U.S. President Donald Trump¡¯s executive-order Sharpies have done more work lately, but his most infamous Sharpie is still the one that drew a curve at the end of a hurricane forecast cone in September of 2019.
The ensuing controversy, known as Sharpiegate, was a harbinger of the fact-optional, seat-of-his-pants approach to disaster management Trump would later apply to the COVID-19 pandemic, with catastrophic results. That he has now tapped a key player in the Sharpiegate drama to run the nation¡¯s weather service suggests Trump has learned nothing from these debacles.
Trump last week nominated the scientist Neil Jacobs to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a vast organization within the Commerce Department that includes the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center. It also conducts climate research, compiling troves of data used by scientists worldwide.
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