Bill Nye's Open Letter to President Donald Trump

Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society, and our Board of Directors present five recommendations to the Trump administration as it contemplates the future of the U.S. space program.

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About The Planetary Society:
The Planetary Society has inspired millions of people to explore other worlds and seek other life. With the mission to empower the world's citizens to advance space science and exploration, its international membership makes the non-governmental Planetary Society the largest space interest group in the world. Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray and Louis Friedman founded the Planetary Society in 1980. Bill Nye, a longtime member of the Planetary Society's Board, serves as CEO.

[gzricardo]

It is great how Bill knows how to deal with an audience of ten year old kids in science class or the President of the United States without making them feel stupid.

[DirtyHairy]

I wish this video had started with, "Please, consider the following..."

[chrisanderson]

I would happily pay an extra 5% tax if all of it went to space exploration.

[UaGClanGaming]

Bill Nye is genuinely making an effort to point the United States in the right direction. Gives me hope.

[mattuiop]

Trump signed a bill to increase funding only yesterday. success?

[aaronchung]

Why are some people seeing Bill as some "political actor"? Bill isn't making any political attacks with this video, he is just politely asking our new president about decisions regarding NASA and space. He maintained a tone of respect during his discussion of the benefits of his recommendations for the space program. The reason behind this is because the new president will be able to make decisions regarding said space program, and Bill is obligated as the CEO of The Planetary Society to offer suggestions that will help the president make decisions that will be the best for our people.

On the topic of politics, I am disappointed that fewer and fewer people are judging others with both good and bad qualities. If someone you hate does something good, you should still praise that action instead of dishonoring it. If someone you love does something bad, you should still criticize that action instead of glorifying it. Only if you can do this, you can consider yourself to have good judgement.

Yet I am frustrated to see many people today judging everything of someone they love to be good and everything of someone they hate to be bad. These kind of people I would think have their judgment clouded by believing only what they wish to believe and seeing only what they want to see. This sad reality makes me doubt the future of our world.

[catrivelli]

This video is well thought out and delivered. Mr. Nye, you are the perfect advocate and ambassador for the advancement of science. Our kids have grown up watching you. You have left a positive imprint on the expansion of human knowledge. You have also made being smart and supporting intellectualism cool. My kids love you and so do I.

[KyleAllenMusic]

I'm a republican and this is very respectful. I have great respect for Bill and Donald.

[JaredKohr]

This is just a guy who deserves respect. Didn't throw any political punches, he stayed objective for the good of our advancement. Love Bill Nye.

[BenSliwa]

I could listen to this guy read the phone book.

[BigWitter]

TRUMP APPROVED THE BUDGET FOR NASA!!!!

[XsylumProductions]

Bill: "... and witness the opening of a new market place, in space"

Trump: "That's all I needed to hear"

[brownballer]

This man has helped influence so many kids to get involved in science. I hope he can do the same with president Trump.

[evanhosley]

Bill nye 2020. Campaign slogan: "BILL BILL BILL BILL"

[gntsjbn]

I respect him for not complaining or mocking Mr.Trump but instead taking this With a smart reasonable approach. This is a smart way to go about it with out starting YET ANOTHER annoying debate

[ygolohcysp]

Better not get "mars landing was a hoax "

[pontalex]

Tell him he can build a Trump Casino on Mars...that may get his attention.

[aaronsmith]

As a proud member of the planetary society I'd like to point out that the society's main achievements have been generating funds for necessary space projects from donations, mainly in response to the ever-shrinking Nasa budget. Now while many ignorant American's can scoff at the notion of space projects and their necessity, I'd like to point out that Nasa was being forced to shelve planetary defense projects both in terms of locating near earth asteroids as well as coming up with defenses to deal with them.

We were completely blind to the Russian meteor strike a few years ago simply because it came from the direction of the sun and the telescopes dedicated to locating such objects only work at night. A simple fix would be to put a satellite in orbit with the ability to see in infared light, doing so would quite literally shine a light on every near earth asteroid no matter the size. Why haven't we done so? Funding. Meanwhile we spend over a trillion on our military, homeland security and nuclear arsenal when the estimated cost of such a satellite is around 250-500 million dollars.

[namelastname]

This dude is making me wanna become a freaking astronaut🌌

[GentlistUncle]

Is there a way to donate to NASA? say, a couple of dollars every month. imagine what NASA could do with a crowdfunding campaign.