A funny thing happened on the way to the purge UPDATED

UPDATE: Here’s why they’re asking for the names. They want to invoke an obscure law that allows them to cut the pay of federal workers they don’t like to $1.

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It started with a list.

Last week, the Trump transition team asked the Department of Energy to name people in that office who had been involved in climate work and hand them over.

Many of the scientists and officials at the Department of Energy — who are civil servants, not political appointees — were understandably rattled by the questionnaire, as the Trump team no doubt intended them to be.

Trump is, of course, on record repeatedly claiming that regulations which would slow the worst effects of the global disaster are bad for business, that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese, that the environment will be “fine.”

His chief of staff has said climate denial will be the “default position” of a Trump administration, and of all Trump’s cabinet appointees, the only one that recognizes the overwhelming scientific evidence that burning fossil fuels directly contributes to climate change is, well, the CEO of Exxon.

So when this team asks for names of climate scientists, it is clearly intended as a threat that a witch hunt is imminent.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the purge.

The Department of Energy scientists and officials spoke up about the questionnaire got the story out to as many people as possible. They worked with other scientists to back up their files to preserve their work. They got support from around the country and from the halls of Congress. They resisted.

From a Department of Energy spokesperson in the Washington Post:

“We will be forthcoming with all publically-available information with the transition team. We will not be providing any individual names to the transition team.”

And what did they get for their resistance? One of the first victories of the Trump era. The Trump team had wanted to flex their muscles and intimidate the people standing in the way of their climate profiteering, but they ran into trouble. So, like all bullies who don’t really have the strength or perseverance to follow through with anything actually difficult, they caved.

“The questionnaire was not authorized or part of our standard protocol. The person who sent it has been properly counseled,” a Trump transition official told CNN.

The thing about bullies — at heart they’re cowards and they’re weak. They don’t like difficulty. They like easy victories. These particular bullies are only now emboldened by their disputed “win,” but they’re slowly realizing that more people care about climate than voted for Trump. They’re realizing it’s not going to be all that easy to turn America into a Authoritarian Petrostate.

The Department of Energy resisted making the first list, and, in true bully fashion, the Trump team moved on. They acted like they hadn’t actually wanted what they asked for in the first place. They went on to flex their muscles to crowds more likely to ooh and ahh.

Of course, it isn’t over. They’ll try to carry out the purge by other means, and possibly they’ll get what they want. But the scientists and officials who stood their ground at the Department of Energy have provided us with a blueprint for what to do in the Trump era. Don’t give him what he asks for.

Relentless resistance.

Climate change is real. More people believe in climate action than believe in Trump. But, of course, Trump’s team doesn’t believe it. They’re in denial.

So we’ll just have to keep reminding them.