The US brain drain has begun

[mahatmakanejeeves]

NEWS > COMMENTARY
The US brain drain has begun

The White House appears hell-bent on destroying not just economic and political paradigms, but a higher education system that really did make America great.


So far, firings have taken place at institutions including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. | Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

COMMENTARY
APRIL 9, 2025 4:01 AM CET
BY JOHN KAMPFNER

John Kampfner is a British author, broadcaster and commentator. His latest book “In Search of Berlin” is published by Atlantic. He is a regular POLITICO columnist.

Every empire, real or imagined, builds monuments to progress. … The Nazi regime was developing a colossal science center as part of Hitler’s great Germania project for Berlin, only for war to intervene. It was buried in rubble under an artificial hill, where the victorious Allies eventually built a listening post instead.

In 2010, the Skolkovo Foundation built a glistening tech hub in the west of Moscow, as the Kremlin’s answer to Silicon Valley. Much of it now lies empty, with the war in Ukraine and economic sanctions putting paid to that dream.

Political power has been projected through science since the time of the ancients. But when scholars’ ability to work freely is threatened, they depart — as happened under Nazi rule, during the Soviet period and, in recent years, as President Vladimir Putin has consolidated his stranglehold over the Russian Federation.

Over the 20th and early 21st century, most of these scholars fled to the U.S. — a land that encouraged research without fear or favor. No matter its other failings, people from all over the world flocked there to take up opportunities at unrivaled universities. But now, thanks to President Donald Trump and his rapid-fire assault on the country’s higher education institutions, a reverse brain drain has begun. … And much of it is headed for the continent he seemingly abhors — Europe.

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[NJCher]

1. Do you remember the Cultural Revolution?

In 1966 or so, Mao trained kids called the Red Guard to attack public intellectuals. I barely remember it because I was just a kid myself, but I tried to imagine kids attacking teachers, professors, journalists, etc. It sounded so crazy. I couldn’t imagine it, but there it was on the news every day. Walter Cronkite said it was so.

The stuff Trump is doing also sounds insane. Imagine a dummy like trump trying to tell Harvard what they can teach.

Quite some time ago, one of our posters here (I’m pretty sure it was bucolic frolic) wrote a post on how societies can go crazy. When you look at how MAGATS behaved at the recent Marjorie Taylor Green gathering, you have to realize that this society has its crazy elements, too.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. This is just another reason why it will take a century to recover after the US fascists are gone.