The Republican Party of 2016, and indeed the party of the last decade or so, has become the party of “beliefs over knowledge.”
Not believing in global warming, despite the fact that it is real; Not believing the President of the United States is a U.S. citizen, despite the fact that he is; Not believing evolution is true, despite the fact that it is. Those are the traits that will qualify a person to be embraced by today’s GOP. Those qualities elevated Mike Pence to the VP nomination.
Believing something to be true appears to be just as valid as being able to prove that something is true. Woe to the republican who bucks this trend. For example, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, who sealed his fate while running for the GOP nomination in 2011 when he tweeted:
To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy.
— Jon Huntsman (@JonHuntsman) August 18, 2011
Unfortunately for Huntsman, he forgot who his base was. And they called him crazy. Today’s republican party has no room for people who understand science and who value reason and evidence.
Just a few days ago, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) doubled down on his ignorance of climate science by suggesting that school children who understand it, need to be “un-brainwashed.” The irony of his use of the term “brainwashed” in this context is most likely lost on both him and his supporters.
It should come as no surprise that the man picked to be Donald Trump’s running mate, Indiana governor Mike Pence, is cut from the same cloth of scientific ignorance.
During the Democratic National Convention, California governor Jerry Brown, made the claim that Mike Pence doesn’t believe in evolution. He said in his speech:
“Trump says global warming is a hoax. I say Trump is a fraud. Trump says there’s no drought in California. I say Trump lies. So, it’s not surprising that Trump chose as his running mate a man who denies that there’s such a thing as evolution.”
A man who denies that there’s such a thing as evolution? Evolution is of course, true. So Brown’s claim prompted PolitiFact to check, does Mike Pence actually not believe evolution is true? The answer is yes, the man vying to be next in line to the Oval Office, doesn’t understand middle school science.
This was PolitiFact’s finding:
“Our research found no evidence that Pence has publicly changed his view on evolution. In more recent years, the Indiana governor has criticized other science-based initiatives, including efforts to slow climate change. We rated Brown’s claim True.”
Here is a video of Mike Pence in an interview with Chris Matthews, unapologetically denying reality:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXo8LoE-6mk
Featured image from Liberal America media files.
