In the less than two months since President Donald Trump has assumed office, his administration has continually taken unprecedented action to target federal agencies designed to advance America into a brighter and better future. The MAGA movement has opted to invest into Project 2025 — a road map laid out in the nearly 1,000 page manifesto titled “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.” This book, composed by Trump allies and former Trump appointees, lays out every federal government agency and how the next conservative president could do away with Biden administration directives and organize around right wing ideals.
This plan detailed what an incoming, conservative presidential administration would implement to gut and purge the “administrative state” from within, by firing federal employees and eliminating initiatives believed to stand in the way of a conservative president’s agenda. From there, the president could replace those pushed out with more “like-minded” officials to help fulfill the mission behind Project 2025.
And that’s exactly what the Trump administration has done since his first day in office. Despite disavowing the makeshift manifesto, saying he “had nothing to do with Project 2025,” Trump’s transition team has named multiple people directly tied to the initiative into positions where they could implement those policies proposed.
It’s clear Trump’s plan for America isn’t just a concept: It was always to implement Project 2025 into every aspect of American governance.
Now, federal funding for many government entities hangs in the balance as the administration continues to utilize Elon Musk and the department he definitely doesn’t run (yeah, right) to gut entire agencies. One of the most recent institutions targeted by Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is the National Institutes of Health, also known as NIH.
The NIH is a U.S. government-funded agency which is also the world’s largest source of funding for medical research. Operating under the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, the NIH comprises 27 institutes and centers dedicated to conducting research, training research scientists, developing and disseminating health information to the public, as well as supporting biomedical and behavioral research domestically and abroad.
NIH research is responsible for a vast majority of biomedical and health-related scientific advancements, particularly in regard to HIV/AIDS. In fact, the NIH established the Office of AIDS Research (OAR), which provides the largest public investment in HIV/AIDS research globally, supporting a wide range of research areas from prevention to treatment and cure. The OAR coordinates HIV/AIDS research across all NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs), ensuring that funding is directed to the highest priority research areas. It also develops the NIH Strategic Plan for HIV and HIV-Related Research, which serves as a road map for NIH HIV/AIDS research.
All of these research efforts could be axed in an administration set on targeting offices, departments and agencies it seems as “unnecessary” or “gratuitous.” In recent weeks, the administration has shut down federal funding to programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion. What this resulted in was millions upon millions of dollars worth of scientific research was put on hold, resulting in American scientists wondering how they will be able to do their jobs and, in turn, keep the United States a global leader in scientific advancement.
A field which has historically been viewed as bipartisan is now a political target, and scientists are fed up. It’s why tens of thousands of scientists took to the streets to voice their concerns and sound the alarm on what they believe could destroy the American scientific world as we know it.
Stand Up For Science 2025 was composed of 32 rallies across the nation — in state capitols, urban hubs and in Washington, D.C., scientists across all disciplines marched, holding signs against Trump, Musk and DHHS head Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. while clad in PPE and lab coats.
In Raleigh, hundreds of scientists gathered at Halifax Mall to protest the current administration’s targeting of funding for the sciences and higher education.
“Because of the rhetoric that we heard in the 2016 campaign, I knew science was facing a grim future,” said Jamie Vernon, CEO of the research honor society Sigma Xi. “Now, we find ourselves at a critical juncture once more. The assaults on science have intensified, and the stakes have never been higher. Our future hinges on whether we choose to defend and uphold scientific integrity.”
Nyssa Tucker, a Ph.D. student at UNC-Chapel Hill, spoke at the March 7 rally, laying out the demands she had for the administration: reinstate fired federal workers; end censorship in research and political interference; expand research funding and continue scientific advancement; and open doors for those historically left out of scientific research.
“Science is for everyone, science keeps us safe and enables to live longer, healthier lives,” Tucker said. “We call on leaders at every level, regardless of political affiliation, to champion and protect scientific research, education, and communication for the progress, prosperity, and well being of us all.”
WUNC spoke to a few of the protesters at the Stand Up For Science demonstration, one of whom was Duke University Ph.D. student Anna Towne. Towne said for her and her colleagues, these funding cuts hurt deeper than people realize.
“A lot of us are in really pivotal times in our research training,” said Duke University Ph.D. student Anna Towne. “It feels like it’s necessary that we come out and do this, because this is for our own future and anyone else who cares about the biomedical sciences, which is essentially everyone — you would hope.”
WUNC also spoke to a woman who retired from the Environmental Protection Agency, Angela Buckalew, who said she “saw what was coming,” and is fearful of what that could mean for the future.
“The future of science are the people that are going first, so my concern is, where’s science going to go?” Buckalew said. “When you cut funding to science, it’s not like anything else. You could lose years of data, years of work.”
Johnna Frierson, the associate dean of DEI for the basic sciences at Duke Medical School, spoke on the recent attacks against research with any ties to diversity, equity and inclusion. Frierson — a Black woman from Rock Hill, South Carolina, who was the first in her family to obtain her PhD — said these cuts will dictate not just what research will get done, but it will also decide who gets to do the research.
“I’ve earned my place to be here, and I’ve earned my place to have a voice and share my message,” Frierson said. “If someone wants to call me a DEI hire, make sure the DEI stands for ‘definitely earned it.’”
Dani Lin Hunter, a research and education manager with the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, told the crowd on Friday if the attacks from the administration feel personal, it’s because they are.
“The relentless attacks on science are not abstract. They are deeply personal and they are affecting you and your loved ones, and they are affecting me and my loved ones. I share your rage today,” Hunter said. “My plea for you is to remember that rage when you obtain justice — because I do believe, perhaps naively but fiercely, that justice will come for you.”
These scientists are ready to stand up and fight against the administration planning to shut their work down. Their ability to research and make scientific discoveries will impact us way more than any hypothesis could speculate, and, it’s arguably better for our country to stop this experiment before its variables become too volatile and out of control.