The tweets were in defiance of Donald Trump’s attack on science - and now they have been vaporized.
As part of Trump’s emerging war on information, the National Parks Service as well as several other federal agencies have been instructed to stop posting to social media.
Employees at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Interior Department, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have seen directives from the newly minted leadership seeking to limit how they communicate to the public, according to multiple sources.
A source inside the EPA told Reuters that the administration told them they are hereby banned from talking to reporters or updating social media accounts with press releases or blog posts. And after the National Parks Service tweeted a photo showing Obama’s inauguration attendance to be larger than Trump’s, its account was banned from posting entirely - until it apologized to Trump.
We regret the mistaken RTs from our account yesterday and look forward to continuing to share the beauty and history of our parks with you pic.twitter.com/mctNNvlrmv
— NationalParkService (@NatlParkService) January 21, 2017
But one account that wasn’t having this new gag order was the Badlands National Park, which began a climate science truth bomb tweetstorm in clear defiance of the ban.
These are facts. Not political opinions. Just plain facts.
But they flew in the face of Trump’s stated agenda that climate change is a hoax and therefore they had to go. Within several hours, all three tweets were gone. The Badlands National Park account hasn’t tweeted since.
A strange and sickening pattern is developing. In every agency, at every level, those who oppose Trump’s agenda are being silenced or brought to heel. Those who defy this censorship are facing the full weight of the government that Trump now controls.
So here’s the new reality is being created: Just sharing scientific facts has become a revolutionary act. A show of resistance in the face of a political party that would rather the science stay buried.
Watching the USA national park services take on the gov with science and be forced to delete tweets is both heroic and painful.
— Darylynn Cole (@noleftsock) January 24, 2017
Badlands National Park posted a basic scientific fact that defied Trumps anti science, demonstrably incorrect fantasy. Retweeted to Preserve pic.twitter.com/tIZQUWzSwH
— Jeremy Skogen (@Skogenator) January 24, 2017
Kudos to Badlands National Park for telling the truth. #science
— Susan (@AtomicSunray) January 24, 2017
The most powerful person in the world forced a national park to delete tweets containing actual, verifiable science. #ThisIsNotNormal
— Andrew Weinstein (@Weinsteinlaw) January 24, 2017
Thankfully, others appear to be taking up the battle for truth as well. Golden Gate Park is has also begun tweeting about climate change facts in the past few days.
2016 was the hottest year on record for the 3rd year in a row. Check out this @NASA & @NOAA report: https://t.co/rLJUC56xqi pic.twitter.com/AKhFzYw6l6
— Golden Gate NPS (@GoldenGateNPS) January 23, 2017
It’s this resistance that is so crucial to opposing Trump’s administration. The facts are not on his side so he’s attempting to get rid of them.
Featured image via Twitter
