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How Trump damaged science — and why it could take decades to recover

The US president’s actions have exacerbated the pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 people in the United States, rolled back environmental and public-health regulations and undermined science and scientific institutions. Some of the harm could be permanent.
  1. Jeff Tollefson
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Cartoon of President Trump standing in the sea surrounded by viruses, burning trees, tombstones, broken beakers and pollution.

Illustration by Señor Salme

People packed in by the thousands, many dressed in red, white and blue and carrying signs reading “Four more years” and “Make America Great Again”. They came out during a global pandemic to make a statement, and that’s precisely why they assembled shoulder-to-shoulder without masks in a windowless warehouse, creating an ideal environment for the coronavirus to spread.

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Nature 586, 190-194 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02800-9

Updates & Corrections

  • Update 07 October 2020: This story has been updated with new details of the president’s health status.

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