"Climate Lysenkoism" - Michael Mann On Trump's Full-On Stalinist Approach To Climate Science And Reality

[hatrack]

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This is the latest step in the administration’s climate Lysenkoism and its relentless purge of climate researchers who refuse to be co-opted into its quest for American energy dominance though fossil fuels. Stalin’s embrace of the work of Trofim Denisovitch Lysenko, who wrongly believed that wheat could inherit characteristics acquired by previous generations, underpinned policies that failed to prevent crop failures and millions of deaths from famine during the 1930s.

Scientists who opposed Lysenkoism were denounced, fired, imprisoned and even executed. While Trump has not gone as far as Stalin, his administration’s persecution of climate researchers could ultimately lead to many millions of deaths from increases in extreme weather and sea level rise in the United States and across the world. Six years ago, we warned in an op-ed for the Guardian of the dangers of climate Lysenkoism during Trump’s first presidential term. Little did we know that there would be a second term and an even more extreme war against scientific reality.

The closure of NCAR was announced on X, the Trump administration’s preferred propaganda platform, by Russell Vought, the director of the office of management and budget. He laughably described NCAR as “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country”, but it is transparently part of the Trump administration’s promotion of wilful ignorance about climate change.

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It is now widely expected that the comprehensive demolition of Wright’s report means the Environmental Protection Agency will drop references to the science when it publishes in the new year its updated case for overturning the endangerment finding. Sadly, this setback is unlikely to stop the Trump administration’s assault on researchers, and its Soviet-style campaign to prevent Americans and the rest of the world from knowing the truth about climate change. The Trump administration continues to act as if the story of the ransacking of the library of Alexandria is a playbook instead of a cautionary tale.

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/22/trump-stalin-national-center-atmospheric-research

[Timeflyer]

1. Trofim Denisovich Lysenko's pseudo-science killed millions. More scientific knowledge is available to all now,

but our descendants will see that the rich and powerful ignored real science to profit in the moment and screw the future.