Thank You for Resisting the Cheeto-in-Chief
How Americans cheered one rogue government tweeter
by DAVID AXE
In the days following Donald Trump’s Jan. 20, 2017 inauguration as the 45th president of the United States, his administration moved quickly to remove all mentions of climate change from U.S. government websites and social media.
Everyday Americans were … not fans, if notes of encouragement that citizens sent to one rogue climate-change tweeter are any indication. “Thank you to the bad-ass,” one American wrote to the tweeter. “You fine people may be our nation’s last line of defense,” another commented.
Trump’s government-wide act of science-denial included a gag order targeting the Environmental Protection Agency. The White House barred the EPA and its employees from speaking to the press or posting on social media.
Famously, a former seasonal employee at Badlands National Park in South Dakota fought back. Taking advantage of their access to the park’s official Twitter account, on Jan. 24, 2017 the former employee tweeted several statements about climate change.
“Today, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years,” one tweet read.
The National Park Service quickly deleted the tweets — illegally, as official tweets are public records that the federal government is required to archive and make available to the public.
DEFIANT requested, under the Freedom of Information Act, copies of records regarding the tweet controversy. The trove of documents, which the park service made public on April 13, 2017, includes copies of emails that members of the public sent to the park service.
They’re pure gold. To quote a couple —
“If I could visit the Badlands right now, I would do it just to shake the hand of whoever updates your Twitter account. Roll on, NPS employees who believe in climate change.”
“Thank you to the bad-ass — I mean, Badlands social-media rep — who stood up to the Cheeto-in-chief regarding climate change. Every act of resistance is so important right now.”
And most powerfully —
Who would’ve thought it? National Park employees waging a digital guerilla war against an OCD moron who still insists climate change doesn’t exist. You fine people may be our nation’s last line of defense against destruction of not only our own national treasures but the natural world as a whole. Please rest assured the nation appreciates your courageous determination to protect our natural wonders.
Don’t be cowered. Don’t be bullied. Don’t be silenced. The dark cloud that hangs over America at the moment will pass and a new day will most certainly dawn. Until then, stay strong and resolute. And thanks to all of you for your peerless service.
Stay defiant.
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