Historians See Autocratic Streak in Trump's Attacks on Science

Authoritarians have long feared and suppressed science as a rival for influence

- WILLIAM J BROAD

The war on science began four centuries ago when the Roman Catholic Church outlawed books that reimagined the heavens. Subsequent regimes shot or jailed thousands of scientists. Today, in such places as China and Hungary, a less fearsome type of strongman relies on budget cuts, intimidation, and high-tech surveillance to cow scientists into submission.

Then there is President Trump, who voters last year decisively returned to the White House. His blitz on science stands out because America's labs and their discoveries powered the nation's rise in the last century and now foster its global influence. Just last week, Trump fired the newly confirmed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her lawyers said the move spoke to "the silencing of experts and the dangerous politicization of science."

In rapid bursts, Trump has also laid off large teams of scientists, pulled the plug on thousands of research projects, and proposed deep spending cuts for new studies. If his proposed $44 billion cut to next year's budget is enacted, it will prompt the largest drop in federal support for science since World War II, when scientists and Washington began their partnership. Few, if any, analysts see Trump as a Stalin, who crushed science, or even as a direct analog to this era's strongmen leaders. But his assault on researchers and their institutions is so deep that historians and other experts see similarities to the playbook employed by autocratic regimes to curb science. Trump's science policies, experts say, follow that approach. "Despots want science that has practical results," said Paul R. Josephson, an emeritus professor of history at Colby College and author of a book on totalitarian science.