The Vast Dangers of Trump’s War On Information
“Those data are in demand by people who need them for the programs that they run, or grant applications, or for research projects that are going to result in people getting their degrees,” said O’Hara. “It’s the pipeline of people that build knowledge in the country, and they need access to timely, accurate data and data that have not been manipulated in any way.”
Scientists who receive grants from the National Science Foundation are scanning their research projects for activities that do not comply with executive orders, based on terms flagged by the Trump administration, such as “women,” “institutional,” “historically,” and “barriers.” The administration also moved to slash funding for the National Institutes of Health, a move that received criticism from some red-state institutions and Republican lawmakers and was put on hold by a federal judge.
The Trump administration has also targeted the Education Department, with the functional dismantling of the Institute of Education Sciences, an independent research organization within the agency. This week, Trump said he would like the Education Department to be “closed immediately,” calling it a “con job.” (In her Senate confirmation hearing this week, Trump’s nominee for education secretary, Linda McMahon, said that “it is not the president’s goal to defund the programs, only to have it operate more efficiently.”)
