A politician from the most conservative district in the most conservative state in America believes it's possible Donald Trump will lead the country to act on climate change.
Former Republican congressman Bob Inglis says he knows it sounds improbable to say the US president would impose a carbon price, but he thinks reality will force Mr Trump's hand.
"Donald Trump said climate change is a Chinese hoax and conspiracy - but he couldn't possibly believe that," Mr Inglis told the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.
Just as Richard Nixon opened up China and Bill Clinton reformed welfare, so too Mr Trump could act on climate change.
Plus, Mr Inglis has worked out how to couch the move in Trumpian language.
"America is going to move first. China is going to respond," he imagined the president saying.
"They are going to pay our tax until they figure out that they don't like the idea of paying tax to us.
"Go ahead and sue us, China. We'll meet you in court, we'll beat you in court."
Mr Inglis says a bold move like unilaterally imposing a price on carbon and collecting the tax at the borders would work because China wanted access to the American market.
The rest of the world would follow suit because everyone was doing business with either the US or China.
And if Mr Trump does act, that would have serious implications for Australia, especially its coal exports.
Mr Inglis, who lost his seat to the far-right Tea Party wing of the Republicans after trying to get up legislation for a carbon price, is spending a fortnight in Australia trying to convince conservatives of the need for action.
He laments the tribalism of the debate, saying there's such fear among conservatives about being seen as weak in the face of the environmental left they refuse to hear anything.
He frames the question to conservatives as not whether they believe in climate change, but if they think free enterprise can solve it.
"We've got to build the confidence of the right so that they can send the tribal leaders down to the river to meet with the other tribe's leaders," Mr Inglis said.
"If they don't have confidence they'll be received back in the tents of our tribe, they won't go - or if they come back and they get stabbed in the back, it doesn't last."
He was optimistic demographics would force conservatives to drop the "grumpy old party" pose.
Young people told him the cynicism rising from both sides branding the "other" lead them to doubt the ability of politics to deliver solutions.
"If you are in parliament or you're in congress and you are not willing to risk your seat, you really shouldn't be there," he said.
"After all, it's one thing to lose an election, it's quite another to lose one's soul."
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