“The Trump administration is taking a chain saw to America’s scientific research. The proposed 2026 budget calls for a devastating 37 percent cut in funding for biomedical research through the National Institutes of Health; a 56 percent cut in science research funding through the National Science Foundation; and further, major cuts in science budgets at NASA, NOAA, the EPA, the CDC, the Agriculture Department, the Energy Department, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Forest Service, and other smaller agencies. Make no mistake: This is a total war on science in America. If an enemy power wished to demolish one of the pillars of American economic, military, and political strength over the past century, this might be what they would do.
At first glance, these moves are so baffling that many observers are tempted to deny that it is happening. Even the MAGA faithful understand that science is part of what has made American great. So why has the administration declared war on science? To start, we should keep in mind that there is probably no master plan. Multiple overlapping agendas and factors are driving the destruction. But there is a deeper motivation at work too. The conservative movement in America—the same movement that decades ago demanded science as the answer to Sputnik—has turned its back on the very idea of science.
That’s because the conservative movement has become an antidemocratic movement, and it understands at some level that the truth is its enemy. Scientific research is in some respects collateral damage in a wider war on democracy.”
Facts and the truth are the enemies of authoritarian regimes; both must be attacked consistent with the fascist right’s war on democracy.
