“It hasn’t been one instance of abuse of the power of executive order by this president. It hasn’t been just one twist in a court ruling. Instead, it has been years in the making, enabled by this president. A group of confederates has worked together to undo many of our traditions and understandings of fairness and of citizens’ rights.”
Nye told demonstrators that their presence at the rally sends a message to lawmakers, telling them “they must stop the abuses of this petulant president and his circle of sycophants.”
“This president and his associates cannot tolerate dissent,” Nye said. “To them, our free speech is frightening.”
During the president’s second term, he has threatened ABC with another lawsuit after the network brought Trump-critic Jimmy Kimmel’s show back from suspension and filed a $15 billion dollar defamation lawsuit against the New York Times for an article he was not pleased with.
This week, the Pentagon required journalists to sign a pledge agreeing to new restrictions on their reporting or turn in their access badges. Nearly all newsrooms refused to sign, leaving the in-house press corps reduced.
Nye went on to say that while the U.S. has been one of the world’s leading nations in science for decades, Trump and his cabinet members have failed to “accept scientific facts” and “promote the progress of science,” instead suppressing science “to the detriment of our health, wellbeing, and international competitiveness.”
Over the summer, the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog agency, alleged that the Trump administration illegally withheld $8 billion in funding to the National Institutes of Health. Scientists have also criticized the Trump administration’s climate report, calling it “just plain wrong.”
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“It is a formula for failure,” Nye said.
Watch Nye’s whole speech below.
