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Trump's Pick to Head NASA Loves Space, Denies Climate Change
If we're trying to focus on the positives, Trump's pick to head NASA is a longtime vocal proponent of the organization. Buuuuuuut, he's also been a vocal climate change denier and NASA plays a significant role in climate research.
Trump's pick for the next leader of NASA is a fighter pilot who wants Americans to return to the moon but doesn't believe that humans are causing climate change.
Rep. Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma has to be confirmed by the Senate before taking charge of NASA, and the two senators who represent Florida's Space Coast have already publicly objected to the choice of a politician as head of the space agency.
In a description never written before, Bridenstine is described as "a big fan of the moon."
As a member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Bridenstine has focused on trying to revitalize NASA, with his American Space Renaissance Act. He's a big fan of the moon, and recently told NASA's Lunar Exploration Analysis Group in Washington, D.C., that the discovery of water ice on the moon should have resulted in a permanent outpost there for rovers and machines to exploit the lunar materials and drive down the cost of space exploration.
But that climate change denial thing.... really?
...when it comes to climate change, he has denied that human activities are responsible for increasing global temperatures. "I would say that the climate is changing. It has always changed...."
Such views are sure to alarm scientists, because NASA conducts a huge amount of the global research on climate change.
Predictably, he hates President Obama and thinks his baby steps towards climate change solutions has greatly harmed the U.S.
He's accused President Obama of spending "30 times as much money" on global warming research than weather forecasting (a claim that PolitiFact rated "Mostly False.") "For this gross misallocation, the people of Oklahoma are ready to accept the president's apology," he said...