Donald Trump has only been President of the United States for a few hours, but Barack Obama’s successor has already implemented several stark changes now that his administration is in place. Many of these were hinted at in his combative, fist-clenching inaugural address, which echoed his campaign speeches, but the most immediate effects were noticed by visitors to the WhiteHouse.gov website. Especially since “climate change,” “global warming,” and other pertinent phrases were wiped from its pages.
According to Motherboard, the WhiteHouse.gov page dedicated to the Obama administration’s plans for tackling climate change issues no longer exists as of 12 p.m. ET. It still turns up in Google searches, but the page itself is gone. Those who click on the now-dead link will instead be presented with a text page containing an automated statement:
The closest thing the Trump-headlined WhiteHouse.gov website has to this remnant is the page dedicated to the president’s “America First Energy Plan,” which states, “Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule.” In other words, the new website’s only mention of “climate” is in a sentence explaining the new president’s intent to eradicate Obama’s “Climate Action Plan.”
What’s more, the Trump administration’s new White House webpage has also removed all significant references to LGBT workplace rights, legal measures and policies — not to mention “LGBT” itself:
https://twitter.com/JayFranzone/status/822495562138316801
All mentions of #LGBT removed from https://t.co/SA7jODMMx8; 44 mentions for 'military'. The great work begins. pic.twitter.com/CIpdITywnl
— Jonathan D. Lovitz (@jdlovitz) January 20, 2017
Per The Daily Beast, all entries to civil rights and healthcare reform were also wiped from the WhiteHouse.gov address. The removal of the original civil rights landing page is especially troubling, as the new website has replaced it with “Standing Up For Our Law Enforcement Community” and slightly pampered (though widely disproven) campaign language concerning rising crime rates in inner-city neighborhoods across the country:
The Trump Administration is committed to reducing violent crime. In 2015, homicides increased by 17% in America’s fifty largest cities. That’s the largest increase in 25 years. In our nation’s capital, killings have risen by 50 percent. There were thousands of shootings in Chicago last year alone.
“Our job is not to make life more comfortable for the rioter, the looter, or the violent disrupter,” the new page continues before segueing into a discussion of the administration’s boisterous support of the Second Amendment.
(Via Motherboard and The Daily Beast)