Not only does President Trump not understand science, but he holds scientists and their work in contempt, especially when they disagree with him. He has appointed as heads of cabinet departments people who have actively fought against the missions of those departments. Two examples are Scott Pruitt, the former Oklahoma Attorney General who repeatedly sued the EPA, as the head of the EPA; and Rick Perry, former Texas governor, who once campaigned on the promise to eliminate the Department of Energy, as the Secretary of Energy. And let's not forget the nominee for the USDA's Chief Scientist who was not in fact a scientist, no matter how broad you stretched the definition of "scientist". Trump has suggested that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. He has recently betrayed an abysmal ignorance of what "clean coal" is. (No, it's not coal that's been washed in a certain way).
The department and agency heads have plowed forward with their deregulation jihad without consulting the experts within their departments; see, they don't need no stinkin' experts, they know what they want! They want job growth (see the post on Trump and Business), the environment, food safety, workplace safety and healthcare be damned. Since our new administration has no need for experts, their minds being already made up, the proposed budget contains across the board cuts to any government agency that has scientists, researchers or anything else that has to do with knowledge. The National Institutes for Health, NASA, R&D for the Department of Energy, NOAA, the Department of Defense science researchers, Health & Human Services, Department of Agriculture, and let's not forget FEMA, have all been slated for budget cuts...drastic budget cuts.
It would be naive to believe that politicians never make scientific decisions based on partisan considerations, but it seems like Trump and his minions view relying on science as a weakness.
No comments:
Post a Comment