By Douglas V. Gibbs
A couple months back, The New York Times published a piece titled, “Historians See Autocratic Playbook in Trump’s Attacks on Science.” The headline alone reveals much about its intended audience. Secular, left-leaning Democrats who believe they are the champions of science.
While never proven to be an actual Mark Twain quote, there is a saying that is commonly credited to him because it matches his witty style. “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” That is what I believe we are seeing in the latest political games playing “keep away” with modern science.
Christianity birthed science, driven by a desire to understand God’s Creation. The New York Times’ headline tries to reach back into that era of early science, claiming, “The war on science began four centuries ago when the Roman Catholic Church outlawed books that reimagined the heavens. Subsequent regimes shot or jailed thousands of scientists.” That may be true in part, but the deeper reality is that those conflicts were political, not merely religious. Authoritarian regimes, be they church or crown, could not tolerate dissent. They declared consensus, then crushed opposition to preserve their power.
Today’s authoritarians repeat the same pattern. They claim consensus, accuse their opponents of spreading fear, and insist that dissent must be silenced. In truth, it is they who enforce conformity through grants, lawsuits, and carefully chosen judges, during which they claim that the opposition is trying to force scientists into submission, when it is actually them doing so.
President Trump decisively won the presidential election last year, and he recognizes the unholy marriage of science and left-wing politics. He seeks to hold science accountable, believing America’s laboratories, if freed from political manipulation, can once again power America’s greatness.
A part of that process by President Trump included the firing of the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September, which sparked lawsuits, with critics crying “politicization of science.” Yet, wasn’t it the CDC that politicized science during COVID, issuing contradictory edicts and silencing dissent in the name of “expert authority”?
As always, Trump’s critics reached for the Hitler/Stalin comparison, even while denying the truth of the fact that it was they who were making the parallel. Trump is not crushing science. He is trying to restore it. He sees how politically motivated lopsided funding rewards only conclusions approved by collectivist ideologues, while punishing genuine inquiry. He wants science to return to free thought and innovation, not snake-oil consensus demanding authoritarian policies to “save the planet.”
As historian Paul R. Josephson observed, “Despots want science that has practical results. They’re afraid that basic knowledge will expose their false claims.” That is precisely why the left fears Trump’s challenge. If science becomes a free market of ideas again, their false claims will collapse under the weight of truth.
The new ruling class may not use gulags or firing squads, but they do wield political correctness, WOKEism, and cancel culture to silence dissent. The new autocrats dress in designer suits, and speak in socialistic rhetoric while enforcing conformity through grants, budget cuts, and surveillance. Critics of President Trump portray his Christian and conservative allies as uneducated yokels who are unworthy to question “approved experts.” But this is projection. It is the progressive left that politicizes science, demands obedience, and punishes dissent.
In the end, their narrative resembles the rulers who tried to silence Galileo. They insist science is politics, and dissent must not be tolerated. Trump and his allies, by contrast, are working to move science back to what it was meant to be: the pursuit of truth, not the enforcement of ideology.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
