Editor-in-chief of America's oldest magazine resigns after calling Trump voters fascists

[sarisataka]

Editor-in-chief of America’s oldest magazine resigns after calling Trump voters fascists


Laura Helmuth is resigning as editor-in-chief of Scientific American magazine following an expletive-filled rant about Donald Trump voters.

Posting on Bluesky, an X rival, Helmuth said Thursday that she’s “decided to leave Scientific American after an exciting 4.5 years as editor in chief” without mentioning her previous comments.

In a series of now-deleted posts on the same platform, she called Trump voters the “meanest, dumbest, most bigoted” group and “fascists” following the former president’s reelection last week. Her comments went viral on X and were criticized on the increasingly right-wing platform.

Helmuth had apologized in a separate post, calling them “offensive and inappropriate” and that they don’t “reflect the position” of Scientific American.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/15/media/scientific-american-editor-resignation/index.html

[Ocelot II]

1. She was right, though.

[spooky3]

2. Agree. Offensive and inappropriate, maybe, but spot on.

Like “deplorables.”

[Walleye]

26. After what Trump has put us through, I don't like inappropriate as a condemnation

I think she was honest and absolutely correct. What is appropriate about any of this?

[ShazzieB]

60. I agree.

I think it's a travesty that she had to apologize, much less resign, for speaking the truth.

[barbtries]

65. excellent point nt

[brush]

78. No need to apologize. It's obvious it's her opinion, not the magazine's. Just turn and walk out of the door.

[Attilatheblond]

29. We are in peril because too many influential people put being 'appropriate' above being offensively honest & forthright

[The Roux Comes First]

56. And Yet We Have Allowed the Right to Suborn the Terms "Politically Correct" and "Woke" As If They Have Always

(Well. never, in my memory) been the group to be honest and trustworthy!!

This is the party of shit-heelers, let them face it as they will. Always lying, caviling, projecting their own psychological weaknesses and outright criminality on the "Others."

But there are an astonishing number of these should-be-in-prison folks out there obviously. Too bad Australia already received a gazillion supposed assholes to preserve the "Queen's" pretense of an unblemished Kingdome.

[Tansy_Gold]

57. I feel like making several new DU accounts

just so I can rec this post several more times.

[riversedge]

89. ###

[LiberalArkie]

48. I had an English teacher in high school back in the 60's that was always grammartically (?) correct

but one day one of the most redneck cruel foul mouthed kids said something and she let loose with one of the longest string of curse words. Some of us 17 year olds had ever hear of before. After she finally stopped we had to laugh for ever.

Just sometimes, no matter how intelligent and smart a person is, they just have to let all that bottled up stuff loose.

[Timeflyer]

6. Absolutely. Glad she spoke the truth.

[Bluetus]

39. Why are Dems so quick to apologize?

If she was quitting anyway (and if she was fired, she had to know that was coming), why retract anything. A simple "These are my own opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Scientific American" would have been sufficient.

I understand a once-proud magazine that is clinging by a thread can't stand up to any bullying from the right. Nonetheless, it is disgusting that a magazine that has honored the role of science and facts for over a century would go to its grave in this manner.

[COL Mustard]

62. Sometimes

The truth hurts.

[Envirogal]

67. Truth hurts. They are ignorant and fascists.

[returnee]

70. People shouldn't back off on speaking the truth.

It’s like Timothy Snyder says: Don’t obey in advance.
That doesn’t mean one shouldn’t as reasonably circumspect and polite as one would ordinarily be. It means if you feel it and it’s the truth and you say it, don’t take it back. Too much self-censorship IS censorship.

[Dennis Donovan]

3. Trump voters lack the one thing that makes us human...

Empathy. Without it, we're just selfish animals.

[GoneOffShore]

10. From John Prine -

[Susan Calvin]

20. Except most animals aren't selfish. nt

[Ocelot II]

51. True. Animals just do what they have to do to get food, territory and mates

and protect themselves and their young. They don't act out of malice or greed, unlike humans. The lion doesn't eat you because he doesn't like your attitude; he's just hungry. The bear doesn't hate you; she's defending her cubs. Animals aren't assholes.

[Blue_Tires]

4. The reprisals are coming...

Anybody speaking out about Dear Leader and his apartheid errand boy will face repercussions... 🙄

[NJCher]

14. oh please

I've had about enough of the hysteria. Get a grip. Cheebus.

[Blue_Tires]

17. He's the one who has repeatedly promised

Military tribunals and firing squads for all his "political enemies"... Those are his own words:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/13/politics/trump-military-enemy-from-within-election-day/index.html

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/21/nx-s1-5134924/trump-election-2024-kamala-harris-elizabeth-cheney-threat-civil-liberties

[NJCher]

18. you're assuming he has the competence to get this done

He doesn't. And it's not likely many will go along with him either.

The man is incompetent. I love his spectacular success on Rick Scott running the Senate.

[Think. Again.]

27. Are you really trying to tell people...

...not to take the dangers of trump seriously?

[NJCher]

34. what does "take the dangers of trump seriously "

mean in your book?

In terms of action and in how you live your life?

Please, define.

[Think. Again.]

50. oh, sure, I'll explain...

I believe that, in my book, "taking the dangers of trump seriously" means to consider the actual harm trump can do with the attention it deserves.

Is that good? Or do you need me to explain any other words? Would you like to know how to access a dictionary or thesaurus?

Also, why are you so curious about my personal actions and day-to-day life? Such an interest in an internet stranger is a little creepy, you know.

[NJCher]

55. so exactly nothing in terms of

real action or commitment.

Thanks. That's what I thought.

Now go sit in your comfy chair and "consider" while the rest of do what we need to do, which does not include acting like a hysterical scared chicken.

[Think. Again.]

59. Wow, you REALLY don't want the first-count results...

...to be checked, do you.

Interesting....

[NJCher]

61. au contraire

Precisely the opposite.

[Think. Again.]

63. oh, so THAT'S why you're arguing against it!

Clever!

[NJCher]

73. not sure where you're getting that

but whatever.

[liberalgunwilltravel]

28. Read these and get back to us

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/15/trump-critics-retribution

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/15/opinion/donald-trump-orban-putin.html?unlocked_article_code=1.aE4.9DFX.xtE_vUErrkfB&smid=url-share

These are people that know what's coming and they are frightened. Trump may be a buffoon, but he is surrounded by evil people far more competent in destruction than he is. Ignore that fact at your peril.

[NJCher]

36. I've read enough of this stuff

I don't need to read more and wallow in fear like the rest of you.

And quite frankly, even if he were after me personally, I am an able opponent. He doesn't worry me one bit.

[littlemissmartypants]

83. Hear! Hear! ❤️

[riversedge]

88. That photo of Trump's eye overlooking the US Capitol building is very telling to say the least!!....

‘We all have our eyes wide open’: Trump critics brace for dark time of retribution

Public officials targeted by Trump say they’re preparing for extreme scenarios, including possibility of being arrested

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/15/trump-critics-retribution?CMP=share_btn_url

Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles Fri 15 Nov 2024 06.00 EST

Members of Congress and other US public officials targeted for “retribution” by Donald Trump say they are taking extraordinary security precautions for themselves and their families and are now bracing for scenarios as extreme as the possibility of being rounded up and arrested, after Trump returns to the White House.

Two Democratic House members who have been vocal in their criticisms of Trump and his policy agenda told the Guardian they and their colleagues are preparing for “some pretty surreal and dystopic scenarios”. They range from bogus investigations or tax audits of present and former members of the federal government to out-and-out violence inspired by Trump’s rhetoric of revenge.

“I hope none of my Democratic colleagues become American corollaries to Alexander Navalny,” said the congressman Jared Huffman of California, referring to the Russian opposition leader and outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin who survived being poisoned before dying in an Arctic prison.

“[My colleagues in the House] are thinking about legal defenses against a weaponized Department of Justice,” Huffman added. “They may have to be ready to be arrested and rounded up. They have to have family plans protecting themselves in ways I don’t even like to talk about publicly …

............




?width=1140&dpr=2&s=none&crop=none

‘The list of the different ways he [Trump] could exact retribution is almost unending if he has loyalists at the top of these various agencies.’ Composite: Guardian Design, source images via Getty Images

[HUAJIAO]

33. But the people behind him WILL get it done !

[NJCher]

37. Oh really?

there are more people who thwart him than facilitate him.

[HUAJIAO]

68. That was true last time but I don't think so this time.

But I hope I am wrong and you are right.

[NJCher]

71. he's crazier this time

the dementia is setting in. Wack jobs make people nervous, no matter what their political stripes.

[progressoid]

69. I want this to be true

I want there to be career civil servants who know what's at stake and do the right thing.

I also expect there will be cuts to programs and departments that will hamstring efforts to reign him and his cronies in.

Death by a thousand cuts.

[NJCher]

72. see my post on dementia, above

eom

[Attilatheblond]

31. Eventually, enough people will have nothing left to lose

and then it gets ugly for the trumpians.

[kerouac2]

5. If it was her personal x account then she should not have quit

Period. Let them fire her if they want. Nothing she said is incorrect but it is her opinion anyway. They literally voted for known criminals.

[wnylib]

12. I'm guessing that she did not quit voluntarily.

If it was a voluntary resignation, I don't think that she would have apologized. Maybe there was an agreement. "If you apologize, you can quit. If not, you will be fired"

[NJCher]

19. I got undertones

that she was tired of the job anyway. Time to move on. She'll have no trouble finding a new position or whatever she decides to do.

[Wiz Imp]

7. Something tells me she doesn't regret anything she said (despite apologizing)

However, I wouldn't necessarily call Trump voters fascists. They voted for a fascist but not all are fascists themselves.

Her other comment though calling Trump voters the "meanest, dumbest, most bigoted” group was spot on.

[Butterflylady]

32. To me, if you vote for fascist dump, you are a fascist.

[Wiz Imp]

53. I get that. At the very least, if you voted for Trump you proved you were OK with fascism.

I just think the biggest characteristic of Trump voters is stupidity. But I have no problem with Laura Helmuth calling them fascists even if I wouldn't have used that term.

[surfered]

8. She just misstated it. Trump voters supported Fascism.

[JoseBalow]

21. You are what you support - Fuck those Nazi scumbags

[hay rick]

30. Yes. You are what you do.

[Tickle]

90. You are what you eat NT

[groundloop]

9. She shouldn't have resigned - I guarantee not a single MAGAT reads Scientific American

[bluesbassman]

13. Well not for the articles at any rate.

[AllyCat]

11. I'm failing to see the reason for her exit. She was completely correct.

[bluesbassman]

16. You see that's the difference between us and them.

They say the vilest, most insulting lies and slander about Liberals, especially women and POC, and suffer little to no consequences. We on the other hand can cite the truth about them and when they get butt hurt and cry foul we always get punished.

The real problem is the GOP has turned that scenario into an art form that they use to their full advantage.

[Skittles]

77. Trump literally calls us THE ENEMY WITHIN

that is FASCISM AT ITS FINEST

[Skittles]

75. she is right about the fascism

probably more in trouble for the cussing

[Lonestarblue]

15. Masha Gessen wrote an opinion piece for the NYT today that seems spot on to me.

“For those bewildered by why so many Americans apparently voted against the values of liberal democracy, Balint Magyar has a useful formulation. “Liberal democracy,” he says, “offers moral constraints without problem-solving” — a lot of rules, not a lot of change — while “populism offers problem-solving without moral constraints.” Magyar, a scholar of autocracy, isn’t interested in calling Donald Trump a fascist. He sees the president-elect’s appeal in terms of something more primal: “Trump promises that you don’t have to think about other people.”

Magyar is only partially right because I would argue that liberal democracy does solve problems, but he is correct in that populism, especially as practiced by Trump and his supporters, offers no moral constraints but problem solving with no rules other than those made by the authoritarians.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/15/opinion/donald-trump-orban-putin.html?unlocked_article_code=1.aE4.nZD2.3gL8ELzsiL6Y&smid=url-share

[JoseBalow]

22. Are we still uncomfortable calling fascists, fascists?

MAGA voters are fascist supporting fascists, full stop. They are all Nazi scum.

[ananda]

23. Geez, all she was doing was telling the truth.

Oh well.

[MineralMan]

24. I'm sorry she resigned.

I have a long relationship with Scientific American. In my small town, the local library was the only public building that had air conditioning - way back in the late 1950s and early 1960s. My home town in Southern California was a hot place during the Summer, so I spend long afternoons at that library. I was a voracious reader anyhow.

One of the features of that library, which was part of the library system in the county I lived in, was that it was also the storage place for several bound magazines series that dated back to the 1890s. To fill those hot afternoons, I used to systematically pore through those bound volumes, beginning with the earliest and working toward the latest. I picked three magazines in particular. Scientific American, National Geographic, and Popular Mechanics. Over a period of six years, I worked my way through all of them. I scanned every page, and read the articles that interested me, and there were many. In the process, I learned an amazing amount of seemingly useless information.

Eventually, I ended up actually writing for Popular Mechanics, designing DIY projects that reflected my fascination with articles showing how to build unusual things, something Popular Mechanics was famous for. But, I also learned a huge amount about the sciences, the world around me, and the progress of technology. I didn't know I was learning so much, since I read because I was fascinated by the information.

Anyhow, Scientific American was a wonderful magazine, and still is. I've continued to read it all my life.

[orangecrush]

25. No apology necessary

Fuck those imbeciles.

[Bettie]

35. She wasn't wrong

and if another had made the same rant about Biden or Harris, they'd not only still have a job, everyone criticizing it would be called all sorts of things.

That's the world now.

[Joe_Gadway]

38. Keep our eyes on the ball

I think she should have just said, "I don't know ALL Trump supporters, so I will not speak for all of them. But we do know that TRUMP is a fascist so let's get to work defending freedom until he is gone."
.
I'm trying to keep my eye on the ball.
And the ball is fascist Trump!

[SpankMe]

40. Her comments don't reflect the position of Scientific American

But, they sure as hell reflect mine.

[Galraedia]

41. I thought the MAGA morons on X loved free speech

She's also not wrong. Trump voters elected a twice impeached convicted felon who incited an insurrection because they're nostalgic for lower prices that they're never going to see again under Trump. That's stupid and to ignore how blatantly disgusting and corrupt Trump is also makes them a**holes.

[BrianTheEVGuy]

66. Elon has deleted more Twitter accounts than any prior leader there. That's far from free speech. NT

[Galraedia]

80. It's free speech for racists, misinformation, misogynists, child sex predators, and simps who kiss Elon's a** though.

And that's really all that matters to them.

[Seeking Serenity]

42. Seems to me that if one is in a high-profile or non-political public-facing position

i.e., not just some online rando, it would be good practice to write out one's rants, sleep on it, then reread them in the morning to decide if you really want to post them to the Internet.

Just kind of a best practices kind of thing.

[Bonx]

43. I'm surprised they found the posts on Bluesky

[ificandream]

44. Nothing to apologize for.

[mountain grammy]

45. Wait wut? I thought they loved that shit!

and, like deplorables, it's actually true.

[Blue Full Moon]

46. During Bush jr they censored science articles.

They didn't want anything published that didn't go along with their narrative. That is why I love New Scientist it actually came from Great Britain. It now has American version so not sure yet about the censorship.

[MayReasonRule]

47. Laura's Comments Were On Point And Understated

The GOP is an ongoing criminal enterprise intent on the destruction of our representative democracy.

They deserve nothing but derision.

Fuck the GOP

[Ping Tung]

49. It seems she made a lot of people uncomfortable by telling the obvious truth.

People who should feel very uncomfortable after voting for or supporting fascists.

These are the kind of people who will later say they "didn't know" about Trump and his cult. They will be the American versions of "Good Germans" that came after the atrocities of the Nazis.

[JustAnotherGen]

52. Why?

Those Trump people don't believe in 'the science'.

[Martin68]

54. Trump is a fascist as proven by his own statements. Anyone who votes for a fascist is a...

FASCIST.

[mntleo2]

58. Thin Skinned and useless

...what a bunch of lolly boys. Geeeez!. "Ooo! Oooo! Mummy tell them to stoooooop! It hurts my privates,...I - I -I mean my feelings!"

Cat in Seattle

[barbtries]

64. Well, if she was resigning anyway,

she could have kept the truth out there.

[Skittles]

74. she is correct but

not very smart

[AltairIV]

76. She's wrong

Not all tfg voters are fascists, some are just plain stupid.

[Ndp5]

79. Not good

Sigh. This is not good. The pressure for news outlets to pull punches and toe the corporate line will be strong.

If there is a more anti-science administration than Trump’s new group of jackbooted thugs, I don’t know what it is.

SA should not have pushed her out for comments on her personal social media account that accurately characterized the base of Trump’s support.

[raccoon]

81. This woman deserves a medal!

[alarimer]

82. I stopped reading when it stopped focusing on science.

So maybe I can start reading it again.

[hunter]

91. Science has always been political, same as any other human endeavor.

You can't escape it, especially when big money is being thrown around.

Amoral, apolitical scientists, even basically good scientists who are "just doing their jobs," have brought a lot of misery, pain and death into this world.

Science without a conscience is a terrible thing.

[soldierant]

84. Her remarks damn well SHOULD represent the position of Scientific American

seeing as they are not just true, but scientifically provable. Is Scientific aMerican now rekecting Science?

[angrychair]

85. They are scientists

They have to tell the truth.

[Conjuay]

86. I thought her comment was both quite SCIENTIFIC

and AMERICAN.

[usonian]

87. No good deed goes unpunished.

Such are the times.

Next, science will be banned in schools.