The Real Reason Trump Is Dismantling the Research Center That Helps Keeps You Safe From Extreme Weather

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1. One of the world’s leading climate, weather, and wildfire science research institutions is being targeted for elimination in what many of those affected see as President Donald Trump’s political vendetta against Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

   Word that the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder would be broken up, with some of its functions moved elsewhere, came hours after the cancellation of $109 million in federal environmental and safety grants for Colorado, and one day after Trump took time during an Oval Office ceremony to excoriate Polis as a “[weak and pathetic](https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/trump-colorado-governor-jared-polis-tina-peters/) man.” Russell Vought, the director of the White House budget office, announced that the center would be eliminated in a [post](https://x.com/russvought/status/2001099488774033692?s=20) on the social media site X on Tuesday evening. His office did not respond to a request for further comment Wednesday.

   Trump’s beef with Polis stems from the jailing of a former county election official in Colorado, Tina Peters, who was convicted of giving Trump allies [unauthorized access](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/us/politics/trump-tina-peters.html) to a voting machine in the aftermath of the 2020 election. An anonymous White House official told [the Washington Post:](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/12/17/trump-national-center-atmospheric-research-climate/) “The Colorado governor obviously isn’t willing to work with the president.”

   Scientists affiliated with NCAR expressed shock that the center—a linchpin in climate and weather research globally—is at risk of becoming collateral damage in one of Trump’s feuds.

   For more: [https://slate.com/technology/2025/12/donald-trump-jared-polis-colorado-climate-change-extreme-weather.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=colorado_climate_change_research&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social–colorado_climate_change_research](https://slate.com/technology/2025/12/donald-trump-jared-polis-colorado-climate-change-extreme-weather.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=colorado_climate_change_research&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social–colorado_climate_change_research)

2. What a psycopathic character Trump is. There are comic book villains less evil than he is

3. The amount of suffering on the behalf of one man’s ego….

4. My fiancé looks to be likely to lose her job because of this. I’m disgusted to see the US so readily cede scientific prowess away to the rest of the world, particularly over such a petty personal feud.

5. What a frigging jerk!

6. We don’t deserve advanced things like NCAR if we aren’t drastically reducing our emissions. And everyone in Boulder who still speaks to Trump voters do not deserve any complaint at this point.

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