When I was a child, I read Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. The book opened up my mind to the vastness of the universe, and the wonder of our own celestial world. I read about about Albert Einstein’s ideas that gravity wasn’t actually a force that pulled objects toward each other, but was instead an object’s mass causing our very universe itself to curve in on itself.
What I remember about that theory of Einstein’s was that it took 4 years before anyone could offer any evidence that it was true. For four years, the man who is now synonymous with genius had to have his most famous theory held in purgatory for lack of evidence. It wasn’t until a total eclipse in 1919 showed that starlight from distant stars was, in fact, “bent” by the gravity of our own sun.
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer informed the universe that our new president believes what he believes, and is entirely unencumbered by facts, evidence, or even thoughtful reflection.
This all came about after trump told Congressional leaders that he believes he lost the popular vote because undocumented workers voted illegally. The number of illegal votes cast, according to trump, happen to match almost perfectly the number of votes by which he lost the popular vote. Sean Spicer was asked by journalists today if trump really does believe that 3 million illegal votes were cast during the election.
“The president does believe that,” Spicer replied.
When pressed for evidence, Spicer kept stating that president just believes it’s true, because he believes things like that.
But, let’s not ignore the chilling exchange that took place between Spicer and CNN’s Jeff Zeleny.
Spicer: He believes what he believes based on the information he’s provided.
Zeleny: If he does believe that, what does that mean for democracy?
Spicer: It means that I’ve answered your question.
Zeleny: Have you?
Meanwhile, in news that definitely matters…
Badlands National Park started tweeting about climate change Tuesday morning. The account tweeted out various facts about climate change—facts like:
- “Burning one gallon of gasoline puts nearly 20 lbs. of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. #climate”
- “Flipside of the atmosphere; ocean acidity has increased 3o% since the Industrial Revolution. ‘Ocean Acidification’. #climate #carboncycle”
The tweets were mysteriously deleted, and not by the person who sent them.