The Dumbing Down of America – It’s a Major Brain Drain by Maria Grant

In a matter of a few short months, Trump and his DOGE team have cancelled hundreds of research initiatives that had the potential to cure diseases and address climate change issues. 

Academics and other researchers who are experts in their fields are leaving America in droves and relocating to Canada, Europe, Australia, and yes, even China. The best and the brightest high school students who had once put American institutions as their first choices for college are scratching this country off their lists and changing their top choices to colleges outside the U.S. Already at least two professors at Ivy League universities have transferred to the University of Toronto. 

Massive firings have taken place at the National Institute of Health (NIH), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Geological Survey, and, of course, the Agency for International Development (USAID). Grants have been rescinded. Projects have been cancelled. 

In addition, Trump is making college students’ professors’ and administrators’ lives a living hell by jeopardizing the quality of education, their safety, and their livelihoods. Plus, the repayment obligations of student loan borrowers will increase dramatically. 

One of the most impacted sectors affected by all these cuts is medical research. When clinical trial research gets cancelled, momentum in valuable findings halts. People who were in the midst of participating in these trials who could possibly benefit from new findings are left high and dry. Such trials evaluate new medications, new procedures, new medical devices, and new behavioral interventions. NIH is the largest funder of this research and about 60 percent of its funding goes to various academic medical center campuses. 

Just a few examples of the research that was underway are studies on pediatric cancer, brain cancer, dementia, postpartum depression, melanoma, birth control, long COVID, and diabetes. Once these trials get shut down, it’s extremely difficult to restart them. Researchers lose their jobs. Equipment is dismantled. Tracking long-term effects of various trials is no longer possible. 

I read one article that highlighted the USAID clinical trial in Africa involving birth control devices where AID employees were frantically calling women urging them to get to a hospital immediately as no one would be available to track their results and outcomes. The fact that these projects were shut down with absolutely no advanced notice is reprehensible. 

Canada, Europe, Australia, and China are wasting no time in recruiting researchers, scientists, and college students. They have active campaigns to lure them with promises of increased research funding, paying for travel to their countries, support in finding housing, and more. One example is the University of AIX-Marseille in France, which has launched a Safe Place for Science Campaign offering a program where scientists can work on health, climate, and astrophysics initiatives. 

When Trump announced that he was going to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll international students (now on hold as courts opine on the legality of this action), the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology immediately offered these Harvard international students unconditional admission with additional support for visa assistance, college credit transfers, housing, travel, and more. 

Just when I was bemoaning the fact that Trump’s policies couldn’t get much worse, they just did. Virtually every advantage that we have had over other countries is disintegrating before our eyes. Thanks to NIH research scientists, the Covid vaccine was developed in less than 12 months. Last month Trump fired the scientist who may have been responsible for saving his life. 

When you review academic papers on how to prevent brain drain, they suggest things like improving economic conditions, fostering inclusive environments, investing in education, creating incentives, encouraging international collaboration. In short, their advice is literally the polar opposite of everything Trump is decreeing with his endless executive orders. 

America is beginning to mobilize against many of these actions, but clearly, we need to do more. Thousands are attending town halls, protesting in the streets, joining groups like Indivisible to capitalize on best practices, combining forces with other groups, writing to their senators and representatives, and supporting, and promoting court pushbacks. 

The writer Isaac Asimov once wrote, “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” 

Let’s just reflect on a fraction of the ignorance and incompetence that this administration has exhibited in recent weeks. 

Trump shows an image of dead white farmers who he says are from South Africa. In reality, the image is from Reuters footage in the Congo. 

Trump’s so-called free Qatari “flying palace” cost about $1 million for its flight to Palm Beach so Trump could check it out. It costs about $25,000 an hour to operate. Costs to retrofit the plane for his use are estimated to run in the hundreds of millions. 

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is unable to define the meaning of habeas corpus.

 HHS Secretary RFK Jr. blames environmental toxins for autism. 

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blames the Biden administration for all transportation screw ups that occurred in the last two weeks, even though when he represented Wisconsin in Congress he voted against additional funding for the FAA. And then the Trump Doge team fired approximately 400 FAA employees.

A Congressional hearing took place to vet Trump’s choice for IRS Commissioner, Billy Long, a former auctioneer and major league poker player who holds no CPA designation, has no auditing experience, no college degree, and no finance background. He has what he calls a CTBA (Certified Tax and Business Advisor) credential which one can obtain if one goes to a three-day program from a firm called Excel Empire in Florida. I might add that when Long was a Missouri congressman, he called for the abolishment of the IRS.

And as we all know, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth now manages almost 3.5 million people, (he formerly managed a nonprofit with fewer than 30 people, incurred severe cost overruns and was asked to step down), blames the editor of The Atlantic for being on the classified Signalgate chat rather than his own incompetence.

Heaven help us!

Maria Grant was principal-in-charge of the federal human capital practice of an international consulting firm. While on the Eastern Shore, she focuses on writing, reading, music, and nature.