Almost immediately after beginning his second presidential term, Trump announced the withdrawal of the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, aimed at strengthening the global response to climate change under increasing pressure. Being a known climate change denier and having executed this move during his first term in 2017, the withdrawal and his call to “drill, baby, drill” for oil in Alaska was to be expected. Since then, however, there has also been considerable outrage sparked by his defunding of $1.45 million from the International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC). This money, around a quarter of the total contributions from governments in 2024, was assigned for valuable climate assessments and meetings which could now experience serious shortfalls.
Consistent with the policies designed to target and sabotage climate science, Trump has also banned the publication of any scientific articles including the word “climate” in its title. Scientists have reported that previously approved grants and funding involving “climate” have been revoked, unless the title and aims of the study were rephrased or redefined. Also on his newly authorised list of banned words: “gender”, “transgender”, “LGBT”, “nonbinary”, “diversity”, “science-based”, “evidence-based”, and various others. This has disastrous consequences for the science and public health sectors, censoring and systemically targeting and marginalising already vulnerable groups. It is not unreasonable to assume that this action is aimed partially at silencing those not in favour of the billions of dollars cut from biomedical research and the National Institute of Health (NIH).
Most recently, Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Education Department, responsible for federal student aid programs, work-study funds, grants and loans. While this action would first need congressional approval, it shows how ruthlessly Trump´s government is willing to cut support for special education, English-language learners and disadvantaged, vulnerable or marginalized students who are all supported by federal programs. Should the order be approved, this level of elitism in science and education poses the threat of inherent bias in research conducted both now and in future generations. It must be questioned whether Trump´s strategic censorship and defunding of specific institutions is a potential tool to indoctrinate citizens to his government´s right-wing nationalist beliefs.
Science should be objective, unpolitical, and universally accessible. What we can expect from Trump´s current presidential term is the opposite. Already, we are starting to witness the systemic defunding of academia, censorship of scientific research opposed to Trump´s personal beliefs, and elimination of support for science involving minorities, women and people of lower socio-economic status. This trend is only expected to continue. Sectors including, but not limited to, public health, education and the environment will likely suffer irreversible consequences from the actions of Trump´s government over the next years. As observers of this catastrophe, it is our role to critically assess future science produced from this situation for bias, and support those not favoured by the current US government to the best of our ability.