Factually! with Adam Conover - Trump Hates Science

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

(In addition to your weekly Factually! episode, this week we're bringing you a monologue from Adam. This short, researched monologue originally aired on the Factually! YouTube page, but we are sharing audio versions of these monologues with our podcast audience as well. Please enjoy, and stay tuned for your regularly scheduled episode of Factually!)Donald Trump is terrified of science, here's why.Visit https://groundnews.com/factually to stay fully informed, see through biased media and get all sides of every story. Subscribe for 40% off unlimited access through my link.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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been a bad few f***ing months. Kind of seems like we're entering a new dark age all of a sudden, because Trump and Elon have fired thousands of scientists from science agencies like the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Weather Service. They've also been freezing grant money, slashing research budgets, and even censoring scientific studies because they contain the word gender. And finally, at his speech before Congress, Trump said this.

Just listen to some of the appalling waste we have already identified. Eight million dollars for making mice transgender. Okay, first of all, dude, it doesn't take eight million dollars to change a mouse's gender. According to Walt Disney, it just takes six eyelashes. But the studies Trump was talking about have nothing to do with turning Mickey into Minnie. They were cancer research, fertility studies, and studies on how asthma affects women. In other words, this is basic medical research intended to develop better treatments and save American lives. Now, some of the studies used what are called transgenic mice,

which are mice whose genes have been altered to be more similar to humans. These are a revolutionary research tool because they let us test cures on Mickey Mouse rather than pulling a Mickey 17. Now, some out there have speculated that Trump confused transgenic mice with transgender mice. Ha ha! Orange man, dumb, up top! But you know what? I actually don't agree with that. Because I don't think Trump and Elon are dismantling our nation's science research apparatus

because they don't understand it. They're doing it because they actually hate science. In fact, the entire right-wing movement that has taken over our government is explicitly opposed to science itself. Like, just listen to Doge Chairwoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, in her own words. I don't believe in evolution.

I don't believe in that type of so-called science. Now, I get why Marjorie wants to pick and choose which parts of science she believes in. She does the same thing with the Bible, but that's not how science works. And you'd think that of all people, Elon Musk would understand that, right? I mean, he's always presented himself to the public

as a heroic man of science, an engineer who uses his intellect to shape the world around him. So why is his Doge initiative laying off literal rocket scientists from f***ing NASA? Not to mention the scientists that predict the weather and cure diseases. If you actually cared about making America great, why would you want to make us more vulnerable to fires, floods, and f***ing cancer? Well, in this video I'm going to explain exactly why Elon hates science so much,

why Trump's firing spree makes him more like Chairman Mao than Uncle Sam, and how we can all take the first steps to stop them. But first, just want to remind you that I am on tour right now. If you'd like to experiment with my new hour of stand-up comedy, I'm going to London on March 22nd at the Leicester Square Theatre, then Amsterdam on March 26th, and then I'll be in Providence, Rhode Island on April 3rd, 4th, and 5th, Vancouver, Canada on April 17th, and then Eugene, Oregon, Charleston, South Carolina, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Spokane,

Tacoma, and so many more cities. Head to AdamKonover.net for tickets and tour dates, and if you would like to support this channel directly and get everything that we publish here ad-free, head to patreon.com slash AdamKonover. channel directly and get everything that we publish here ad free head to patreon.com slash Adam Conover. So it has been really hard for me to watch all of these scientists get fired and our nation's science infrastructure be dismantled because science is really important to me. I actually grew up in a family of scientists.

Everyone else in my family has a PhD. I'm the only dumbass who became a comedian. My sister's got a doctorate in particle physics. I'm out here telling dick jokes at comedy clubs. Doesn't quite make the Christmas card. But I have always revered scientists, with the exception of my sister, with whom I have an unhealthy rivalry. But the rest of them I love. Now we love each other, but also, I wish I was you. Okay, let's move on. These are people who have devoted their lives not to making money not to getting laid But to increasing our understanding of the universe around us for the benefit of all humanity And I've been lucky enough in my work to meet some of the best most inspiring scientists in the world

I met a bunch of them on my Netflix show the G word Which was a documentary about how the federal government affects our lives which by the way if you want to check this show out it Is a extra relevant right now, and luckily Ted Sarandos was not one of the rich guys at the inauguration, so maybe it'll be up on Netflix for a few more months before the thought police come and take it down. Now one of my favorite parts of that entire show

was when I got to meet the scientists at NOAA and the National Weather Service. Not only have these people created one of the most advanced weather prediction and climate analysis systems on the planet, they literally took me up in a goddamn plane and flew me into the eye of a hurricane. Now, this is one of the wildest moments of my entire life, but for them, it's another Tuesday at the office

because every time there is a hurricane off the American coast, there is literally a plane of government scientists flying into it over and over again to measure how strong it is and where it's going. And then they share that data with the public, with us, to protect us from these extreme weather events so we can plan evacuations and save lives. In fact, all of the data from the National Weather Service's enormous network of sensors and scientists that are working on our behalf 24-7 is

shared for free with the public. When your local weather person gives you the forecast on the news, they are literally reading government weather data produced by a government scientist who is paid for by your tax dollars. And I just want to underline here what a big deal it is in human history that we can now predict the weather this way. Do you know how amazed people from a few centuries ago would be that you wake up every morning and learn with a high degree of accuracy

whether or not a flood is coming to kill you? That is wizard shit. These scientists literally predict the future, and then they give those predictions to people who need it, farmers, airplane pilots, moms planning outdoor birthday parties, and you for free. And now a billionaire high on ketamine and his 19-year-old freak henchmen just fired thousands of them.

They even fired some of the f***ing hurricane hunters. They were firing at the Aircraft Operations Center at NOAA in Lakeland, Florida. That's where the hurricane hunters are. I mean look, if I seem a little incensed about this, it's because this topic is personal to me. Not just because I met these scientists and fell in love with what they do, but because people who are important to me literally had their lives saved a few months ago by National Weather Service meteorologists, who accurately predicted that LA was about to catch on fire. These fires destroyed entire

neighborhoods, but luckily very few lives were lost, in large part because the evacuation alerts went out in time because we knew the fires were coming. The people who work for NOAA and the National Weather Service aren't there to make money for some TV station or weather app. They have exactly one job, to save our lives and improve America by accurately predicting the weather. These scientists are real people who do remarkable work and they deserve to be honored not kicked to the f***ing curb. And the same goes for the scientists at the National Institutes of Health, which has also received massive cuts, with nearly 1200 science workers laid off.

Now, if you don't know what the NIH is, let me just fill you in. It's a government institute that happens to be the largest and most important medical science organization in the world. And the scientists who work there, the people who just lost their jobs, really give a s*** about saving lives. Like Emily, who worked on cancer cures. Several close family members of mine either have passed from cancer or survived cancer. I'm just worried people aren't going to get the treatments they need.

People are going to lose their lives. This is going to waste years of data collection at the worst. Make these experiments invalid. And Katie Sandlin, a first-generation college graduate who moved to D.C. from Alabama for her dream job as a genomics educator at the NIH. I've just always thought that hard work pays off, you know, and it just, it doesn't feel like that right now.

You know, watching these wonderful nerds be fired is simply heartbreaking. Not just because they're the best and brightest of America, and Elon's just loaded them into a wood chipper, but also because of all the cures we're going to miss out on if these cuts aren't reversed. The NIH is responsible for countless revolutionary treatments. NIH scientists literally invented chemotherapy, which has saved multiple family members of mine from cancer.

They found a treatment for sickle cell anemia and were even working on a cure. They developed a blood test for Alzheimer's. They do research that helps people suffering from opioid addiction, asthma, and traumatic brain injuries. No matter who you are, you or someone you know's life was saved or improved by the NIH. And you know, call me naive, but even in my most cynical moments, I would have thought

that everybody, even Elon Musk and Trump, would agree that we should keep trying to cure cancer and heart disease. I mean, after all, these two f**ks eat so much McDonald's, heart disease is going to get them eventually. But okay, some might argue that the government shouldn't be doing that research, that it's too inefficient, and that for-profit businesses should do that fundamental research instead. But let's be f***ing real. Last time I checked, most Americans agree that the unending lust for profit is the problem

with the healthcare industry. For-profit companies aren't going to invest billions to research the cures for rare diseases. There's no money in it. Instead, they'll just research how to squeeze more money out of us and how to give better butt implants to rich people. And yes, I enjoy looking at a hot rich lady with a BBL, but I'd like to not die of cancer while I do it. And for-profit companies aren't going to do fundamental climate research like NOAA does

because climate change is being caused by for-profit companies. You can't even argue that we're spending too much on science and that we need to cut back because before these cuts, federal funding for science was already at a 25-year low. It was literally just over 1% of federal spending, which is crazy because government-funded scientific research basically prints money. After World War II, American policymakers realized that the key to prosperity was science and technological innovation, so they poured funding into science, and the results literally made America the superpower it is today. Since 1945, science and technology have driven 85% of the economic growth in America.

Every dollar spent by the NIH turns into more than twice as much economic value by creating jobs and supporting infrastructure. Scientific research is one of the few investments you can make that actually produces more financial and human value for everyone. Even Republican lawmakers should know this, because their state economies also depend on science funding. Before these cuts, Texas was receiving $1.9 billion in NIH grants that directly supported almost 30,000 jobs. And those jobs generate an estimated 112,000 private sector jobs, and all of that put together turned into over $6 billion for the state of Texas.

Is that really something that we want to cut from the federal budget? In Alabama, the University of Alabama at Birmingham is the state's largest employer, and it doesn't just pay those salaries from tuition, it relies on over $400 million in grants from the NIH. These universities in red states are so deeply affected by Trump and Elon's science cuts, they're already rescinding graduate students' acceptance letters because they can't afford to invest in their research anymore. Research hospitals are one of the only parts of a university that makes money besides the football team.

So if their budget is cut, who do you think is going to be researching concussions? This guy? Gronk needs science! Science save Gronk! But look look even if every dollar we spent on science didn't pay us back many times over which it does We shouldn't even have to put a dollar value on it because science is Literally more important than money science just to remind you once again is the process by which humans Understand the universe around us in order to improve

all of our lives, all of human society. And that knowledge gives us power. America's global dominance as a superpower has largely been based on our lead in science. Everything from the Manhattan Project that created thermonuclear weapons to the Human Genome Project that helped us understand our own biology. So disemboweling our country's science capability to save money literally just makes America poorer and weaker. It makes all of human society worse. And yet, the destruction of science was literally called for in the right-wing blueprint for Trump's second term,

Project 2025. Why? Why would Project 2025's right-wing authors want to make America smaller, stupider, and weaker? Ask yourself this, why exactly is science the first part of government spending that Elon and Trump are going after? I mean, they could have cut the military budget, they could have cut the agriculture budget, they could have replaced the resolute desk with a Clark from Ikea. But no, they started with science. Why? It's because they literally hate science, even more than they hate a trans mouse who plays women's sports.

Let's take a quick look at the makeup of the right-wing movement that brought Trump to power. It's made up of three groups, right-wing Christian conservatives, big business run by billionaires like Musk, and finally a modern authoritarian movement headed by a supreme leader Donald Trump. All three of those groups hate science because it competes with them as a source of truth. Right-wing evangelicals famously hate science because its discoveries conflict with the teachings of the Bible, which according to their ideology, is the only valid source of truth. As one of the founding fathers of the modern evangelical movement, Dwight Moody, once said,

I do not read any book unless it will help me to understand the Bible. Oh yeah, that's the thousand-yard stare of a man who's never read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This is literally an ideology that upholds ignorance over the pursuit of knowledge. He doesn't care that science gives you knowledge that's true. Since it contradicts the book that gives him power and authority, he's against it. But Big Business has an ideology too, an ideology that nothing is more important than profit. And they hate science because science calls bullsh** on that. Science is how we learned that the cigarette companies were giving us cancer, that the

chemical companies were polluting our rivers, and that the fossil fuel companies are dangerously warming the planet. Science gives us, the people, the power to tell those businesses, hold on a second, we have proof that you're hurting us for profit and we demand that you stop. So if these businesses can stop that science from happening, then they can make more money. That's their ideology. And Trump, well, this dude just wants to draw whatever he wants on the hurricane map without anybody telling him he's wrong.

Trump is an authoritarian. The entire point of his movement is to convince you that you should believe nobody but him. And that's why throughout history when authoritarians take power, the first thing they do is to attack science. Hitler fired university scientists and burned books that he deemed anti-Nazi. And famous hell resident Joseph Goebbels even celebrated this by saying, the era of extreme Jewish intellectualism is now at an end. But I know, I know, a little cliche to compare Trump to the Nazis. So let's compare him to the Communist authoritarians. Stalin fired, imprisoned, and murdered scientists in the Great Purge, where he decided that entire forms

of science, like astrophysics, were a political platform that was against Marxism, just like Trump has declared other forms of science contrary to his ideology. And Mao Zedong, the founder of the Chinese Communist Party, was also famous for attacking sources of knowledge outside of his authority. Among dozens of examples, his government mobilized students to attack, torture, and murder teachers for being capitalist intellectuals. And no, we're not murdering teachers yet. I mean, I guess we're letting them get murdered by refusing to regulate the guns used in school shootings. But Trump, like Mao, is specifically going after educators, banning words he doesn't

like and defunding entire universities all because they're a threat to his authority. This is Trump's own cultural revolution. I mean, the dude is literally trying to abolish the Department of Education. You know why? Because if you have a basic education in science, then you might be able to see through his bullsh**. If you can figure out the difference between transgenic and transgender, you can tell him to shut the f**k up about the mice and do his goddamn job. And he doesn't want that.

He literally wants you to be dumber so that you will believe whatever bullshit he says. By the way, funny time to take an ad break, but I gotta do it. If you want to be smarter about the news so you don't fall for the bullshit, check out this video's sponsor, Ground News. In this time where attacks on facts and science are becoming more common, understanding bias and factuality are more difficult than ever, which is why I use ground news to research these videos. Ground news is a great way to keep up on the news and make sure you are getting a wide variety of sources because they rate every source based on factuality and bias, allowing you to make sure you're getting

accurate news on even controversial subjects. And guess what? You can get 40% off of ground news right now. If you use my special code, Factually, go to groundnews.com slash factually. So let's be really clear here. Trump, Elon, and the rest of their right-wing movement hate science because science gives us real information about the real world and that gives us the power to call bullsh** on their ideology. So in order to stop us, the right wing is literally firing and defunding science, the force that

built the modern world. They are literally trying to drag us back into the Dark Ages, a time when instead of predicting the weather, we prayed to the gods to protect us from the floods, a time when instead of curing diseases and ending deadly pollution, we just let those things kill us, a time when we couldn't know the truth for ourselves, so we relied on a king or an emperor to tell us how the world worked. They want to drag us back to that time so that their ideology can reign supreme and they stay in power. But you know what? Those of us who love science, who believe in science, we are still more powerful than

they are. Because what ideology does is attempt to distort the world into its own image. To say, don't believe your eyes, don't believe the evidence, believe me instead. But that gives you a false view of the world. Science, on the other hand, gives us real knowledge about the world as it f**king is. We can check it, verify it, and disseminate it amongst ourselves and use it to increase our power over the world because we f**king understand the world in a way that they don't. And that gives us the power to fight back. So it's time for those of us in the reality-based community, the science lovers, the nerds, those who are addicted to knowledge. It is time for us to come together and defend science.

And you know what? Scientists are already speaking out against what's happening in this country. On Friday, March 7th, there was a massive demonstration in D.C. and 30 other cities called Stand Up for Science, and you can join them. You can follow Stand Up for Science at Standupforscience2025.org, and you can check out the group Defend Research, who have a list of actions you can take right now. You can attend a protest. You can help archive scientific material that's in danger of being deleted by Dozier's minions. And you can work with watchdog groups to monitor anti-science legislation and government actions.

You can go to a school board meeting and demand protection for science education, or hey, you could just buy your local grad student a beer. Think they might appreciate a chance to get drunk right about now. All of these actions of resistance to the forces of ignorance are important, no matter how small they are. And I know it is hard to stand up and fight. It might get harder and scarier and even more dangerous as the next four years progress. But while you're fighting, you cannot forget that you have a fundamental advantage.

You have science on your side. And that means that you have the power to understand how the world really works and how to find out more about it. And that tool makes you smarter and more powerful than any about it. And that tool makes you smarter and more powerful than any authoritarian. That's why they hate science. That's why they're afraid of science. And that is why science is going to win.