Although the incoming administration remains a virtual blank slate on most areas of science policy, Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric and his selection of Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency point to keeping his campaign promises to roll back President Obama’s policies on climate change. Less certain, perhaps, is whether Trump will follow through on his pledge to tear up the landmark 2015 agreement that severely curtailed Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for the lifting of international economic sanctions.
Compared with Obama, who for most of his two terms faced a hostile Congress, Trump enters office with both chambers firmly in the control of his own party. Thus, the president-elect should be able to implement his policies through legislation, which will put them on much firmer ground than the administrative actions Obama was forced to use to implement his climate change agenda. Trump will be able...
