Scientific Knowledge Used in the Trump Administration’s Policy Making

Abstract

Many scientists in the U.S. are criticizing the Trump Administration because of its lack of adopting scientific knowledge in policy making, and the academic societies are making efforts to enhance the administration's understanding of science. The Trump administration is not positive in adopting scientific knowledge especially that of climate science. This Trump administration's disinterest in science is rooted in sharp political disagreement in the House of the U.S. congress concerning climate science and regulatory policy during Obama administration.

In the article, results of analysis of the documents and statements of the House committee on science, space and technology is presented. The four-quadrant model is proposed to understand the relationship between production of knowledge and use of knowledge. Analysis is done in five points; peer review, uncertainty, reproducibility, consensus among scientists, and motivation. The discussion includes possibilities of furthering the understanding the value of science among policy makers and general public.