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Conrad Duncan
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Even Donald Trump's supporters would struggle to argue he’s strong on science.
On Thursday, Ivanka Trump retweeted a White House message praising the Trump administration as an “active and meaningful driver for science”.
Twitter couldn’t believe it.
Retweeting praise from your own administration is like marking your own homework and some users had questions.
Questions like, “are you serious?!”
@WHOSTP @IvankaTrump Is it April 1 already?— David (@David) 1550778143
Here’s a brief (and incomplete) list of reasons why Trump is not a “driver for science”
On Wednesday, it was reported Trump is assembling a panel to question whether climate change poses a national security threat (contradicting intelligence agencies’ judgement).
The head of this panel will reportedly be William Happer – a climate change denier who once compared the “demonization of carbon dioxide” to the Jews in Nazi Germany…
Trump appointed William Happer to chair the White House’s new panel on climate. He’s not just a climate denier, h… https://t.co/MXaFhkwnBe— Waleed Shahid (@Waleed Shahid) 1550773800
Trump also doesn’t seem to understand how climate change works and frequently states, incorrectly, that cold weather in the winter is proof that global warming isn’t a real thing.
He also rejected the findings of a report by the US government about the dangers of climate change simply because he’d 'read some of it' and didn’t believe it.
BREAKING: "I don't believe it." President Trump passively rejects the findings of the major new US government mult… https://t.co/VGcxqHrNQz— MSNBC (@MSNBC) 1543264588
Trump still doesn’t have a science advisor, unlike every president since Franklin D Roosevelt in 1941. Meteorologist Kelvin Droegemeier has been nominated for the role but he has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.
Despite saying they would continue the tradition, the Trump administration has quietly dropped the annual White House Science Fair (which was first introduced by Barack Obama).
"A White House spokesperson also indicated the administration will not follow through with its plans, at least this… https://t.co/22WRVEk7it— Carl Zimmer (@Carl Zimmer) 1511184229
The Trump administration has a terrible record on vaccinations: an official recently claimed measles can “fight cancer” (it can’t) and Trump himself has tweeted more than 20 times falsely claiming there is a link between vaccines and autism.
In 2017, hundreds of thousands of scientists organised a march criticising the Trump administration, saying that an "American government that ignores science to pursue ideological agendas endangers the world."
These 23 signs from this weekend's March for Science are just too good. https://t.co/4S0FJBSedx https://t.co/GQ8c4rVzoR— Global Citizen ⭕ (@Global Citizen ⭕) 1493481722
But sure, if the White House says the White House is doing a good job, it must be true…
And while we’re talking about Trump and science, here’s a video of him meeting astronaut Buzz Aldrin.
When Aldrin made a reference to Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear, Trump didn’t seem to get it.
Buzz Aldrin: To infinity and beyond! Trump: This is infinity here. It could be infinity. We really don't know. But… https://t.co/nLBDCUG543— Lauren Werner 🇺🇸 (@Lauren Werner 🇺🇸) 1498929788
HT: HuffPost
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