The Trump administration's Threat to Scientific Research

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/07/the-trump-administrations-threat-to-scientific-research.html

by surprisetalk • 2 days ago

84 17 2 days ago

marginalrevolution.com

ck22• 2 days ago

there is one single person who is driving 99% of the damage

Russell Vought

everyone knows who Stephen Miller is but Russell Vought is the real monster

for perspective, he got rid of the very programs that developed a drug to keep his child alive from a rare genetically inherited disease

now you get what we are dealing with

and here's the thing, Vance is the handpicked successor by Heritage Foundation so even if Trump goes away someday, the nightmare will continue if not get even worse

might take a century to recover, I don't see how this is overcome in a mere decade

softwaredoug2• 2 days ago

Also the courts that let him get away with it.

That said Congress can and does sometimes make the funding less discretionary. They can mandate expenditures. And make withholding legal funds personally painful for OMB. They also haven’t don’t this yet.

sseagull• 2 days ago

Congress does mandate things, but then never enforces it.

See https://www.science.org/content/article/exclusive-nsf-slashe...

(Long story short, the administration is slashing the budgets of various NSF divisions to make room X-Labs, despite the Congressional budget stating that is not allowed)

CuriouslyC• 2 days ago

The Republicans are either going to get absolutely shellacked, in which case a lot of this stuff is going to get rolled back, or we're going to end up with an autocracy, in which case shit is going to get much worse.

mikeyouse• 2 days ago

Even in the first option, it is so much easier to destroy something than to build it. This is causing damage that will take a generation to reverse. Why would any foreign students choose to study here if we’re one election from deporting them and banning them from working here?

ck22• 2 days ago

they aren't going to get "shellacked"

that would seem logical but it has nothing to do with logic

this happened because 50% of latinos (natural born, naturalized) voted for the Orange Infant because THEY DONT CARE about anything else except they thought it would give them an economic edge and pull up the ladder behind them

they aren't going to go vote Democratic this election, at best they might stay home because they don't want ICE disappearing them for weeks while they pointlessly argue they are citizens

if the Democrats don't get the Senate, country is done, and I don't think they can get the Senate even if gas was $5

elections are now won by 1% or 2% and people staying home is not enough to change things, they'd have to vote Democrat which they are too spiteful to do

just imagine the damage by 2029 if the Democrats don't get the Senate

remember even with full impeachment, Vance becomes President and that would be a NIGHTMARE even worse than what we have now, they will double-down in spite

winning the House is just going to be a puppet-show for two years

bakies• 2 days ago

Rolling this stuff back doesn't instantly restart all of the science that was built up for decades. Nor does it get the smartest people back into the country after being kicked out or scared to stay.

Damage is done, we'll forever be behind, this isn't the place to go to research anymore.

softwaredoug2• 2 days ago

When you see Chinese emerging AI dominance, you can’t help but connect it to the administrations hostility to immigration and research.

We should be attracting and retaining the world’s top researchers, not driving them away with dysfunction and xenophobia.

In the past it’d be hard for Chinese labs to retain researchers. Now the upside to the US isn’t there.

abernard1• 2 days ago

When I see Chinese (open source) emerging AI dominance...

what I see is a chronically corrupt set of Bay Area companies who stole open source software, pretended there was an AI god around the corner, and wanted to be regulated so the federal government could backstop their failed gambit.

In other words, Tuesday in San Francisco.

enaaem• 2 days ago

Even if you don't care about abstract woke moral concepts, the biggest problem with white supremacists is how terrible they are at governing. They have already decided what the problems are and have zero interest in finding real solutions.

mercer• 2 days ago

I imagine they do have 'real solutions' that are a bigger problem to some than their inability to govern is...

mono442• 2 days ago

How is that different from forcing dei before? To me, it seems that the Trump administration is doing the same thing as previous administrations, just more openly.

n4r9• 2 days ago

The DEI regulations were narrowly targeted. These are sweepingly based on "alignment with administration policies and priorities".

the_real_cher• 2 days ago

Ive worked in federally funded instituions.

The places I worked were essentially white collar welfare.

One could do nothing and collect a paycheck.

Not saying all federally finded places are like this but this system is ripe for abuse and I dont know how you elimiate the abuse while still giving the deserving scientists the funding they need.

duozerk• 2 days ago

The places I worked were essentially white collar welfare.
One could do nothing and collect a paycheck.

Outside of startups this accurately describes almost the entirety of private entities I've seen, at least this past decade (from my impression it's getting a lot worse). Bullshit jobs upon bullshit jobs.

This is not a public-sector-only problem; in fact from personal impression I'd say private entities are slightly worse in that respect.

awinter-py• 2 days ago

comments on this at MR are brutal

it's one at the top like 'maybe you guys shouldn't have built a network to launder chuds huh' followed by like 50 chuds defending the funding cuts because of DEI keywords in the grants

The Trump administration's Threat to Scientific Research

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