Editor-in-Chief of America’s Oldest Magazine Resigns After Denigrating Trump Voters

Supporters wait in line to enter a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump in Macon, Ga., on Nov. 3, 2024. Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images

The editor-in-chief of Scientific American, which was founded in 1845, has stepped down after calling people who voted for President-elect Donald Trump fascists.

Laura Helmuth announced on Nov. 14 on the social media website Bluesky that she was resigning.

“I’m going to take some time to think about what comes next (and go birdwatching),” Helmuth wrote.

After returns showed Trump on track to win the recent election, Helmuth took to Bluesky to apologize to younger people “that my Gen X is so full of [expletive] fascists.”

“Solidarity to everybody whose meanest, dumbest, most bigoted high-school classmates are celebrating early results because [expletive] them to the moon and back,” she also wrote. “Every four years I remember why I left Indiana (where I grew up) and remember why I respect the people who stayed and are trying to make it less racist and sexist. The moral act of the universe isn’t going to bend itself.”

Helmuth later deleted the posts and said that they were “offensive and inappropriate.”

“I respect and value people across the political spectrum. These posts ... do not reflect my beliefs; they were a mistaken expression of shock and confusion about the election results,” she said. “These posts of course do not reflect the position of Scientific American or my colleagues.”

The magazine did not issue a statement about the comments.

Kimberly Lau, president of Scientific American, told news outlets in a statement after Helmuth announced her resignation: “We thank Laura for her four years leading Scientific American during which time the magazine won major science communications awards and saw the establishment of a reimagined digital newsroom. We wish her well for the future.”

Since the election, Scientific American has published multiple pieces critical of Trump, including one alleging that his second administration would “attack health care from multiple angles.”

Lau said the magazine has started a search for a new editor.

Before joining Scientific American, Helmuth worked at The Washington Post, National Geographic, Slate, the Smithsonian, and Science.

Under Helmuth, Scientific American issued its first presidential endorsement ever, backing President Joe Biden over Trump in 2020. The magazine issued an endorsement again in 2024, supporting Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump.

The magazine also published pieces alleging that human sex is not binary and in support of gender-altering surgery for minors.

“During her tenure, she transformed @sciam from a widely respected, objective popular science magazine into a science-themed, woke political publication,” Colin Wright, an evolutionary biologist, wrote on the social media platform X. He said the next editor-in-chief should be a person who “rejects woke pseudoscience and embraces objective reality.”

Helmuth said on Thursday that she was proud of the work that Scientific American did during her tenure, including the pieces in support of “gender-affirming care for transgender kids.” She called for more “long-term thinking, investments in research, wide and welcoming collaborations, honest education, mentorship, and sponsorship.”