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Here’s how and why they declared war on You and Me and Science. [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-06-16
It might seem trivial to speak up today about what they are doing to science, medicine and public health in this country as elected Democratic leaders are assassinated, gunmen threaten peaceful protests with murder, media distort reality with 24 hour coverage of a couple Waymo cars burning last week as millions peacefully marched on Saturday, and we had a North Korea style birthday parade on the streets of our capital (update: crowds were tremendously little, with service people looking meh about being used 🫤). It might seem trivial to steer a conversation back to my lane as a concerned family doc when there are grave wars in the Middle East, and United States Marines are deployed in American cities that don’t need them. But we must understand that the war on science is related to everything I’ve mentioned above. The same central mechanism is at work. Information networks. This one is a dozen minutes to read. I hope you find it helpful, maybe epiphanous, with practical strategies at the end.
I believe that the fate of democracy as informed by science will be among the prime lynchpins that determine whether we even survive as a species. I added my body and physician’s voice to the No Kings protest Saturday. On the night before the protests the windows of my home in Philadelphia were closed against acrid smoke and dangerously unhealthy air as it poured down from 225 forest fires raging in Canada. Or was it billowing over from New Jersey? Turns out it was both.
And yet our leaders in the White House, Congress, and the media are fixated on non-existential issues that divide and conquer us, that are really intended as distractions, that are basically inconsequential to billionaires and oligarchs. They are intent on destroying our top universities like Harvard, our world class institutions like the NIH and CDC. They are taking us back a hundred years to expose us to vaccine preventable illnesses and death.
Why???
The information network war: why authoritarian leaders target science and medicine
I read a great book that helps us understand so much of human history right up through the perilous present. “Nexus,” written by historian Yuval Noah Harari, offers a compelling framework for understanding the systematic undermining of science, public health, and medical expertise by authoritarian leaders and ultra-conservative media.
The power of shared fictions vs. scientific truth
Building on his bestseller “Sapiens” which sold 25 million copies, Harari reminds us that humanity's unique ability to create and believe in shared fictions—concepts like money, nations, and tribes that exist because we collectively agree they do—has allowed us to form powerful groups and build empires. Believing is a superpower, really. It can bind together millions of people. Even billions. Shared stories also demonstrate the profound power of the information networks that distribute them and thus shape our reality: media, social media, algorithms, AI, centralized government.
However, Harari also identifies a fundamental asymmetry in our information ecosystem: scientific truth is expensive and time-consuming to produce, while fictions can be created with relative ease.
This disparity has become weaponized in American politics. Scientific truth requires extensive education, expensive equipment, rigorous testing, and peer review—often taking years to produce reliable results. Medical research, in particular, demands extraordinary resources and validation. Meanwhile, health misinformation and science denial can be created instantaneously and spread virally through social media networks.
Many have recognized and exploited this fundamental imbalance. They understand that the volume of easily produced fictions can outpace the production of scientific truths, creating an information asymmetry that favors those willing to abandon scientific standards. Or never learn the standards in the first place. When faced with scientific findings that challenge their political objectives—whether on climate change, vaccine efficacy, or pandemic response—they can simply flood the information space with alternative narratives that are more appealing and easily understood.
The historical pattern of information control
Harari's historical analysis reveals that those who controlled information flows have always held significant power, whether they were religious leaders, academics, or media moguls.
The current conservative assault on science represents a bid to reclaim control over information networks that have traditionally been dominated by scientific institutions and expertise.
The Trump administration's approach exemplifies this strategy. Rather than engaging with scientific evidence on its merits, they have reframed scientific expertise as part of an elite conspiracy against ordinary Americans. This approach weaponizes long-standing American suspicions of authority, channeling them into specific political opposition to scientific institutions.
Some examples from the real world follow. Do voters on the right hear this through their chosen information networks?
The Trump administration has systematically dismantled federal health and science infrastructure through massive funding cuts totaling over $2.7 billion in NIH grants, the termination of more than $11 billion in state and local public health programs, and the elimination of up to 10,000 HHS jobs including scientists, drug inspectors, and maternal health workers. The administration has aggressively targeted diversity programs while removing thousands of government webpages containing scientific data on topics like climate science. They have placed NIH institute directors on leave while disbanding human research ethics advisory panels. Harvard and other crown jewel academic powerhouses are being destroyed. Trump's policies have created widespread chaos in the scientific community by freezing grant reviews, canceling critical research programs including HIV prevention studies and vaccine safety monitoring, and appointing anti-vaccination profiteers to key positions while ordering investigations into debunked links between vaccines and autism. They have slashed NASA's science budget nearly in half and cut NOAA's budget by 27% while eliminating all climate research funding, closing weather and climate laboratories with thousands of employees already fired or facing layoffs. There is much, much more.
Breathe.
Do voters on the right read this through their chosen information networks?
Trump's May 2025 executive order titled "Restoring Gold Standard Science" uses appealing rhetoric about scientific rigor and transparency, but mirrors the first Trump administration's discredited "Secret Science" rule that was designed to exclude foundational public health research by requiring disclosure of confidential health data—a tactic pioneered by tobacco companies in the 1990s to suppress inconvenient studies. The order also revokes the Biden administration's 2023 scientific integrity framework that protected scientists' rights to communicate openly and provided avenues for dissenting opinions, leaving federal scientists more vulnerable to political manipulation and retaliation. Perhaps most revealing of the order's true political agenda is its criticism of diversity, equity, and inclusion principles in scientific policymaking. This executive action demonstrates how authoritarian control over scientific truth operates in practice—not through crude censorship, but through procedural manipulations that appear reasonable on the surface while systematically excluding research that contradicts predetermined political objectives.
Breathe.
And then there’s the unthinkable antivax fringe taking over the leadership of our country’s public health infrastructure, the advisory committee on vaccination, inducing more and more people to distrust vaccines as they slash and burn recommendations and insurance coverage. I see this everyday in my primary care practice. A breathtaking quote from STAT News:
Last year, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that giving routine vaccinations in the U.S. between 1994 and 2023 saved 1.1 million lives. The biggest estimated impact was from the vaccine for diphtheria, a potentially deadly bacterial infection, which alone was estimated to have prevented 753,000 deaths. And thousands of deaths were prevented by vaccines for measles (85,000), pneumococcus bacteria (123,000), and hepatitis B (90,000). During this period, 117 million children were vaccinated, the analysis estimates. But routine vaccines don’t just prevent death. About 1 in 3 children were spared a hospitalization. And these vaccines also prevented deafness, mental disability, and liver, cervical, and head-and-neck cancers. Researchers estimated that this saved $540 billion in direct costs and created almost $3 trillion in economic returns to society.
And if we add in Covid vaccine heroics, it is estimated that 3 million American lives were saved just in the first two years after the novel coronavirus arrived, with 18 million grueling, damaging hospitalizations prevented. Despite these massive positives, RFK Jr has stated he would not have approved these vaccines, and sued to block them even as the science showed incredible benefits over very small risks.
Breathe.
Do voters on the right understand this through their chosen information networks?
A study was just published in JAMA. The proposed 43% cut to NIH funding (“saving” $500 billion over 25 years) would trigger a catastrophic cascade of consequences including the loss of 82 million years of human lifeworth $8.2 trillion, the abrupt termination of clinical trials leaving patients with unmonitored medical implants, the destruction of an entire generation of biomedical researchers, and the potential loss of breakthrough treatments for cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases that could have saved millions of lives. Lives lived in West Virginia trailer parks and Hamptons mansions alike.
The unprecedented Bethesda Declarationrecently signed by 336 NIH employeesdocuments the systematic dismantling of scientific expertise even before more budget cuts: canceled research on health disparities and climate change, mass layoffs of essential staff, and the purging of experienced leadership. When federal scientists feel compelled to organize formal protests against their own agency's direction, signing anonymously out of fear for their careers, we see how authoritarian control operates through intimidation and institutional capture.
Breathe. A couple more paragraphs before I drop the mic to focus on pathways forward.
Republican distrust in science surged from 14% in 2020 all the way up to 38% in 2023, while Democratic confidence remained relatively stable. This dramatic shift reflects the successful creation of parallel information networks where political loyalty takes precedence over empirical evidence. We all know that we are living in information bubbles. People like 81 year-old Dr. Anthony Fauci, who advised seven US presidents, suddenly become fall guys for hyperpartisans, only to receive death threats, and have that seventh president broadcast the cancellation of Fauci’s security protection. A sinister invitation. But entire ecosystems have been built that systematically undermine scientific credibility from Fauci to mRNA, while promoting alternative frameworks for understanding reality. Pandemic revisionism.
This graph from The Pew Center for Research haunts me:
Devastating real-world consequences
The transition from information control to policy implementation has already produced catastrophic results. Look at vaccination. Up to a third of Covid deaths in America through 2022 could have been prevented if more people had believed in getting vaccinated. But you would think Covid vaccines were poison if you listened to certain people. That Covid would be gone by April 2020 based on a supremely ignorant hunch. Hydroxychloroquine. Bleach. Masks as political symbols instead of public health tools.
Besides Covid, consider all those routine vaccinations that are soon to be under attack. Pretty much all of them.
The path forward
Breathe in, breathe out.
Understanding the underlying drivers of conservative hostility toward science—the strategic exploitation of information network dynamics rather than genuine intellectual disagreement—is crucial for developing effective responses. This isn't about bridging ideological differences; it's about recognizing a systematic effort to undermine the institutional foundations of knowledge production itself.
Harari's framework suggests that defending scientific authority requires more than better science communication. It demands recognition that we're engaged in a fundamental struggle over who gets to define truth in democratic societies.
The choice before us is clear: we can work to strengthen the information networks that have advanced human knowledge and welfare, or we can allow them to be dismantled by those who prioritize political power over empirical truth. History suggests that societies that choose the latter path do so at their own peril. Read “Nexus.”
Strategies for rebuilding trust and restoring Science
Despite the severity of this crisis, there are concrete steps that individuals, communities, and institutions can take to begin rebuilding trust in scientific expertise and restoring its proper role in democratic governance. It seems like we cannot compete with massive information networks, and we desperately need regulation and guardrails, but we have human ties with neighbors, friends, and family that are nonetheless powerful.
Personal relationships can compete with algorithmic information networks, but the dynamics are complex. Personal conversations have key advantages: trust, credibility, and the ability to engage nuance without public embarrassment. People are more likely to change their minds when challenged by someone they respect. However, algorithms have scale and frequency on their side, delivering thousands of daily micro-reinforcements and sophisticated emotional manipulation.
But we must first acknowledge the profound emotional toll this personal work takes on those who understand what's at stake. When we witness the deliberate spread of vaccine misinformation that costs lives, climate denial that threatens our planet's future, or research funding decimation that poisons our future health and wealth, the natural response is fury, outrage, and a deep sense of betrayal. These feelings are not only valid—they're evidence of our moral clarity about the importance of truth. I could feel this at the No Kings demonstrations. Are we really giving up another Saturday for this? Another year? Another four years? America? Life and liberty? Grandma and baby Emma?
But the challenge lies in channeling this righteous anger into effective action rather than letting it fuel the very polarization that undermines our goals.
It takes a catalyst and safety glasses. I hope this post is such a resource. If not, at least this is a really cute kid!
Research consistently shows that our most natural responses—confrontation, fact-dumping, and expressing outrage—often backfire spectacularly. This creates a painful paradox: the more we care about the consequences of science denial, the harder it becomes to respond in ways that might actually change minds. We must find ways to honor our anger while recognizing that effective advocacy requires emotional discipline that can feel like betrayal of our own values.
Within the Republican Party itself, the challenge has become seemingly insurmountable: any Republican leader who breaks with the Trump agenda—including support for scientific evidence—faces immediate shaming, ostracization, and political exile from the party. The fate of figures like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Mitt Romney and others who dared to prioritize truth over loyalty demonstrates the brutal effectiveness of this enforcement mechanism.
This creates a profound moral and strategic dilemma: we cannot expect most Republican leaders to sacrifice their careers and political effectiveness for the slim hope of changing minds, especially when the party's current authoritarian structure ensures such voices are quickly silenced and marginalized. The current reality may be that meaningful change within the Republican Party is impossible until the authoritarian grip loosens—which could require electoral defeats severe enough to force internal reckoning, plummeting approval ratings, or external crises that make science denial politically untenable.
In the meantime, the most realistic approach may be to focus on local and state-level Republicans who operate with more independence. Silenced moderates of conscience, if you are out there, please do band together and help us all.
Among anti-science voters — that growing demographic identified by the Pew Center graph above. Research shows that communicating science in ways that avoid inciting anger or division—focusing instead on listening, consulting different viewpoints, and disclosing research funding—generates credibility among both liberals and conservatives. We must resist the urge to point out the obvious contradictions in their thinking, instead emphasizing how science can help individuals make better personal decisions and connecting scientific findings to everyday experiences and values shared by conservative communities. By the way, I think Dr. Katelyn Jetelina is doing this quite well. I will aspire to follow her lead with my (smaller) audience.
With family and friends trapped in echo chambers, personal relationships offer unique opportunities for gradual change, though this may be the most emotionally demanding arena of all. Watching a beloved family member share dangerous misinformation about vaccines or dismiss climate science can feel like watching them harm themselves and others. If you’re going to risk talking, start conversations casually and ask open-ended questions to understand their concerns, even when every fiber of our being wants to correct their factual errors immediately. Practice active listening and show empathy, which requires extraordinary self-control when their beliefs seem to threaten everything you hold dear. Find common ground by discussing scientific topics they already accept, building bridges from shared experiences rather than highlighting their inconsistencies. Most importantly, recognize that meaningful change is slow—your goal should be planting seeds of doubt about misinformation, not forcing immediate conversion, even as urgency screams that we don't have time for gradual approaches.
Respect personal identity and values. We share more than we realize, and we must listen to conservative views, concerns, and fears, too. I feel so angry about the “leaders” and media who have destroyed our once close knit family trees, pitting us against each other as enemies.
OK. Here’s a table to review. If it comes out tiny on your device head over to the original post.
Conclusion
The No Kings protest in Philly was peaceful, well attended, and powerful like thousands of others across the country. Millions of us are not doing this for power. We’re doing it for what we believe is right in America and beyond. And what I believe is right is informed by four things: science, compassion, a desire to make the world a little better place, and a calling to help alleviate suffering when I can.
These four principles also guide my practice as a family doc.
I sincerely mean this.
I hope that by better understanding the drivers undermining science, education, universities, public health, and everything else… we might see the game for what it is. A play for power, achieved in large part by controlling as many networks of information as possible. And that means the sacrifice of inconvenient truths as gleaned through scientific inquiry and open discussion.
A game as old as civilization itself.
Science can be a referee
Science should be a guide.
Science must be restored to its proper place.
One glorious day soon.
The real promised land.
Before all of this is burned, and
gone forever.
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I posted this first on my Substack called Examined. I’m tired of the misinformers and fascists having all the fun and getting all the attention.
You are invited to sign up for future updates from me. 😎
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