The Scientists Groveling to Trump Are Kidding Themselves
Is this competence or optics?
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/ February 19, 2026
The Scientists Groveling to Trump Are Kidding Themselves
The government has pulled back from massive cuts to the NIH, but it’s still destroying scientific research. So why are some groups appeasing the president?
Gregg Gonsalves
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President Donald Trump, left, and Jayanta Bhattacharya, director of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, on Monday, September 22, 2025.
(Francis Chung / Politico / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been an engine for medical discovery for decades—generating new treatments, methods of prevention, and diagnosis of diseases for Americans and the world, as well as pumping tens of billions of dollars into our economy and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Thankfully, the budget bill passed by Congress and signed by President Trump earlier this month rejected massive cuts to biomedical research that the White House had been pushing. Trump wanted a 40 percent reduction in the NIH budget; instead, Congress gave the agency a small increase.
This news should have me celebrating. Yet I am not. That’s because, even though Congress appears unwilling to totally destroy the NIH, the Trump administration is still doing widespread, if less highly publicized, damage to biomedical research in this country. This is happening under the guidance of Office of Management and Budget head Russell Vought, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya (who has just been named the acting head of the CDC), and Bhattacharya’s deputy and mini-me, Matthew Memoli.
While it may seem hard for some outsiders to believe that our leaders want to actively undermine medical science in this way, what is happening at NIH headquarters in Bethesda should have everyone worrying about the health of our nation, now and into the foreseeable future. That’s why it’s so distressing to see some of our leading scientists kowtowing to Trump these days.
The NIH is being subjected to a series of what one might categorize as “dirty tricks,” administrative maneuvers to ensure that less research gets funded this year and in subsequent ones.
The first of these tricks is a budget sleight of hand. NIH grants are generally made for a five-year period, with payment to universities made on an annual basis out of each year’s appropriation from Congress. But the White House has insisted that the NIH be allowed to front-load funding for grants into the current fiscal year—that is, to put the entire five-year cost of any grant into its 2026 budget.
Current Issue
March 2026 Issue
This means the NIH cannot fund as many …
Is this competence or optics?
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Current Issue
Society
/ February 19, 2026
The Scientists Groveling to Trump Are Kidding Themselves
The government has pulled back from massive cuts to the NIH, but it’s still destroying scientific research. So why are some groups appeasing the president?
Gregg Gonsalves
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Ad Policy
President Donald Trump, left, and Jayanta Bhattacharya, director of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, on Monday, September 22, 2025.
(Francis Chung / Politico / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been an engine for medical discovery for decades—generating new treatments, methods of prevention, and diagnosis of diseases for Americans and the world, as well as pumping tens of billions of dollars into our economy and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Thankfully, the budget bill passed by Congress and signed by President Trump earlier this month rejected massive cuts to biomedical research that the White House had been pushing. Trump wanted a 40 percent reduction in the NIH budget; instead, Congress gave the agency a small increase.
This news should have me celebrating. Yet I am not. That’s because, even though Congress appears unwilling to totally destroy the NIH, the Trump administration is still doing widespread, if less highly publicized, damage to biomedical research in this country. This is happening under the guidance of Office of Management and Budget head Russell Vought, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya (who has just been named the acting head of the CDC), and Bhattacharya’s deputy and mini-me, Matthew Memoli.
While it may seem hard for some outsiders to believe that our leaders want to actively undermine medical science in this way, what is happening at NIH headquarters in Bethesda should have everyone worrying about the health of our nation, now and into the foreseeable future. That’s why it’s so distressing to see some of our leading scientists kowtowing to Trump these days.
The NIH is being subjected to a series of what one might categorize as “dirty tricks,” administrative maneuvers to ensure that less research gets funded this year and in subsequent ones.
The first of these tricks is a budget sleight of hand. NIH grants are generally made for a five-year period, with payment to universities made on an annual basis out of each year’s appropriation from Congress. But the White House has insisted that the NIH be allowed to front-load funding for grants into the current fiscal year—that is, to put the entire five-year cost of any grant into its 2026 budget.
Current Issue
March 2026 Issue
This means the NIH cannot fund as many …
The Scientists Groveling to Trump Are Kidding Themselves
Is this competence or optics?
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The Scientists Groveling to Trump Are Kidding Themselves
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Current Issue
Society
/ February 19, 2026
The Scientists Groveling to Trump Are Kidding Themselves
The government has pulled back from massive cuts to the NIH, but it’s still destroying scientific research. So why are some groups appeasing the president?
Gregg Gonsalves
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Ad Policy
President Donald Trump, left, and Jayanta Bhattacharya, director of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, on Monday, September 22, 2025.
(Francis Chung / Politico / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been an engine for medical discovery for decades—generating new treatments, methods of prevention, and diagnosis of diseases for Americans and the world, as well as pumping tens of billions of dollars into our economy and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Thankfully, the budget bill passed by Congress and signed by President Trump earlier this month rejected massive cuts to biomedical research that the White House had been pushing. Trump wanted a 40 percent reduction in the NIH budget; instead, Congress gave the agency a small increase.
This news should have me celebrating. Yet I am not. That’s because, even though Congress appears unwilling to totally destroy the NIH, the Trump administration is still doing widespread, if less highly publicized, damage to biomedical research in this country. This is happening under the guidance of Office of Management and Budget head Russell Vought, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya (who has just been named the acting head of the CDC), and Bhattacharya’s deputy and mini-me, Matthew Memoli.
While it may seem hard for some outsiders to believe that our leaders want to actively undermine medical science in this way, what is happening at NIH headquarters in Bethesda should have everyone worrying about the health of our nation, now and into the foreseeable future. That’s why it’s so distressing to see some of our leading scientists kowtowing to Trump these days.
The NIH is being subjected to a series of what one might categorize as “dirty tricks,” administrative maneuvers to ensure that less research gets funded this year and in subsequent ones.
The first of these tricks is a budget sleight of hand. NIH grants are generally made for a five-year period, with payment to universities made on an annual basis out of each year’s appropriation from Congress. But the White House has insisted that the NIH be allowed to front-load funding for grants into the current fiscal year—that is, to put the entire five-year cost of any grant into its 2026 budget.
Current Issue
March 2026 Issue
This means the NIH cannot fund as many …
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