Last week, legendary journalist Bob Woodward revealed that he had tapes of a conversation with Donald Trump where the president admitted that he was playing down the severity of the coronavirus. Trump told Woodward, “I wanted to always play it down, … I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
It’s horrific yet unsurprising given what we know about Donald Trump and how he operates. Still, while we’ve become numb to the non-stop lying and horrific behavior of this president, we cannot pretend like this is business as usual. We’re closing in on 200K deaths from the virus, and we’re still suffering under the lies and incompetence of this administration.
In an editorial for Science magazine titled “Trump Lied About Science”, Editor-in-Chief H. Holden Thorp delivered a searing indictment of Trump’s lies and failures.
Thorp wrote, “As he was playing down the virus to the public, Trump was not confused or inadequately briefed: He flat-out lied, repeatedly, about science to the American people. These lies demoralized the scientific community and cost countless lives in the United States.”
He continued,
“Over the years, this page has commented on the scientific foibles of U.S. presidents. Inadequate action on climate change and environmental degradation during both Republican and Democratic administrations have been criticized frequently. Editorials have bemoaned endorsements by presidents on teaching intelligent design, creationism, and other antiscience in public schools. These matters are still important. But now, a U.S. president has deliberately lied about science in a way that was imminently dangerous to human health and directly led to widespread deaths of Americans.
This may be the most shameful moment in the history of U.S. science policy.”
He ended his essay by saying, “They have seen neither quality exhibited by their president and his co-conspirators. Trump was not clueless, and he was not ignoring the briefings. Listen to his own words. Trump lied, plain and simple.”
(via Science Magazine, image: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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- The CW’s upcoming series Superman and Lois will take place in Smallville and feature an all new suit design. (via Collider)
- The cast of Lucifer discussed the upcoming musical episode at DC Fandome. (via DC Fandome)
- Oh, and there’s a blooper reel for Season 4 of the series!
- R.I.P. Toots Hibbert, the reggae icon of Toots And The Maytals. (via A.V. Club)
- We can’t wait to check out this queer history anthology, Be Gay, Do Comics. (via CBR)
- Legends of Tomorrow teases new cast members and more shenanigans in season 6. (via Syfy Wire)
- Here’s the trailer for the upcoming science fiction film 2067 starring Kodi Smit-McPhee and Ryan Kwanten:
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