Following Donald Trump’s appearance on 60 Minutes, some people came away with the idea that Trump was “softening” on climate change. That is, the barrier of nonsense that Trump had wrapped around the subject might have been slightly dented by the major hurricanes that keep battering the United States. But in his extended interview with the Associated Press, Trump made it clear that not only will he never admit that he was wrong about the “Chinese hoax” he has absolutely no respect for scientists, science, or those pesky facts.

AP: But scientists say this is nearing a point where this can’t be reversed. Trump: No, no. Some say that and some say differently. I mean, you have scientists on both sides of it. My uncle was a great professor at MIT for many years. Dr. John Trump. And I didn’t talk to him about this particular subject, but I have a natural instinct for science, and I will say that you have scientists on both sides of the picture.

“A natural instinct” is exactly what science is not. A scientific theory has to be tested. It has to be discarded when it does not fit the facts. Science is not an instinct, a hunch, a feeling, or a guess. It may start with any of those things, but science has to be tested, and failing ideas have to be tossed away, no matter how “right” they may feel.

Trump also makes it clear that while he claims to be interested in the environment, he has a higher calling.

Trump: What I’m not willing to do is sacrifice the economic well-being of our country for something that nobody really knows. And you have scientists on both sides of the issue. And I agree the climate changes, but it goes back and forth, back and forth. So we’ll see.

Unfortunately, we will.