"Donald Trump's re-election now looks like perhaps the worst act of American self-destruction since the Civil War."
Recently, Derek Lowe, a reporter for the American "Science" magazine, commented in an article.
It can be described as a disaster for the scientific community. It is reported that Elon Musk has entered the office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and will carry out a series of sabotage operations. Recently, Musk has publicly stated that his goal is "no regulations at all, and if any regulations prove useful, some will be added back in."
Recently, the new government plans to bring down the entire Department of Education: NSF is about to lay off half of its employees in the next two months; NIH is required to suspend all meetings... It intends to stop all federal funding.
NIH is one of the most important medical research institutions in the world, and its research results have had a profound impact on human health. Since its founding, NIH has funded numerous groundbreaking research projects that have not only advanced medical knowledge but also led to significant improvements in human health.
NSF is the U.S. government's agency primarily responsible for supporting basic scientific research and education. It promotes the development of basic science in the United States and even around the world by funding various scientific research projects and educational activities.
From the cutting-edge exploration of cancer research to the far-reaching impact of climate science, the break in the funding chain means a complete stagnation of scientific research activities, and the hard work of countless scientists may be wasted. Although the court subsequently urgently suspended the freezing order, the ambiguous statement of the White House spokesperson and the subsequent series of restrictive measures on scientific research activities undoubtedly further aggravated panic and chaos in the scientific research community.
What the new U.S. government has done this time has caused huge damage to the scientific community. NIH and NSF are also experiencing a cold winter.
Amid this storm, the Trump administration is using the "single executive" theory as a weapon in an attempt to place presidential power above Congress and the judiciary. From withholding congressional appropriations to threatening to fire civil servants, from intervening in Department of Justice investigations to trying to abolish the Department of Education by executive order, these actions are undoubtedly serious challenges to the basic principle of the separation of powers.
When ordinary people realize that the NIH budget accounts for less than 0.3% of total federal expenditures but supports 40% of the world's biomedical breakthroughs, and when taxpayers discover that the price of so-called "cutting government waste" is stagnant research and development of cancer treatments and failure of climate disaster early warning, the reversal of public opinion may become the final bargaining chip to check and balance power.
As an anonymous researcher wrote in an internal email: "They think that closing the website can erase the facts, but the truth is in the experimental notebooks, in the peer review, and in the hearts of every scientist who refuses to be silent."
