A growing number of scientists are expressing concern about US President-elect Donald Trump’s second-term agenda. During his first term, Trump canceled, revoked or annulled a series of environmental protection rules, a 2021 New York Times analysis showed, and has repeatedly moved to cut the budgets of various federal research agencies.
Science was not a priority during the 2024 election campaign. But Trump’s imminent return to the White House is making some scientists, particularly those involved in climate science, nervous: “We all feel like we have a target on our back” one told the Guardian. Meanwhile, Trump’s pick to lead the country’s health department, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said he would tell medical researchers at the National Institutes of Health that the government is “will give infectious diseases a break for about eight years.»
Some disciplines, however, could benefit from a second Trump term: the Republican’s first term saw a new push for human space exploration, and Trump’s friendship with Elon Musk could translate into even more federal support. more important to spaceflight, although the US space agency, NASA, may not be a benefactor.