{
  "id": 260593,
  "title": "With their assault on science, Trumpists aren’t just harming America – they’re harming themselves | Jan-Werner Müller",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/07/with-their-assault-on-science-trumpists-arent-just-harming-america",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-07T10:00:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Guardian Science",
    "slug": "guardian-science",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/07/trump-scientific-research-universities"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Trump administration is waging an unprecedented assault on scientific institutions, subjugating research and higher learning to political imperatives. This unprecedented act of self-harm not only harms America but also severely impacts the country's soft power and technological progress. Scholars and experts have drawn parallels between the Trumpist subjugation of science and the Soviet Union under Stalin, highlighting the dangerous implications of this new era of political interference in research.\n\nA key player in this upheaval is Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, who initiated the rule change that subjects any federal grant, including those for science, to review by political appointees. This move threatens universities with potential consequences such as \"Nice medical school you have there – pity if something were to happen to it because your administration had failed to come into alignment with the president’s priorities.\" The assault extends to foreign students and international collaboration, further diminishing the United States' global influence.\n\nIn his role as a Guardian US columnist and professor of politics at Princeton University, Jan-Werner Müller delves into the reasons behind Trumpists' seemingly irrational behavior. He argues that the administration's war on science is not only detrimental to the nation but also serves as a testament to the party's own self-destructive tendencies.",
  "summary": "The administration is subjugating science to political imperatives, a major blow to US soft power and technological progress The Trump administration is waging an unprecedented war on institutions devoted to research and higher learning. While plenty of countries have harmed universities by imposing neoliberal logics on academia – creating artificial markets in the name of spurring professors to…",
  "key_points": [
    "Trump administration attacks scientific institutions",
    "Rule change subjects grants to political review",
    "Jan-Werner Müller compares Trumpists to Stalinist USSR"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Guardian US",
        "title": "With their assault on science, Trumpists aren’t just harming America – they’re harming themselves | Jan-Werner Müller",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/07/with-their-assault-on-science-trumpists-arent-just-harming-america-313208",
        "published": "2026-08-07T10:00:14.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}