7 ms·

What a huge mistake.

• mcphage 6y ago
  Why?
  • ardy42 6y ago
    > Why? I personally don't believe this is a mistake, but the only problematic thing I can think of is that this might encourage Trumpers and Trumpworld to view science as a Democratic constituency, and thus withdraw their support for things like government science funding (thus making it more partisan and unreliable). However, that's probably already happened to a significant degree. Staying neutral towards someone who's already hostile to you is not a very tenable position. See also Republicans and labor unions: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/06/opinion/labor-unions-republicans.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/06/opinion/labor-unions-repu... > It is often forgotten that Eisenhower and many other Republicans used to support labor unions, if not always enthusiastically.... > It was Ronald Reagan, with his firing of 11,000 striking air traffic controllers, who sent the Republican Party’s relations with labor into a tailspin. Despite the party’s shift to the right under Reagan, there continued to be many pro-labor Republicans in Congress well into the 1990s, like Representatives Jack Quinn of New York and Bob Ney of Ohio. They often bucked party leaders, for instance, to support a higher minimum wage. > The decisive break came in 1996 when Speaker Newt Gingrich was struggling to retain control of the House. With Gingrich openly hostile to unions, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. endorsed Democrats over many longtime G.O.P. allies. > At the time, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s political director justified the move, saying, “Anybody who stands with Gingrich as often as they do is not standing with working people.” But the spurned Republicans said labor had turned its back on the G.O.P. That ended a 120-year stretch during which unions had always been able to maintain some level of bipartisan support.