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- During Donald Trump's first term as President, I tracked his administration's actions and positions on open access. I plan to do the same during his second term. — Peter Suber.
- I tracked his first term on Twitter, which I no longer use.
- I'm tracking his second term on Mastodon. To read or follow my Mastodon posts without a Mastodon account, use the HTML version, the RSS feed, or the Bluesky bridge account. (They're all OA!)
- The first part of this page is a collection of my tweets on his first term. Most of those tweets are about OA, but some are about censoring, distorting, or politicizing science.
- I created it for several reasons. I want to help readers get a rapid overview of his first administration's record on these issues. I want to make it easy for me and others to link to all or parts of that history. I want to put that history online to help us understand and anticipate what he might do in his second term. I want to help users who don't want to visit Twitter/X. I want to pull together a more complete collection than I could generate from any small number of Twitter/X searches. Although these tweets are still online, I want to capture them before they disappear.
- When a tweet used a shortened URL, especially one that is dead or likely to die, I replace it here with a living, full-length URL. I leave the original Twitter handles and hashtags unchanged. When the tweets included URLs, I include them and turn them into active links; but in one case (a very long URL for a Google search), I use an active link without spelling out the URL.
- I'm starting with the tweets I remembered and was able to find. I'll add more later if I find more.
- Suggested short URL for this page = bit.ly/TrumpOA .
First term (Jan 20, 2017 - Jan 20, 2021)
2017
- Scott Pruit, #Trump nominee to head #EPA, sued for blocking public access to polluter emails in Oklahoma.
- https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/02/07/lawsuit-filed-against-trump-nominee-scott-pruitt-denying-public-access-polluter
2018
- April 22, 2018
- 1/8 Scott Pruitt, head of #Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (@EPA), is proposing a kind of #opendata mandate. @MikeBastasch: it "will reverse long-standing EPA policy allowing regulators to rely on non-public scientific data in crafting rules...."
- https://dailycaller.com/2018/03/19/epa-scott-pruitt-secret-science/
- 2/8 Under the new policy, "EPA regulators would only be allowed to consider scientific studies that make their data available for public scrutiny....Also, EPA-funded studies would need to make all their data public."
- https://dailycaller.com/2018/03/19/epa-scott-pruitt-secret-science/
- 3/8 Most right-wing calls for #openaccess have been politically selective, designed to embarrass liberals or harass climate researchers. I discussed examples in this 2010 article (+ problem of supporting OA & opposing politically selective calls for OA).
- https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/4738862
- 4/8 At first it seems the Pruitt policy is politically neutral. Among those arguing it's not, see Yogin Kothari (@YoginUCS). Some of the most relevant & best-confirmed science on the harms of pollution use private medical records and cannot be made OA.
- http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/381485-scott-pruitts-trojan-horse-transparency-proposal-would-undermine
- 5/8 The Pruitt policy is modeled on Lamar Smith's politically one-sided and Orwellian HONEST Act. See this Google search.
- 6/8 The Union of Concerned Scientists (@UCSUSA) just obtained @EPA docs via #FOIA showing that Pruitt's push for transparency is highly political. Note that these docs were formerly OA on the EPA web site and recently taken down.
- https://blog.ucsusa.org/yogin-kothari/here-are-the-transparency-policy-documents-the-epa-does-not-want-you-to-see
- 7/8 Apart from exposing the political underbelly of the Pruitt policy, kudos to @UCSUSA for providing #openaccess to the docs it obtained by #FOAI. Too few FOIA applicants take that important extra step.
- https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1cE4-gEJOeNxOv5DtZnBHopfNoxoDJ4-M
- 8/8 The Pruitt proposal is still not public. But Pruitt sent it to the White House for approval on April 19.
- https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoDetails?rrid=128011
- April 25, 2018
- 1/3 Open letter from 985 scientists to Scott Pruit at @EPA: "We urge you to cease any plans to restrict the types of science that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can use in regulatory decisionmaking...."
- https://s3.amazonaws.com/ucs-documents/science-and-democracy/secret-science-letter-4-23-2018.pdf
- 2/3 "EPA can only adequately protect our air and water and keep us safe from harmful chemicals if it takes full advantage of the wealth of scientific research that is available to the agency...."
- 3/3 "Proponents for these radical restrictions purport to [care about] reproducibility & transparency. In reality, these are phony issues that weaponize ‘transparency’ to facilitate political interference in science-based decisionmaking, rather than genuinely address either...."
- US Dept of @Interior follows @EPA in deceptively using the rhetoric of #openaccess to *limit* the science that policymakers can consider. Worse, already in effect, not subject to public comments. #Trump #openwashing.
- https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/409984-interior-implements-new-science-policy
- [@DavidWojick replied to my post above:] People have a basic right to review the underlying science when proposed regulations affect them adversely.
- [My reply to @DavidWojick above:] So far, so good, but one-sided. Agencies must be allowed to use all valid science in coming to their decisions. Ruling some out because it isn't already open blocks well-informed decisions. And using #openaccess rhetoric to dress up that obstacle to good policy is dishonest.
- [In response to a tweet on EPA openwashing] Yes. I've been tagging @EPA openwashing for the Open Access Tracking Project (http://bit.ly/o-a-t-p). See items tagged to date:
- http://tagteam.harvard.edu/hubs/oatp/item_search?q=%23oa.epa+AND+%23oa.openwashing
- [Here just using a live URL, omitting the bad URL I first posted and my follow-up tweet correcting it.]
- From @undarkmag: "The Department of the @Interior is seeking to streamline its schedule for document archiving (and destruction). Some scientists worry about what will be lost."
- https://undark.org/article/request-streamline-federal-document-purge-doi/
2019
- New @SciAm editorial is admirably specific on how the new Congress could undo some Trumpist damage to science and science-based policy-making. Includes recommendation to oppose the @EPA's #openwashing "science transparency" rule.
- https://scientificamerican.com/article/an-open-letter-to-u-s-scientist-legislators/
- Despite the Trump admin's regressive track record on #openaccess to federally-funded research (e.g. at @EPA and @Interior), its new National Action Plan talks the talk on good OA policy. See Initiative 3. Now to watch for the details and the walk.
- https://open.usa.gov/assets/files/NAP4-fourth-open-government-national-action-plan.pdf
- From Kelvin Droegemeier (@kdroege), Director, White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, @WHOSTP: #Trump “recognises the importance of striking the balance of an open research environment & safeguarding American assets and intellectual property.”
- https://sciencebusiness.net/news/us-science-and-tech-leadership-has-trumps-unwavering-focus-says-science-adviser
- Trump's @EPA "is preparing to significantly limit the scientific and medical research that the government can use to determine public health regulations."
- https://nytimes.com/2019/11/11/climate/epa-science-trump.html
- The policy rests on #openwashing. Don't be fooled. For more background, see my April 2018 thread. [Link to thread of April 22, 2018, above.]
- Update November 26, 2019 See this call on the @EPA by six major journal editors to rescind the proposed rule. "The most relevant science, vetted through peer review, should inform public policy. Anything less will harm decision-making that claims to protect our health."
- https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2019/11/25/science.aba3197
2020
- Immediate #OpenAccess to fed-funded research benefits authors & readers. It benefits nonresearchers as taxpayers, boosting the impact of their investment, & as beneficiaries of better healthcare, technology, policy, & education. @WhiteHouse, @WHOSTP, @realDonaldTrump, #OAintheUSA
- [In reply to this SPARC tweet:] January 16, 2020 On behalf of 210 U.S. college & university libraries, we ask @realdonaldtrump to make #OAintheUSA a reality. Making taxpayer-funded research immediately available gives students, researchers & faculty access to latest and best science to fuel innovation and speed up discoveries.
- "The [#Trump @EPA] suppressed the work of its career employees and dismissed legitimate science...dozens of former and current employees have alleged. The employees are asking investigators to discipline the top officials responsible."
- https://govexec.com/management/2020/01/career-employees-allege-epa-leaders-silenced-them-key-deregulation-effort/162559/
- When the @WHO says that #glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic" and Trump's @EPA says otherwise, who are you going to believe? Clue: The Center for Food Safety (@CFSTrueFood) reports that the EPA "relied almost entirely on #Monsanto studies."
- https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/5904/siding-with-monsantobayer-trump-epa-once-again-greenlights-roundup
- Update June 19, 2020. Finally, a federal court orders review of the Trump @EPA decision that glyphosate is safe for use.
- https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/us-agency-ordered-reassess-glyphosates-impact-health-environment-2022-06-17/
- The White House OSTP (@WHOSTP) just called for public comments on US federal #openaccess policy (for texts, data, & code). Comments are due on March 16.
- https://federalregister.gov/documents/2020/02/19/2020-03189/request-for-information-public-access-to-peer-reviewed-scholarly-publications-data-and-code
- Refs to immediate/unembargoed OA suggest that it's related to the rumored #Trump action. #OAintheUSA
- US Dept of @Interior may adopt an #openwashing policy like @EPA. It encourages #opendata (good). But excludes non-compliant research from agency policy-making (bad). At EPA, this ruled out evidence that pollutants cause medical harm (the whole point).
- https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/484747-new-interior-rule-would-limit-which-scientific-studies-agency-can
- A political official in Trump's @Interior Department has inserted falsehoods about #climate into at least 9 of the Dept's scientific reports, environmental studies, and impact statements.
- https://nytimes.com/2020/03/02/climate/goks-uncertainty-language-interior.html
- The @WHOSTP and "govt science leaders...from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, [South] Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, & UK are asking publishers to make all #COVID19-related research & data immediately available to the public."
- http://listserv.crl.edu/wa.exe?A2=LIBLICENSE-L;23fe98a3.2003&FT=&P=&H=&S=
- Footnote. That version of the OSTP announcement differs in small ways from the version issued by the US Embassy in South Korea in the name of the OSTP. Not clear why they differ.
- https://kr.usembassy.gov/031220-president-trumps-science-advisor-leads-conference-call-with-government-science-leaders-from-around-the-world-on-covid-19/
- FWIW, the one quoted in the first tweet is slightly stronger. But it's *not yet* posted at the OSTP web site or linked from the @WHOSTP Twitter feed. Not clear why the weaker one is posted to a US govt site and the stronger one (so far) is not.
- 1/ The @EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) has criticized the draft EPA "transparency" policy as unnecessary and harmful.
- https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/495115-epas-independent-science-board-says-secret-science-proposal-may
- 2/ The SAB is right. Don't be misled by the EPA's rhetoric of transparency here. The EPA is #openwashing. I've given my reasons in a couple of past Twitter threads. [Links to my threads from April 22 and 25, 2018; see above.]
- Update May 5, 2020. "The [@EPA] rule is so flawed that the EPA's science advisory board, which includes several Trump appointees, is questioning the agency's approach."
- https://americanindependent.com/epa-scientific-studies-blocked-pollution-air-water-donald-trump-andrew-wheeler/
- 1/ Here's my submission to the @WHOSTP on strengthening US federal #openaccess policy. The main argument is to eliminate #embargoes on federally-funded research.
- https://suber.pubpub.org/pub/apqb1mp4/
- 2/ FYI, I make public my conflicts of interests.
- https://cyber.harvard.edu/~psuber/wiki/Conflicts
- I hope that publishers arguing against the elimination of embargoes will make their conflicts public as well.
- 3/ The deadline for submissions is May 6, two days from today. There's still time [for] your own!
- https://x.com/WHOSTP/status/1256334620494229504
- If you want to write a comment, here's the original RFI (still using the original, superseded due date).
- https://federalregister.gov/documents/2020/02/19/2020-03189/request-for-information-public-access-to-peer-reviewed-scholarly-publications-data-and-code
- [In reply to this tweet from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy:] May 1, 2020 Reminder: The Request for Information Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications, Data and Code Resulting From Federally Funded Research closes on May 6, 2020. We want to hear from you! #science
- https://govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-02-19/pdf/2020-03189.pdf
- The @WHOSTP call for comments on federal #openaccess policy (esp eliminating embargoes) ended on May 6.
- https://federalregister.gov/documents/2020/02/19/2020-03189/request-for-information-public-access-to-peer-reviewed-scholarly-publications-data-and-code
- Here e.g. is my submission.
- https://suber.pubpub.org/pub/apqb1mp4
- Hoping for White House action before the run-up to the election makes it impossible!
- #OAintheUSA
- Another false and dangerous statement from the Trump White House.
- https://politico.com/news/2020/10/27/white-house-science-office-ending-pandemic-432827
- I used to respect the @WHOSTP.
- The pandemic has not ended in the US. It's worsening. Our two worst days for new #COVID19 infections both occurred last week.
2021
- January 1, 2021
- On its way out, the Trump admin might approve the @EPA's regressive pseudo-open proposal.
- https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/532249-epa-secret-science-rule-appears-to-clear-white-house-review
- For my arguments against it, search for #openwashing or see these two twitter threads from April 2018. [Links to my threads from April 22 and 25, 2018; see above.]
- https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/in-a-parting-gift-epa-finalizes-rules-to-limit-its-use-of-science/
- Update January 8, 2021. "Many observers believe [Democrats] could use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to revoke the rule."
- https://sciencemag.org/news/2021/01/trump-s-new-rule-restricting-epa-s-use-certain-science-could-have-short-life
- Update January 12, 2021. "Green groups on Monday filed a lawsuit in an attempt to prevent a new rule limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) use of certain studies from taking effect."
- https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/533714-environmental-groups-sue-in-bid-to-block-epa-secret-science-rule
- Update January 29, 2021. The #openwashing policy from Trump's @EPA might be rolled back before it takes effect.
- https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/536264-court-rules-against-fast-track-of-trump-epas-secret-science-rule
- https://washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/02/01/trump-secret-science/
- #environment #climate #openwashing
- New study: The #Trump @EPA removed public info from its web site, 80% of the time "just prior to or during active regulatory proceedings."
- https://envirodatagov.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Access-Denied-Report.pdf
- March 6, 2021
- 1/ Good news: #Biden's @Interior Dept just rescinded its #Trump-era #openwashing policy.
- https://nationofchange.org/2021/03/04/science-wins-at-the-interior-department/
- 2/ Last month the similar policy at @EPA was overturned in court, at the request of the #Biden admin.
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/02/01/trump-secret-science/
- #Trump → #Biden:
- "The Environmental Protection Agency’s webpage about climate change reawakened from a four-year slumber on Thursday morning. Turn to the page now and you’ll see: 'EPA is restoring the science in addressing the climate crisis.' "
- https://grist.org/politics/biden-revives-epa-climate-change-site-trump-deleted/
Second term (Jan 20, 2025 - Jan 20, 2029)
2025
- I'm starting a #Mastodon thread on the new #Trump administration's actions and positions on #OpenAccess to research.
- I posted frequently about the actions of his first administration. But I did it on #Twitter / #X, which I no longer use.
- As background to this new Mastodon thread, see my tweets on his first term, which I've collected on a wiki page.
- https://cyber.harvard.edu/hoap/The_Trump_administrations_on_open_access_to_research
- For updates, watch this space.
- #OpenWashing #OSTP #ScholComm #USPol #USPolitics
- Update. "The mad dash to protect environmental data from Donald Trump"
- https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/18/24346025/data-donald-trump-climate-environment-epa
- (#paywalled)
- "Information about climate change vanished from federal websites under Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called climate change “a hoax.” Now, federal agencies could face deep staff and budget cuts overseen by Trump cronies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The proposed cuts not only threaten what kind of data the government shares but also whether it can collect and organize it at all....
- One key resource that could languish under the Trump administration is the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool, #EJScreen.…Even if it stays online, the tool is not as useful without constant upkeep....
- Much of the environmental data included in EJScreen is collected by the #EPA itself. The EPA isn’t likely to abandon its air quality monitors anytime soon, but #Project2025…proposes eliminating the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights that manages the tool...."
- #Climate #ClimateChange #Environment
- Update. Here's a good use of #GitHub to track textual changes and page takedowns on federal govt web sites since #Trump took office.
- https://www.404media.co/github-is-showing-the-trump-administration-scrubbing-government-web-pages-in-real-time/
- This project is dedicated to the pages on #DEI. I hope someone launches a similar project on the pages dedicated to science and research.
- #USPol #USPolitics
- Update. "For the first time in its more than 60-year history, the #CDC's [#OpenAccess] Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (#MMWR) did not go out as scheduled because of a communications pause at federal health agencies issued by the #Trump administration."
- https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/generalinfectiousdisease/113905
- #Censorship #Medicine #USPol #USPolitics
- Update. As recently as January 2, 2025, #NASA had five modules for teaching #OpenScience on its web site. The #Trump administration has taken them down.
- https://science.nasa.gov/open-science/tops/os101/
- Here they are in the @internetarchive Wayback Machine.
- https://web.archive.org/web/2025010214
- #TrumpAntiScience #USPol #USPolitics
- Update. If you're following this thread, also follow the Silencing Science Tracker from Sabin Center for Climate Change Law (at Columbia Law School) and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund.
- https://climate.law.columbia.edu/Silencing-Science-Tracker
- #Climate #USPol #USPolitics
- Update. "Datasets aggregated on data.gov, the largest repository of U.S. government #OpenData on the internet, are being deleted, according to the website’s own information. Since Donald Trump was inaugurated as president, more than 2,000 datasets have disappeared from the database."
- https://www.404media.co/archivists-work-to-identify-and-save-the-thousands-of-datasets-disappearing-from-data-gov/
- This is very welcome news in the face of Trumpist depredations of US public data.
- https://lil.law.harvard.edu/blog/2025/01/30/preserving-public-u-s-federal-data/
- "In recent months the Harvard Law School [@harvard_law] Library Innovation Lab [@harvardlil] has created a data vault to download, sign as authentic, and make available copies of public government data that is most valuable to researchers, scholars, civil society and the public at large across every field. To begin, we have collected major portions of the datasets tracked by data.gov, federal #Github repositories, and #PubMed...."
- #DataGov #Libraries #OpenData #Preservation #Trump #USPol #USPolitics
- Related: Also see the End of Term Web Archive, which routinely scrapes and preserves US govt web pages before new presidents take office. Launched in 2008 and still going strong. To supplement its archive, it welcomes URL nominations of sites to save.
- https://eotarchive.org/
- #OpenData #Preservation #Trump #USPol #USPolitics
- Related: "As Data Goes Off-Line Under #Trump, Environmental Researchers Are Uploading Backups"
- https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/research/2025/01/29/data-goes-line-under-trump-researchers-upload-backups
- "In the first few days of Donald Trump’s second term as president, the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s #Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (#CEJST, for short) disappeared from government websites. It was an interactive map of U.S. Census tracts that are “marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution,” as the pre-Trump federal government put it—something researchers and the public could use to quickly locate and zoom in on specific communities and analyze the problems they face. The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine stored a copy of the webpage, but even there, the map was gone. However, thanks to a team of researchers from multiple universities and other organizations, a new working version was posted online Friday."
- #OpenData #Preservation #USPol #USPolitics
- Related: "The #Trump administration is scrubbing the #CDC’s website of documents on #ReproductiveRights issues, sexual health, intimate partner violence, and more. We’re saving them. 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘋𝘢𝘺 will publish and host these vital documents for as long as necessary. To share deleted documents with 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘋𝘢𝘺, email tips@abortioneveryday.com. "
- https://jessica.substack.com/p/cdc-birth-control-guidelines-pdf
- #Preservation #USPol #USPolitics
- "#USDA ordered to scrub climate change from websites"
- https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/31/usda-climate-change-websites-00201826
- "Agriculture Department employees have been ordered to delete landing pages discussing climate change across agency websites and document climate change references for further review, according to an internal email obtained by POLITICO...."
- #Agriculture #Climate #Trump #USPol #USPolitics
- Also see the Safeguarding Research project.
- https://safeguarding-research.discourse.group/
- "You know of any publicly available material that needs safeguarding? Please post about it here!"
- #Preservation #USPol #USPolitics
- "Large amounts of public information about #HIV and the health of teens, #transgender and #LGBTQ+ people abruptly disappeared late Friday from the website of the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention [#CDC] as government agencies scramble to comply with directives from President Donald #Trump."
- https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/31/public-health-information-offline-trump-orders-00201914
- #USPol #USPolitics
- "The #CDC has instructed its scientists to #retract or pause the publication of any research manuscript being considered by any medical or scientific journal, not merely its own internal periodicals…The move aims to ensure that no "forbidden terms" appear in the work. The policy includes manuscripts that are in the revision stages at journal (but not officially accepted) and those already accepted for publication but not yet live."
- https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/faustfiles/114043
- I trust MedPage Today, where this news appeared. But it only cites the author's Substack newsletter, which in turn cites nothing. Can anyone confirm this report?
- #Retractions #ScholComm #Trump #USPol #USPolitics
- "In a radical break with tradition, the National Science Foundation (#NSF) this week began to search through billions of dollars of #grants the agency has already awarded for anything touching on topics that President Donald #Trump has criticized. And NSF has blocked grantees and trainees from accessing funds while the review is underway, wreaking havoc across the academic research community."
- https://www.science.org/content/article/exclusive-nsf-starts-vetting-all-grants-comply-trump-s-orders
- #Censorship #ScholComm #USPol #USPolitics
- Thanks to Kate Nyhan (@kdnyhan@social.esmarconf.org) for pointing out this report making the #Republican case that #Democrats politicized science.
- DEI: Division. Extremism. Ideology. How the Biden-Harris NSF Politicized Science
- https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/4BD2D522-2092-4246-91A5-58EEF99750BC
- It's undated but apparently from November 2024, when Dems controlled the Senate. It's from the minority, Republican members (led by Ted Cruz) of the Senate committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which oversees the #NSF.
- #DEI #NSF #Republicans #Trump #USPol #USPolitics