NASA And The National Park Service Launch Rogue Twitter Accounts In Defiance Of Donald Trump Administration
NASA and the National Park Service are just two of the latest government agencies that have defied the Donald Trump administration and launched rogue Twitter accounts that are beyond the reach of the government.
The Donald Trump administration has recently placed new orders that aim to limit contact with the public from various government agencies, including the National Park Service, NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Health and Human Services. Despite the fact that these government agencies are funded by taxpayers, the new Trump administration is placing bans on certain social media postings.
Earlier this week, on the official Twitter account of the Badlands National Park in South Dakota, National Park officials posted a tweet on the detrimental affects of global warming. This post was later deleted and there was a huge public outcry over the idea of the Trump administration’s censorship, as NPR reported.
“Today, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years. #climate.”
However, earlier this week, the National Park Service launched their own rogue Twitter account at @AltNatParkSer which is beyond the reach of the Trump administration as it is an unofficial account. On their Twitter account, they note that they are the unofficial “resistance” team of the National Park Service and are not taxpayer subsidized.
They also state that while the Trump administration may be able to limit their discourse with the public on official National Park Service Twitter accounts, Donald Trump cannot stop National Park Service employees from setting up other Twitter accounts and speaking to the public in their spare time. As of now, there are 1.18 million followers on the unofficial rogue National Park Service Twitter page.
“Can’t wait for President Trump to call us FAKE NEWS. You can take our official twitter, but you’ll never take our free time!”
A YUUUGE #ScienceMarch in Washington DC is being planned to tell Trump’s cabinet “Alt” facts won’t sell #resist https://t.co/pvTQMZoCqM
— AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 26, 2017
The rogue National Park Service Twitter account recently published a Donald Trump tweet that proclaims he believes that, “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” The National Park Service replied, “Sorry, Mr Trump. That blue tick verifying your ID doesn’t verify your belief that China invented global warming. Even if you ARE President.”
The Independent has reported that employees who work for more than a dozen government agencies in the United States have now also launched their own unofficial Twitter accounts in a direct response and challenge to the Donald Trump administration’s efforts to hinder governmental contact with the pubic. NASA is now the latest agency who have set up their own rogue Twitter account.
After the rogue National Park Service Twitter account launched, employees of NASA put up their own page. The unofficial rogue NASA Twitter account, @RogueNASA, now has 543,000 followers and states that they are the “unofficial resistance team of NASA.” They also say that followers can “come for the facts” and “stay for the snark.” In a reply to Donald Trump’s disbelief in the effects of global warming and his wish to build a wall along the perimeter of Mexico, the rogue NASA Twitter account stated that they must be a nightmare come true for Donald Trump.
“An account that tweets climate facts *and* in Spanish?! We must be Trump’s worst nightmare.”
Other unofficial government Twitter accounts that have been popping up in direct defiance of the Donald Trump administration include a special Badlands National Park Twitter account known as @BadHombreNPS, which is a response to Trump’s previous comments about there being many “bad hombres” from Mexico.
The Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the National Weather Service, and the Centers for Disease Control are other government agencies who have also set up their own rogue Twitter accounts in order to feed facts to members of the public, which otherwise wouldn’t be allowed now.
What do you think of the new NASA and National Park Service rogue Twitter accounts, and do you think it’s right that the Donald Trump Administration should seek to limit contact with the public from taxpayer-funded agencies?
[Featured Image by Scott Olson/Getty Images]
