We’ve seen this for months now. Drastic cuts to the budget of NIH and CDC and FDA and EPA, abrupt termination of multiyear grants at top-tier medical schools such as Harvard, revoking research funds of all sorts. The Trump administration is directly attacking and diminishing the amazing scientific research community that we, as a country, have built up over decades.
What Is Trump’s Goal?
The pretext for some of the defunding purports to be to punish DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) or antisemitism. That makes little sense. The overreach of DEI is clearly not that pervasive. And antisemitism, while quite real, was mainly manifest in the social sciences in the Arts and Sciences faculty, not in the medical school and hospital researchers.
I am a graduate of both Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. I have heard Harvard University characterized as a medical school with a library, which I find succinct and reasonably accurate. The medical school and hospital academic faculty are vastly larger than the arts and science faculty or that of any other Harvard school. At least an order of magnitude.
But rescinding billions of dollars of research money from Harvard scientists will harm the average United States citizen and the world population in general. Discoveries will not be made, advancements in Alzheimer’s research will stagnate, new therapies will wither and real people will die unnecessarily early from biological problems that we are close to understanding and solving now.
Ask a Republican, What’s the Point of Attacking Our Scientists?
Many negative motivations stand out. Revenge, power plays, dominance demonstrations may be part of Trump’s motivations. I have not heard public articulation, from any White House or Republican source, of what Trump’s goal is in kneecapping our scientific establishment. I cannot see anyone who benefits. But the tragedy of all of us who are losing is easy to see and monumental.
If any of our readers know the motivation, please let us know. Or ask local or senior Republicans the “why” of what they’re doing. My analysis of the effects of defunding our groundbreaking scientists is all negative with no upside. I’d like to understand what I am missing.