The Trump regime has set our kids' future on fire

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The Trump regime has already plunged America into a distinction that has only been earned by two previous governments, which happen to be the two most murderous regimes in human history.

The research cited above comes from the excellent work of Joshua Weitz, a Professor of Biology & Institute for Health Computing at the University of Maryland, who built Scienceimpacts.org to try to explain to Americans how the arsonists in the Trump regime have set our country’s future on fire by torching grants that had been legally won by researchers in all 50 states.

Put in more academic terms, the site notes:

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds crucial health research to address cancer, diabetes, dementia, and more. NIH funding also boosts the economy, returning >250% of the value invested.

The White House has ordered major cuts to NIH funding nationwide, which would take back funds promised to the states.

And, unfortunately, this is just the beginning. A budget proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services calls for a cut to the NIH of almost 50% for 2025 and 2026, from $48.5 billion in 2025 to $27.5 billion.

Bobby Jr. wants to “reorganize” the NIH, reducing it from 27 institutes to just eight. 

CNN reports:

But even the surviving institutes won’t be spared cuts: The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had a budget of more than $6.5 billion in 2025 but will receive just over $4 billion in 2026. The National Cancer Institute, which received more than $7 billion for 2025, will get about $4.5 billion next year. And the National Institute on Aging will see its budget cut from $4.4 billion to less than $2.7 billion in 2026.

…

“If the proposal is enacted, Americans today and tomorrow will be sicker, poorer, and die younger,” President and CEO Mary Woolley said in a statement. “American research has a proven track record of increasing survival, reducing the burden of illness, and creating jobs. Cutting research funding helps no one; instead, it hurts everyone.”

What is the possible explanation for this kind of senseless attack on the sciences?

Senator Joni Ernst has an explanation:

However, to dig in deeper, we must view all of this as part of what Dr. George Lakoff calls a “strategic initiative,” which is about creating consequences that extend beyond the surface in multiple policy areas.

Yes, these attacks will make us “sicker, poorer, and die younger,” but Republicans making these decisions know they and their families will be almost entirely insulated from the harm. Meanwhile, Republican voters take pleasure in the “revenge narrative” in that these cuts largely target groups Republicans spent decades and billions propagandizing against—scientists and academics in blue states or blue dots of purple and red states. 

That’s the immediate benefit of setting America’s future on fire—fan service for those devoted to the Right-Wing Cinematic Universe.

The most substantive consequences include:

1. Maiming our capability to fight climate change.
2. Destroying blue economies that promote diversity and intellectual rigor.
3. Making us more dependent on corporations (at the cost of robbing our economy of the incredible scientific advancements of the government, which are responsible for America’s world-leading technology).
4. Kneecapping America’s universities, which they see as factories of progressivism, but also promote critical thought that makes voters resistant to propaganda.

One thing fascists get—and let’s call them fascists—is that their ideas cannot withstand opposition. Instead of competition, they destroy the opposition’s ability to operate.

University endowments cannot make up for these massive cuts. Nothing can. And that’s the point of them.

The entire attack on science runs on an engine of bad faith, with carefully constructed attacks that purposely misunderstand the point of the beauty of what had been America’s research infrastructure, as Don Moynihan keeps trying to explain:

Federal research funds are not an entitlement, they are not a subsidy: they are subject to exceptionally competitive award processes and intense federal government oversight.

Moreover, these funds serve the public interest. Universities do things private companies with research capacities cannot: train research talent, conduct basic research with uncertain payoffs, and distribute knowledge as a public good. And the rewards have been enormous. Everything from the internet to pharmaceutical and health care innovations evolved from such investments. We are richer and healthier for the investment.

So what can we do?

We can start with the premise that this is all temporary and that everything stolen from us will be returned. We need to tell ourselves this fact because if we don’t, we’re the people looking at the flaming cathedral of our future saying, “Too bad. Someone should have done something about that!”

That doesn’t mean it will be easy, and the damage won’t haunt the rest of our lives and our kids’ lives. It just means we have to accept that no one can fix that. No one but us.

So, the key thing is to be visible. 

Get out to a No Kings event on June 14 and join a #TeslaTakedown, especially on June 28, Elon’s birthday. We can’t just wait for the courts to fix things, and the courts will only be able to do what they intend to do if we are there to back it up with protests and, if need be, a general strike.

Another thing to keep in mind is that most people have no idea what’s happening. Most Americans actively avoid the news. Millions of progressive-minded people have gotten off Twitter and Meta. BlueSky is great, but it is still smaller than Twitter was in 2010.

We have to tell the story of the destruction of our future. And we have to do it in a way that invites the young people who will be most affected to be a part of the storytelling.

So join the Summer Fight for Science:

And we have to win. We have to win. We have to win in Virginia and New Jersey in the fall and everywhere in 2026.

There will be plenty of other elections in between, as you know if you follow Bolts and their monthly guides.

I don’t want to write an ode to federalism about our states’ ability to govern themselves makes us different than Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union. History shows that these checks, where they exist, can quickly erode when a spiral of fear and cowardice consumes the people and institutions.

However, winning is contagious and will strengthen the judiciary’s resolve. And the sense of being on the winning side will give our blue-state governors, many of whom see themselves as future presidents, the confidence that their power comes from fighting the fires that the Trump regime has set.

None of this had to happen. However, the future is decided every day, and they’re doing this not only to destroy our capabilities but also to erode our spirit. And only we can let that happen.

THE FARCE fights fascism with fearlessness. Subscribe to fuel the Farce—free or paid, your support matters. To help us grow, you can always drop us a tip.