Trump’s Anti-Science Campaign.
In 2016, the physicist Lawrence M. Krauss, wrote an article titled Trump’s Anti-Science Campaign. It was astonishingly prescient. As if he had a crystal ball, Krause wrote:
Trump has argued for downsizing the Department of Education and said that the U.S. invests too much money in K-12 schooling. He has suggested that he might appoint Ben Carson—a young-Earth, anti-evolution creationist—to advise him on educational reform. He has called the National Institutes of Health “terrible,” and has said that he would eliminate the E.P.A. In April, the science journal Nature reported that his anti-immigrant tirades could be hindering efforts to recruit good scientists and students to the U.S. The list goes on…
The positions taken by Trump and the Republicans have consequences beyond science itself. Essentially, they are betting that, for a significant portion of the country, empirical reality doesn’t matter; they are also signalling that empirical reasoning won’t be the basis of their public policy. Today, of course, we face global challenges such as climate change, which are more urgent than any we have ever confronted. These challenges require a sober assessment of reality. When science is distorted on the campaign trail, it may produce applause lines. But if those distortions lead to bad public policy, the quality of people’s lives will suffer.
People suffered alright, and we are just getting started.
The bright side is a likely boost free speech and due process at unis
However, shortly after that prophetic essay, Krauss’s actions caught up to him in a big way, and instead of quietly retreating from the public eye, he directed his grievance at a different opponent. By the time Trump 2.0 rolled around in 2024, Krauss saw a “bright side”. He called Trump a “nut, liar, and crook”, but said “the bright side is a likely (to) boost free speech and due process at unis.“
Things didn’t work out that way, and Krauss rediscovered that Trump wasn’t a friend of free speech and due process at unis after all. He recently wrote an article on Quillette titled Trump’s War on Science that said:
I’d be one of the first to admit it: higher education in the US is in urgent need of significant reform. Harvard University, for example, discriminated against Asian applicants, especially Asian men, and allowed vicious antisemitism to run rampant on the grounds that it was a necessary part of free speech—all the while rigorously policing speech of which it disapproved and punishing faculty whose research results suggested that racism might not be responsible for all of society’s ills, or who simply stated openly that there are only two sexes. In addition, while discriminating against some talented students and scholars on the grounds of their race and/or sex, the university promoted people on the basis of identity politics whose academic accomplishments were unimpressive and whose plagiaristic work violated academic standards. Our major universities created bloated bureaucracies ideologically coupled to claims of social justice and allowed those overpaid bureaucrats to stifle free speech, academic freedom, and open inquiry.
STEM fields were not exempt from the madness. The National Science Foundation, the Department of Education (DOE), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and NASA all became so wrapped up in being “anti-racist” that key aspects of their scientific mission were suffering. Indeed, the situation had become so worrisome that I joined 38 distinguished faculty who span a variety of different fields and political allegiances in writing about this in a book: The War on Science, which will be released this month.
But in response to this internal war on scholarship that has been undermining academic excellence, a new external war has erupted that may prove even more damaging to the economic health and security of the US, and to the future of scientific research and innovation at the country’s universities and scientific institutions.
I stopped reading after that. It’s possible I would agree with everything else Krauss wrote, but I wouldn’t learn anything. Someone who spent the past few years warning about threats to “free speech, academic freedom, and open inquiry” from those concerned about “social justice” has nothing to teach me or anyone else about what’s happening now. It takes no special skill to list the ways Trump is attacking science, and Krauss has no unique insights or wisdom to offer. That he says Trump is a part of a “new external war” shows he forgot his own 2016 essay.
The War on Science: Thirty-Nine Renowned Scientists and Scholars Speak Out About Current Threats to Free Speech, Open Inquiry, and the Scientific Process.
Krauss’s new book is titled The War on Science: Thirty-Nine Renowned Scientists and Scholars Speak Out About Current Threats to Free Speech, Open Inquiry, and the Scientific Process. That sounds promising, and had I written a chapter, it’s no secret what I would have said. Nothing like that appears in the book, however. The War on Science is silent about the war on science.
The War on Science describes itself thusly:
An unparalleled group of prominent scholars from wide-ranging disciplines detail ongoing efforts to impose ideological restrictions on science and scholarship throughout western society.
From assaults on merit-based hiring to the policing of language and replacing well-established, disciplinary scholarship by ideological mantras, current science and scholarship is under threat throughout western institutions. As this group of prominent scholars ranging across many different disciplines and political leanings detail, the very future of free inquiry and scientific progress is at risk. Many who have spoken up against this threat have lost their positions, and a climate of fear has arisen that strikes at the heart of modern education and research. Banding together to finally speak out, this brave and unprecedented group of scholars issues a clarion call for change.
Topics include: Free speech, victimhood, ideology, corruption of academic disciplines, cancel culture, DEI, gender, and race, and what we can do.
“Higher education isn’t what it used to be. Cancel Culture and DEI have caused many to keep their mouths shut. Not so the authors of this book. This collection of essays tells of threats to open inquiry, free speech, and the scientific process itself. A much-needed book.”—Sabine Hossenfelder, Physicist and Author of Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions
The table of contents are below.
This must-watch video provides an introduction to the book, its publisher, and the problematic backgrounds of several of its authors, as does this excellent article by Dr. Joshua Weitz.
I don’t know all of these authors, but I am familiar with many of them. Some have always been vile. According to one article titled Penn Law’s Amy Wax Doubles Down on Racist Comments:
“Given the realities of different rates of crime, different average IQs, people have to accept without apology that Blacks are not going to be evenly distributed throughout all occupations. They’re just not, and that’s not a problem. That’s not due to racism,” Wax said in an interview with Concordia University professor Gad Saad on Jan. 24.
Others however used to be widely-admired scientists and science communicators. Yet, aside from a few pro-vaccine Tweets, they were AWOL combatting COVID disinformation and the broader threat it posed to science. None of them were in the trenches warning about Kennedy, his crew, and the wealthy right-wing forces who backed them. I never saw them lament the threats against Fauci and Hotez. That didn’t seem to bother them at all.
Ensconced the their pundit fantasy world, they had the luxury of pretending that the real threat to science came not from Trump and his minions, but rather from “cancel culture, DEI, gender, and race”. While Krauss’s 2016 essay predicted the future, his current book was written as if the past 8 years never happened, and it should be titled Renowned Scientists and Scholars Who Were in a Coma.
The War on Science is best thought of as a work of science fiction, dispatches from a parallel universe where MAGA doesn’t exist, Wokism is all-powerful, and science was obliterated by DEI and trans people. It’s a complete inversion of what’s actually happening.
Cancer Screening Panel Too ‘Woke’ for RFK Jr.
However, it’s not just that these renowned scientists and scholars created a fantasy world, their imaginations provided fuel and ammunition to the people who are currently taking a wrecking ball to things in the real world. Many key Trump officials, past and present, got into power by portraying themselves as woeful victims of censorship and cancel culture (Marty Makary. Vinay Prasad, Jay Bhattacharya, and Kennedy). These Trump officials weaponized their perceived victimhood to distract from their disinformation, attack respected scientists, and bash the institutions they are now trashing.
Predictably, these renowned scientists and scholars were happy to lend their legitimacy to this feigned victimhood. Jordan Peterson and Gad Saad recorded podcasts with future Trump officials about “silencing the opposition” about “academic freedom“. Now that they are in power, these same Trump officials are leading the way, purging, censoring, and defunding scientists. Saad’s chapter is titled Universities as Dispensers of Parasitic Ideas. As Trump crushes universities, Saad wants people to think these ticks, leeches, and mosquitoes deserve their fate.
Indeed, much of the destruction today is purportedly being done to combat the grave dangers these renowned scientists and scholars warned about. Today, they headlines read Cancer Screening Panel Too ‘Woke’ for RFK Jr, A Researcher With Hearing Loss Got A Grant To Study Restoring Hearing. The Trump Administration Canceled It Because Of DEI, and NIH Cancels Sickle Cell Research Grant, Citing DEI. As Christina Pagel wrote in her article Donald Trump’s ‘War on Woke’ is Fast Becoming a War on Science. That’s Incredibly Dangerous:
Donald Trump’s attacks on diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) initiatives since his January inauguration have been intense, indiscriminate and escalating. A tragic plane crash was baselessly blamed on DEI. All DEI programs within public bodies have been ended and private contractors face cancellation if they also don’t comply. Webpages that defend religious diversity in the context of Holocaust remembrance have been taken down.
Science and academia have been particularly targeted. Universities are threatened with losing federal funding if they support DEI. Government reports and government-funded research are being held back if they include prohibited terms such as “gender”, “pregnant person”, “women”, “elderly”, or “disabled”. Grants funded by the National Institutes of Health are being cancelled if they address diversity, equality or inclusion in any form.
This is what these renowned scientists and scholars enabled.
The threats from the Left continue, and that’s for sure
However, this isn’t just about the past. This an ongoing process. That these renowned scientists and scholars are aggressively promoting their book, shows that they have no problem continuing to lend legitimacy to Trump. They remain complicit, and either they don’t know this or they don’t care.
Although Krauss and several other renowned scientists and scholars now grudgingly acknowledge Trump’s war on science, they can’t do so without simultaneously whining about “the Left“, even though such rhetoric is being used as a pretext to attack science right now. Richard Dawkins, for example said that “cutting science budgets is sheer spite“, but he also whinged about “idiotic woke nonsense, ‘gender’ studies.” Jerry Coyne, similarly wrote:
Now I know what you’re gonna say: the 39 chapters in the book below (find it here on Amazon) deal exclusively with threats to science from the Left but, as we all know, at the moment the threats to science from the Right (aka, the Trump Administration) are far more serious. In the short run that may be the case, but in the long run, well, who knows, but the threats from the Left continue, and that’s for sure. So think of it as a bunch of scientists and other academics analyzing how our trade is being hurt by “progressives.”
The threats from the Left continue, and that’s for sure. That’s is pure fantasy. “Progressives” are the least powerful and most vulnerable people in America today. Scientists aren’t fleeing the US because of them, and anyone who truly cared about Trump’s threat wouldn’t waste a single word dunking on them at this moment. To convince us “progressives” were scary, Coyne had to conjure an imagined future where MAGA is neutered, Wokism is all-powerful, and DEI destroys science. In the long run, well, who knows.
Predictably, Coyne doesn’t blame himself for being late to recognize Trump’s threat. Rather he says Trump’s actions were too late for the book. He wrote:
And, at the time we submitted our manuscripts to editor Lawrence Krauss (who added a nice introduction), Trump hadn’t yet started slicing federal grant money from “bad” universities (I see that Penn and Columbia have just caved).
Dawkins similarly lamented that Krauss’s anti-Trump essay was “too late for our book“. To absolve themselves of their blindness to the obvious, these renowned scientists and scholars act as if Trump’s attack on science was some freakish, unpredictable natural disaster. How were they supposed to know?
Of course, reality wasn’t too late for their book. These renowned scientists and scholars were late to recognize reality. My books discuss Trump’s threat. It wasn’t “too late” for myself and many others. Seeing these renowned scientists and scholars belatedly catch up is like watching a baby grasp object permanence. For them, Trump’s risk became real only the moment they could no longer deny it, not one second sooner.
Yet even now, these renowned scientists and scholars casually acknowledge Trump’s threat only to promote their book. This requires them to complain about “progressives“, many of whom were light years ahead these them in recognizing Trump’s threat and trying to combat it. While many “progressives” stuck their necks out, these renowned scientists and scholars sat on the sidelines and undermined them.
Is Free Scientific Inquiry Under Threat?
So no, I wont read The War on Science. Even if contains some valid points, they are completely irrelevant, like being warned about a broken taillight as my car careens over a cliff. There is no reason why anyone should care about the flaws of DEI trainings, real or imagined, in 2025. None of it matters.
And though I don’t think anyone should read this book, its mere existence has great value. It both explains and memorializes how we got to this sad moment. Many renowned scientists and scholars, some of whom should have been valuable allies, were blind to the real danger until it was too late. While many of us warned about the threat to science, they rolled out the red carpet to its attackers, giving them intellectual cover and legitimacy. They did this in the name of reason, free speech, and skepticism, all to combat pronouns and gender studies, which were supposedly existential threats to the entire scientific enterprise.
I also won’t listen to Krauss’s upcoming talk Is Free Scientific Inquiry Under Threat? We here at SBM have been providing the answer for years, and we have nothing to learn from those who are just now discovering it in real time. I would suggest that instead of giving his talk, professor Krauss and all of these 39 renowned scientists and scholars, take a timeout and exercise their right to remain silent. This may surprise them, but they don’t have to comment on everything, and no one has anything to learn from them right now. If any of them genuinely want to oppose Trump’s war on science moving forward, they need to do so full throttle, not just in passing as they once again moan about “idiotic woke nonsense.“
They also need to learn about all they’ve missed the past few years. Krauss’s article from 2016 is an excellent starting point, but they have a lot of of catching up to do. Fortunately, SBM and related sites have done the hard work already. The warnings were there for them on a silver platter all along. Yet instead of paying attention, they prioritized their contrarianism and enabled everything that’s happening now. That’s the legacy of these renowned scientists and scholars.
At least I won’t have to write a DEI statement ever again.