest of the world, she seems up to the job, writes Andreas Kluth. She combines Angela Merkel's uncanny cat-herding ability — so useful in Europe's byzantine politics — with a much greater capacity for bold visions. Among those is an ambitious Green Deal that could help with that burning-planet problem. Trump Is Going Nowhere Fast After months of hearings that culminated in his impeachment, President Donald Trump's job-approval rating is … just about where it was when the whole thing started, notes Jonathan Bernstein. The trouble for Trump is that this rating is not only remarkably stable but also remarkably low. This suggests Republicans have no reason to abandon him, but also that his re-election bid is in trouble. Of course, once the Senate acquits him, Trump may feel even more emboldened to ask foreign governments to meddle with the election on his behalf. But Democrats won't be powerless to stop him, writes Thomas Geoghegan. They can sue to stop him, threatening Trump and his aides with contempt of court. Further Political Reading: Even if Trump wins, true conservatives will lose in this election. — Ramesh Ponnuru and Michael R. Strain Telltale Charts The most disruptive technological breakthrough of the 2010s was the industry's magical ability to attract cash, writes Shira Ovide.  Further Reading History suggests negative interest rates aren't as rare or as terrifying as conventional wisdom has it. — Aaron Brown The Fed's new crop of policy voters won't fight the Fed's dovish course. — Tim Duy The 2010s were the decade the Internet went from disrupter to establishment. — Conor Sen The news media had problems long before the internet came along. — Justin Fox AirAsia's new fast-food chain serving airplane fare is about as good as you'd expect. — Adam Minter ICYMI Wall Street is starting to doubt the T-Mobile–Sprint deal will happen. Florida will soon have more congressional seats than New York. Here are 24 places to travel in 2020. Kickers Canada's military frightened and confused by Pokemon Go players. (h/t Paul Kominers) Area dad takes son to Mongolia to get him off his phone. Oslo had just one traffic death in 2019. David Stern left a profound legacy. Note: Please send airplane food and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and follow us on Twitter and Facebook. | 
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