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Anyone who can pretzel logic themselves like this in spite of their own eyes does not believe in anything. These men have no moral center.

I doubt that Trump had this as an agenda. But adoption of Project 2025 was almost certainly a condition for the support of some of his richest supporters.

Because he’s paid to lie like this.

I am watching colleagues leave science entirely because they cannot stay in the country and work.

Incentives drive everything. Ross Douthat lies because that’s where the money is. Morality is a liability in the US. That’s why we have failed so much as a country. Countries that have more equal societies incentivize good behavior and disincentivize bad behavior. We do not.

Because he has never built anything or attempted to build anything worthwhile and hard? Also, everything is easy if you don’t care if it’s well done.

He's amoral and gets paid to lie.

USAID cuts and much of DOGE will be hard to unroll. Even if it is fixable, easier to destroy than build.

One of many shames. Scientific research takes time and effort. You have to invest in it. Taking away vaccines harms us now and we can see those results. One can lead to another but we need to believe in both.

International relations are also dead in the water.

In fairness: he may just be so fucking stupid that he believes the highlighted clause to be correct.

I think the "why" is simple: Because people pay him to do it.

I’m a PhD doing science adjacent software work, currently at Harvard and it may take a generation to recover from these 4 years. Science is just one part. High tech or any long horizon manufacturing is doomed by whim- based tariffs. Antitrust lawsuits. SEC investigations. They take years.

Because he is simply a typical partisan hack and bad faith actor, the saddest part, he is the normal conservative, in any field.

It doesn't affect him personally so it can't be that important.

Sure, but don't forget the damage he's doing to the academy, punishing American universities and driving away foreign students from coming to America.

Because this was his job description. The New York Times literally paid him to do this. Now CBS will.

I hear that but i think it's more likely he's just lying on purpose because he's a piece of shit

“Junk science” from an EPPC report

@citizencyborg.bsky.social are they NIMBYs too?

His whole bag is trying to take down secularism and make us a traditional Christian/Catholic nation.

City liberals and rural liberals are not the same, because city Rs and rural Rs were not the same, rural Rs are/were always confederate tyrants. More safaris to rural churches and less to hang out with other white dudes at a diner would have shown the country this, but alas. Bubble. Hubris.

They seriously want to kill us

None are so blind as those who refuse to see. Never more appropriate than today.

They want to destroy independent arbiters of truth, whether it be science or the media. Assertions to them are instrumental: "Does saying this help me get more money or power?" Whether statements are true or false is irrelevant. Everything is seen through a political lens.

Because he is a fraud operating exclusively in bad faith?

bsky.app/profile/criq...

He’s a fascist.

I’m not sure he’s lying, in the sense of deliberately misstating a fact. He’s deeply, utterly dogmatic. He may actually not realize what Musk, Vought and Trump have done to dismantle Vannaver Bush’s legacy.

Not exactly lying, just not intellectually capable of an honest evaluation of reality.

Ross lies like that because they pay him to.

He’s a Republican, so what he really means is: “I’ll be fine, so any inconveniences to myself will be easily rolled back, and I don’t give a shit about anyone else.”

He's too dumb and ignorant to be aware of this, is my guess.

In fairness, people like Douthat don't actually understand how most things work. The USG funding framework for research might as well be magic as far as he's concerned. Unfortunately, it's going to have very concrete impacts on the country and world that he will almost certainly misunderstand.

Because he's a dipshit who has no idea how anything works

I believe that China will be the next leader in scientific innovation within the next few years. I’m certain we’ll start to hear more in the coming months about scientists who had their projects DOGE-d getting recruited overseas. China has the $$ and infrastructure needed to support the studies.

Because if you say it will be easy to roll back, you don't have to stand up and fight now.

I wonder what his colleagues at the NYT think of him. Do they feel insulted that they work alongside someone who is openly held to a lower standard because he's conservative? Do they agree that he's a bold, unorthodox truth-teller? Do they care at all beyond just sucking up to billionaires?

More info on the government clawing back already-issued grants from AHRQ: grant-witness.us/posts/2026-0...

We told you all to read Project 2025!

Ross Douthat. nuff said.

A friend of mine in Austria keeps sending me news articles about Austrians hiring US academics in a bid to get me to move there.

Because he’s a selfish prick. I don’t know there’s a lot more to think about when it comes to Ross. He’s just striving dog shit.

Because he's a fascist propagandist.

Mark, the question should not be "Why does Ross Douthat lie like this?" The question should be, Why does Ross Douthat have any audience for his lies? They are not even especially good lies. He is not smart, insightful, witty. He has always been a mediocre hack.

Douthat lies to give his christofascist project a faux intellectual veneer. Why doesn't @nytopinion.nytimes.com have editorial standards for their conservative commentators? bsky.app/profile/nich...

They want to roll back science so that they understand the world again.

Because he’s an ignoramus.

Primarily because Ross Douthat is not an honest broker. The NYT’s gain is the nail in the coffin of 60 Minutes

This is why Ross was hired for the esteemed 60 Minutes, his stunning attention to detail and reality. 😬

Douthat lies because he is Christian conservative. It’s what they do.

Because he’s a piece of shit.

How long does it take to set up a blog? Could a cancer research center really be that much harder?