Since Donald Trump’s plan for the future involves bringing back buggy whips and whale oil, and the jobs he keeps announcing are ones that were actually created years ago, there’s no need for any of that newfangled science. In fact, science gets in the way, since it’s turned out to be really difficult to find scientists who will disregard data and facts and accept Trump’s gut as the ultimate authority. With their ugly insistence in believing their own eyes instead of alternative facts, Trump doesn’t want them around.
On the fourth floor of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the staff of the White House chief technology officer has been virtually deleted, down from 24 members before the election to, by Friday, only one.
The one “scientist” who remains actually has a science degree … a political science degree. Plus he’s a former exec for big Trump donor Peter Thiel, so he probably has some experience with vampirology. But that does leave a few empty seats.
It is unclear whether the vacancies are the result of the Trump administration’s overall slowness in hiring or a signal that the president places less importance on science and technology than Mr. Obama did.
It’s unclear? Is it really?
In the last week, Trump signed an executive order to destroy compliance with the Paris agreement and stifle progress in domestic energy, the Department of Energy banned the use of the term “climate change,” the House “science committee” held a meeting that produced …
“A cavalcade of falsehoods so relentless and seemingly rational that one might well need psychiatric counseling after having watched it.”
Meanwhile, Republicans are out to pass the HONEST Act, which is honestly designed to set up barriers making it impossible to pass any new regulation, no matter how strong the science.
So … no. It’s not really unclear at all.
The science offices at the White House are empty for a reason. Scientists are not welcome in this regime … or in the Republican Party.