The Assault On Science Funding Continues
I co-sign this great summary from @dereklowe.bsky.social . The goal is to destroy academic science, and these are the reasons. And all the “gold standard” and “needs reform” and “not high risk” stuff is transparent bullshit to hide the ball on what they are doing.
Mark Histed21Buckle your chinstraps and join the fight. Standing up and speaking out is working. The more clear speaking we can do, the more effective we will be.
Paul Topping2I think there's more to it than just the money. Trump/MAGA know that academics mostly oppose them. They also don't like their ability to push back on their gut-driven policies. Finally, a lot of them are successful immigrants.
Eternal Cat War51Speaking in both my professional and personal capacity, Mark and Derek are dead on. This administration hates the American scientific ecosystem because it’s bound in truth and methodology, not cronyism and getting rich off the destruction of our collective health.
Kevin Bird19This is the energy and clarity we need from every scientist and scientific society. Moreover people should be organizing, planning, and working to consult policymakers for whenever we get power back
tmbhmltn.bsky.social5I think this is largely right (they just hate academics, there’s no point in taking their criticisms at face value) but it veers into kinda dumb conspiratism at the end. They think science is pointless, they wouldn’t think studying seahorse mating was useful if a corporation did it
randy r. potts2wildest thing about this very real revolution is how few people want to call it what it is, name its actions, or talk about the consequences
Thoughts on the various Trump administration proposals to revamp US science funding - and what they all have in common:
Mark Ungrin8The one piece that's missing here is that this is part of a long running hostile takeover of science by medicine's management class, and it predates Project 2025 etc. In the '90s, medicine decided it needed more science. But...law of unintended consequences. Being science-y became the path to...
Dr. Paulette Vincent-Ruz7Fantastic as always @dereklowe.bsky.social but the thing I find most shocking is that there are people and journalists that don’t believe this is an active destruction and they hate science. Like I mean higher ed admin too that are like this is just a phase 🫠
Tom Sheppard2Fight! US Science needs to fight this corruption. Listen to Derek!
Alex Wild183This is a blunt assessment of what the Trump regime is proposing for US science: they plan to take all the funding, essentially collapsing university-based research, in order to give that money to themselves, and they are lying about it.
Chase Million25By training and culture, scientists tend to assume that others are acting generally in good faith, not willfully lying, and share an interest in pursuit of truth for the good of humanity. This is easily exploited by hostile and bad faith actors. Sometimes the correct response is "Fuck you, liar."
Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽25"Instead, it’s time for politics...This destruction will take place most easily in an atmosphere of worn-out apathy and helplessness, so give them the opposite. Make it hard for these people, because if they get their way it’s for sure that they want to make it very, very hard on you."
Alex Wild21Another way to think of Trump's proposal is: He is taking public money from people who don't pay bribes, or don't have enough money to pay bribes, being middle class scientists, and dangling it front of the techbro billionaires, because they *do* pay bribes.
Brandon Bishop18"administration hates academic science funding, full stop. They hate where that money goes, and they hate who it goes to. They want to keep all that money for themselves, to hand out to favored cronies who can help them get elected and to steer yet more money and more power back into their hands."
Dr. Paulette Vincent-Ruz16Everything that is said here and LOUDER for people in the back. I freaking swear WE ARE NOT ACTING ANGRY ENOUGH. Like every fucking college president in the country and democtrat needs to start doing this now
betsythemuffin.bsky.social16Another piece of the puzzle: These proposals are largely from people who couldn't hack lab sciences but could hack sophomoric Tumblr "rationalist" bullshit, and who need to convince themselves that they're "technical."
Philip Ball15What Derek says. All of it. Forget all the chin-scratching analyses of the Trump administrations "proposals" & plans - it comes down to this. It's time we simply said it.
Boston Tom Levenson13Read this. Lowe is exactly right. See below for the key fact to keep in mind whenever a member of the Trump administration opens his (almost always a his, not a hers) mouth about science funding. Federal spending on science is intolerable to them; in their minds, that cash belongs to them.
Brandon Bishop13If your professional society leaders aren't talking like this, it's time to get new leaders.
Next time someone accuses me of “making science partisan” I’m going to throw the physical NYT edition of this article at their head. These people are operating in bad faith…we have a mountain of evidence. (Gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...
Colette Delawalla, PhD14“MaYbE tHe OsTp DoCuMent isNt tHaT—“ *knocked out by newspaper to the head*
John Timmer7Step 1: get text of article printed on a brick. Step 2: hand brick to Colette Step 3: step back
Leah7The right wing of this country is virulently anti-science. They do not care about objective reality, only maintaining absolute control over power. They are a death cult, not a functioning political party.
Robert Lawrence2When I read about this kind of stuff, along with the restriction of FEMA aid to blue states, there's a part of me that is very much in favor of blue states banding together to secede from the union. Because this is not a federation.
progressivebeat.bsky.social2"Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election."
@dereklowe.bsky.social lets loose again (and I am still here for it). www.science.org/content/blog... 1/2
Svasti Haricharan17"The Trump administration hates academic science funding, full stop. They hate where that money goes, and they hate who it goes to. They want to keep all that money for themselves, to hand out to favored cronies". Yuuup! 🧪
Jack Iwashyna14“This destruction [of learning, research, and the life sciences] will take place most easily in an atmosphere of worn-out apathy and helplessness, so give them the opposite. Make it hard for these people, because if they get their way it’s for sure that they want to make it very, very hard on you.”
