The editor-in-chief of Scientific American, the country’s oldest magazine, resigned on Thursday after posting a controversial message directed at supporters of President-elect Donald Trump. After Trump’s win on Election Night, Laura Helmuth disparaged the president-elect’s voters as the “meanest, dumbest, most bigoted high-school classmates” and added, “fuck them to the moon and back.” She also called Gen X’ers who voted for the Republican candidate “fucking fascists,” an incredibly clever and original label.
Helmuth tried to mop up her Trump Derangement Syndrome in an apology Nov. 8, claiming she was still “committed to civil communication and editorial objectivity.” On Thursday, however, she announced her resignation. “I’ve decided to leave Scientific American after an exciting 4.5 years as editor in chief. I’m going to take some time to think about what comes next (and go birdwatching),” Helmuth said in a post on little-known social media app Bluesky.
Under Helmuth’s leadership, Scientific American made the unprecedented decision to endorse then-candidate Joe Biden in 2020 and Vice President Kamala Harris in this year’s election. Michael Shermer, who was a columnist for the magazine from 2001 to 2019, criticized his former employer earlier in 2024, accusing it of becoming a left-wing publication more focused on advancing political narratives than on pursuing truth. “I started to see the writing on the wall toward the end of my run there,” he told City Journal. “I saw I was being slowly nudged away from certain topics.”
Unscientific American
What went wrong at the nation’s leading popular science magazine (includes my own run of 214 consecutive monthly columns at Scientific American and the ideological capture of the editors after 2016):https://t.co/94kqnxahi3— Michael Shermer (@michaelshermer) May 5, 2024
Of course, he was “nudged away” from discussing “certain topics,” meaning anything that strayed from the dogma of modern-day Science™—or, more accurately, left-wing political orthodoxy. For people like Helmuth, science isn’t about seeking truth, challenging established theories, or proposing bold new ideas. It’s about advancing the left-wing narrative, gatekeeping the movement, and climbing the ladder of power within the ideological echo chamber.
During his transition so far, Trump has made several moves that suggest he has learned from his first term in office and aims to avoid some of the missteps that hindered his agenda previously. From ceremonial actions and personnel choices to his interactions with congressional leaders and restructuring of White House decision-making, Trump’s second transition stands in sharp contrast to the post-2016 election period. The tone for his return to the White House has been notably more cordial, highlighted by his meeting with President Joe Biden on Wednesday—a step he chose not to take in 2020.
“Politics is tough, and in many cases not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today,” Trump said while meeting with the commander-in-chief. The structure of Trump’s government appears to be taking shape much more swiftly than during the previous transition. Public interest in his cabinet picks is high, with the president-elect announcing his selections in quick succession, akin to a sports draft. While some of his choices have raised eyebrows, they provide important insights into Trump’s priorities and approach, Just the News reported.
Trump’s first cabinet was marked by instability, with many senior officials either resigning in frustration or being dismissed over the course of his four years in office. Some of these personnel issues stemmed from his selection of establishment Republican figures and neoconservative war hawks for key roles. For example, former Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus was appointed chief of staff but lasted less than a year in the position.
He also publicly confirmed that he would not invite former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo back into the administration, both of whom are considered neoconservatives and hawkish figures in the GOP. For the military, Trump chose Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense. A Fox News weekend host and combat veteran, Hegseth’s selection was seen as unconventional.
