Post by @mattsheffield@mastodon.social

2026-10-20 08:28 UTC

Before Adolph Hitler, Germany was the world's science center. But his censorship, budget cuts, and anti-intellectualism drove a generation of scientists away. Something similar is happening in the U.S. thanks to Donald Trump. Americans will only see the effects of these particular Trump actions in about 10-15 years. He is stamping on America's crown jewels https://apnews.com/article/trump-science-research-funding-cuts-9f4c34581f4343f316a5e72852a71b51

Replies (13)

@trrektor@ieji.de 2026-10-20 09:03

@mattsheffield@mastodon.social hard to get, but worth the expense: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo19196057.html

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@xs4me2@mastodon.social 2026-10-20 10:47

@mattsheffield@mastodon.social Spot on…

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@capnthommo@c.im 2026-10-20 11:41

@mattsheffield@mastodon.social yeah but they'll have muskies flying cars to console themselves with😉

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@SueDiOh@mastodon.social 2026-10-20 11:52

@mattsheffield@mastodon.social There's more than one way to destroy a country.

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@sunscream@mstdn.social 2026-10-20 12:34

@mattsheffield@mastodon.social That horse has fled the burning barn, I think. There are some people within a couple of years of retirement who are hanging on.

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@CountHoldem@mastodon.social 2026-10-20 12:44

@mattsheffield@mastodon.social Factor in cascading ecosystems collapse worldwide; and the equation starts to look like a 1 in 100 mass extinction event. Even Milankovitch would be dumbfounded.

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@Tanzbaer@social.anoxinon.de 2026-10-20 12:47

@mattsheffield@mastodon.social ☝️ This! Really true!

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@s10n@mastodon.social 2026-10-20 12:51

@mattsheffield@mastodon.social Right...censorships, budget cuts and anti-intellectualism, not violent thugs in the street and concentration camps.

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@crazyeddie@mastodon.social 2026-10-20 13:25

@mattsheffield@mastodon.social Not if we keep pushing things like he did. Because those scientists went over to his enemies and helped build shit. Shit like the atomic bomb. So we could learn in a few years that it was a REALLY bad idea to drive all the scientists away as we recover from whatever new horror is wrought upon us by whoever Trump decided to "wipe off the face of the Earth," this week.

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@gooba42@mastodon.social 2026-10-20 14:57

@mattsheffield@mastodon.social And we're not supposed to recognize that he's actively destroying the USA because he says otherwise. I am honestly at a loss how so many people haven't really noticed we're failing in every meaningful way. Quality of life is falling. Incomes are falling. Services are being reduced or outright shut down. The Postal System is being leveraged to destroy democracy. The people are being actively incited to turn on each other by the POTUS and his party.

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@jwi@aus.social 2026-10-20 21:40

@mattsheffield@mastodon.social True, and German was a dominant language for science publications, so Hitler also limited the global reach of the German language.

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@nomdeb@mstdn.social 2026-10-21 04:09

@mattsheffield@mastodon.social And Republicans. Republicans are also responsible. Trump would be a stupid ugly old orange man with no power if it were not for the Republicans. They have participated in the destruction of America's present and future.

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@SueDiOh@mastodon.social 2026-10-24 22:32

@mattsheffield@mastodon.social Same thing happened to Russia under Putin. When you let the oligarchs steal the money out of your entire society, the smart people leave.

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