It should come as no surprise to any reader that America's next president is going to be Donald Trump. Not only is this man an orange small-handed bigot but both he and the vice-president, Michael Pence, show a worrying lack of concern for mankind's future.
Firstly, there is the issue of global warming. We need only look at Trump's infamous twitter to understand his view on this topic, He posted: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make the U.S manufacturing non-competitive”
However, this tweet was posted in 2012 – so perhaps there is the possibility of hope that he may have changed his views as the signs of global warming are becoming clearer and more obvious, with 2016 being the warmest year since before the 1800s. Unfortunately instead, Trump is turning the other cheek to global warming – this February, he went as far as threatening to disband the Environmental Protection Agency. By scrapping the EPA, Donald Trump places both public health and the climate in danger. The fact that Trump has been elected is threatening to negate all of the progress that Obama's terms implemented. He threatens America's opportunity to develop plans for reliable energy, reduce carbon pollution and energy efficiency targets.
It is not only Trump who has scarily controversial views, however; his vice-president, Michael Pence harbours harshly homophobic beliefs about the efficacy of conversion therapy. When money could be spent upon improving the country, Pence believes that taxpayers' dollars should be diverted towards conversion therapy. This therapy includes electroshock therapy and talk therapy, treating homophobia as if it were a mental illness. In his own words Pence stated, 'Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.'. This archaic belief directly opposes the scientific understanding that there is no correlation between this therapy and being able to “cure” homosexuality.
"When money could be spent upon improving the country, Pence believes that taxpayers' dollars should be diverted towards conversion therapy"
Both the next president and the vice-president hold views that pose a danger to the future freedom of scientific research, as Trump desires to reduce the funding to environmental issues, and Pence wishes to redirect the funding from medical research to homophobic quackery. As said by Noam Chomsky, Trump and his administration will be 'a death knell for the human species', come January an inevitable stress on science and society.