As in his earlier term, US President Donald Trump’s misguided announcement that the US will withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate continues a long history of confusion—mostly created intentionally—over the intersection of climate science and US climate policy. The tactics and consequences are no different from what opponents of climate science and action have been using for almost 50 years. For decades, political discourse on climate has blurred the lines between scientific reality and political ideology, treating established facts like debatable opinions, providing shifting reasons for making decisions, and turning what should be reasoned policy debates into ideological battlegrounds.
