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With their assault on science, Trumpists aren’t just harming America – they’re harming themselves | Jan-Werner Müller

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 be more productive – the Trumpist subjugation of all science to political imperatives has no equivalent in a democracy; if anything, it is reminiscent of Stalin’s Soviet Union. The assault now also targets foreign students and any kind of international collaboration – a major blow to US soft power. Why are Trumpists engaging in what can only be described as an act of wanton self-injury? Project 2025’s Russell Vought , the director of the office of management and budget, initiated the rule change

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Why it mattersScience

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 be more productive – the Trumpist subjugation of all science to political imperatives has no equivalent in a democracy; if anything, it is reminiscent of Stalin’s Soviet Union. The assault now also targets foreign students and any kind of international collaboration – a major blow to US soft power. Why are Trumpists engaging in what can only be described as an act of wanton self-injury? Project 2025’s Russell Vought , the director of the office of management and budget, initiated the rule change

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According to The Guardian’s linked report, With their assault on science, Trumpists aren’t just harming America – they’re harming themselves | Jan-Werner Müller, 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 be more productive – the Trumpist subjugation of all science to political imperatives has no equivalent in a democracy; if anything, it is reminiscent of Stalin’s Soviet Union. The assault now also targets foreign students and any kind of international collaboration – a major blow to US soft power. Why are Trumpists engaging in what can only be described as an act of wanton self-injury? Project 2025’s Russell Vought , the director of the office of management and budget, initiated the rule change

Context

The development sits in VINI’s Science coverage for readers following research, health, climate, space, medicine, and scientific institutions. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The linked report is dated 2026-08-07T10:00:14+00:00.

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Primary source: With their assault on science, Trumpists aren’t just harming America – they’re harming themselves | Jan-Werner Müller via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.

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