Jeffrey Sachs - Trump's Anti-Science Idiocy Merely The Logical Outcome Of 40 Years Of GOP BAU

[hatrack]

EDIT

Of course, Trump’s anti-scientific dispensation has deeper roots in recent American politics and culture. It fits with two purposes of the modern Republican Party going back to Ronald Reagan. The first is to mobilize the GOP’s white, evangelical Christian base. Their rejection of science is rooted in the literal interpretation of Scripture – a belief known as Biblical inerrancy. The second, related reason is the rabid anti-environmentalism of the modern Republican Party, which has been lavishly funded by Big Oil and Big Coal for decades in exchange for actions to block and reverse regulations aimed at environmental conservation and climate safety. It is no coincidence that Trump not only rejects the basic science of controlling COVID-19, but also rejects basic climate science even in the midst of the horrific wildfires raging in the US west. Just as he declared that the virus would simply fade away, he recently promised that global warming would magically stop: “It will start getting cooler. Just you watch.”

As an aside, Bolsonaro is a near-clone of Trump in this respect. With his base of Christian evangelicals and his radical anti-environmentalism, rejection of climate science, and policies favoring Brazil’s oil industry, he has governed in the same way.But Trump does not represent a departure from GOP policies in this respect. A quarter-century ago, Newt Gingrich, as Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, forced the closure of Congress’s Office of Technology Assessment, which had provided scientific and technological guidance to members of Congress. Gingrich’s aim was to prevent environmental science from informing regulations affecting industries that support the Republican Party.

Trump’s anti-scientific agenda has endangered the entire world. Under his administration, the US has withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization, thereby frustrating the global fight against climate change and against COVID-19. Instead of addressing global crises on the basis of scientific evidence, Trump and his evangelical secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, have tried to launch a Christian crusade against China.It is hard to know whether Trump’s COVID-19 infection will cause more Americans to wake up to the realities of public health and climate change. The truth has been battered long and hard by the Republican Party and its allies. Fox News, evangelical belief in Biblical literalism, and corporate propaganda and campaign contributions have profoundly undermined America’s propensity to base policies on science and evidence rather than lies.

EDIT

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/lies-that-infected-trump-anti-science-gop-by-jeffrey-d-sachs-2020-10

[3catwoman3]

1. What is BAU?

Thnx.

[PoliWrangler]

2. Yeah, not defining acronyms reduces

relevance of post. My guess is akin to marketing it's Behavior Analysys something. How to get people to buy the New Coke, or $300 dollar basketball shoes. No underlying principles, policies, or values, no "there" there. Just believe and buy.

[3catwoman3]

3. I Googled it, but nothing.

I tried to think up something on my own starting with Bullshit or Biblical. Couldn’t come up with nothing.

[hatrack]

4. Sorry, "Business As Usual"