Science Is a “Democrat Thing”

I think I speak for literally everyone on this planet when I admit that I’m not proud of every thought that goes through my mind.  I harbor a great many beliefs that I actively refrain from expressing aloud, whether they be mean-spirited, lewd, or whatever.  Of course, having the wisdom to know when to keep one’s moth shut is another matter, and here’s a story that speaks to this very matter: 

Science, according to a Trump appointee at the Department of the Interior, is “a Democrat thing.” Those words were reportedly used to justify the abrupt 2017 cancellation of a study into the health effects of mountaintop removal for coal-mining. At the time, then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke claimed that the study was canceled after a careful review of the grant process. But during a Tuesday congressional hearing on this issue, Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., citing the inspector general’s report into the matter, said that a Trump appointee named Landon “Tucker” Davis had offered a likelier explanation for why a study that was more than halfway done was abruptly shut down: In Davis’ words, “Science was a Democrat thing.”

I totally get that present-day Republicans view science as antipathetic to many of their causes, but do you have to say this in public, given that it’s a national disgrace?  If you have a thought that dishonors not only yourself and your entire political party, can’t you keep it to yourself?