Donald Trump’s science envoy resigns, calls for his impeachment
Over the past week so many people have resigned in protest of Donald Trump, it’s been difficult to keep track. Numerous major CEOs resigned from his manufacturing council before it ultimately disbanded. Then his entire arts council resigned. After that, one member of his evangelical council quit as well. And now his Science Envoy is not only resigning, he’s calling for Trump to be impeached.
Daniel M Kammen is a Professor of Energy at the University of California, Berkeley and the Director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Lab. Until today he also held the title of Science Envoy for the State Department. But now he’s publicly posted a resignation letter, stating “Mr. President, I am resigning as Science Envoy. Your response to Charlottesville enables racism, sexism, & harms our country and planet.”
In his letter he goes on to explain that “My decision to resign is in response to your attacks on core values of the United States. Your failure to condemn white supremacists and neo-Nazis has domestic and international ramifications.” He then goes on to name various Democrats and Republicans with whom he agrees on the issue. But it’s the word “impeach” that speaks the most loudly.
The first letter of the first word of each paragraph of Kammen’s letter can be strung together to spell “impeach”:
This comes after the Arts Council used its own mass resignation letter to spell out the word “Resist.” But here, Professor Kammen has chosen to hit much harder. He’s unquestionably calling for the impeachment of Donald Trump. In his final sentence he makes clear why he feels this way: “Your actions to date have, sadly, harmed the quality of life in the United States, our standing abroad, and the sustainability of the planet.” This now puts the total number of people who have resigned in protest of Trump this month in the dozens.
