On 27 June, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump met on the debate stage for the first time in this election cycle. The often contentious 90-minute debate focused on the economy, foreign policy, immigration, and Trump’s legal issues (often regardless of the topic of the moderators’ questions).
In the only mention of science during the debate, moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper asked the former president whether he would seek to slow the climate crisis. Instead of answering the question, Trump immediately pivoted to talking about policing and immigration before falsely claiming he had “the best environmental numbers ever” including “immaculate” water and air.
Trump did not answer the question, but did at one point refer to the “green new scam,” as he has frequently done before.
In his rebuttal, Biden corrected the record and touted his passing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), rejoining the 2015 Paris Agreement, his protection of clean water and air policies, and the establishment of the American Climate Corps.
“If we reach 1.5 degrees Celsius at any one point, there’s no way back,” Biden said. “The only existential threat to humanity is climate change, and [Trump] didn’t do a damn thing about it. He wants to undo all that I’ve done.”
Stark Differences Mean High Stakes
Historically, presidential debates have not been venues where new policy initiatives or campaign promises are introduced—this one was no different. The candidates reiterated that their second terms would continue and expand upon the work started in their first terms.
As presidents, Biden and Trump enacted vastly different policies on climate change, environmental protection, clean energy, education, and science funding.
In his first term, Trump overturned more than 100 environmental rules put in place by the Obama administration. On the campaign trail this year, he reportedly promised oil executives that he would scrap Biden’s clean energy, environmental protection, and electric vehicle (EV) initiatives in exchange for $1 billion in campaign contributions. The oil industry is reportedly drafting executive orders for Trump to sign on Inauguration Day. The Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project, a right-wing playbook provided to the former president by the Heritage Foundation, includes these and other plans for a second Trump term.
While Biden’s record on science and the environment is far from perfect, scientists agree that he has done far more to protect science and its practitioners than Trump did. The IRA, lauded as the most ambitious piece of climate legislation in history, is starting to gain speed. Money is being disbursed to states to develop more clean energy infrastructure and EV manufacturing, and up to 40% of that money is earmarked for marginalized communities who are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis.
Another area where Biden’s and Trump’s policies greatly differ is in their support for reproductive rights. This issue, which did feature in Thursday’s debate, greatly affects the scientific community. Already, scientists and students who are women, transgender, and/or queer must carefully consider their safety and the safety of their families as they apply for new jobs or schools, travel for work, or attend a scientific conference.
With a second Biden term aiming to enhance protections for these groups and a second Trump term aiming to further strip away those protections, the stakes for the scientific community are incredibly high. The loss of scientific advancement is a detriment to everyone, but the potential consequences go beyond the loss of future discoveries. They speak to the need to protect the most vulnerable members of the scientific community from the loss of universal human rights.
This article originally appeared in Eos Magazine.
