Krugman: The war on climate science was a rehearsal for Trump's war on truth

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/20/opinion/trump-republican-truth-climate-change.html

The G.O.P.’s Climate of Paranoia
By Paul Krugman
Aug. 20, 2018

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. Truth isn’t truth.

Rudy Giuliani’s latest bon mot is a reminder, if anyone needed it, that calling the Trump administration Orwellian isn’t hyperbole, it’s just a statement of fact. Like the ruling party in “1984,” Donald Trump operates on the principle that truth — whether it involves inauguration crowd sizes, immigrant crime or economic performance — is what he says it is. And that truth can change at a moment’s notice. ...

I don’t claim to understand the whole story. But one thing is clear: The Orwellification of the G.O.P. didn’t start with Trump. On the contrary, the party has been moving in that direction for years; the mind-set Trump is exploiting was already well in place before he burst on the scene.

Consider the claims of Trump and his allies that evidence of his collusion with Russia — not “alleged” collusion, because there is no longer any real doubt — is a hoax perpetrated by the “deep state.” Where have we seen something like that before? In Republican attacks on the evidence for climate change.