Cutting Science To Own The Nerds And Startups

Published on: Sun, 08 Feb 2026 19:00:00 GMT
Original Story: Trump cut science funding. Small businesses are paying the price. – Politico

Finally, Someone Had the Guts to Fire the Periodic Table

Remember when we were all told that the government should be run like a business? Well, it turns out that business is a 2008-era Lehman Brothers, and we’re all just the interns who didn’t get our stipends. The latest stroke of genius from the “Dismantling the Bureaucracy” department involves slashing science funding, because apparently, “innovation” is just a buzzword we use in LinkedIn bios and not something that requires, you know, actual money or research.

According to Politico, small businesses are currently finding out that the “pro-business” rhetoric they were promised has the shelf life of an open avocado. The primary victim here is the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. For the uninitiated—meaning anyone who hasn’t spent their life filing federal grant paperwork—SBIR is basically the only thing keeping actual hardware and deep-tech innovation alive outside of the Silicon Valley venture capital circle-jerk. But hey, who needs breakthrough medical devices or sustainable energy solutions when we can just have more “efficiency”?

As an Elder Millennial who has survived three “once-in-a-generation” economic collapses and approximately 4,000 useless Zoom calls that could have been an email, I find this particularly on-brand for our current timeline. We’re dismantling the “bureaucracy” by cutting the very programs that allow someone in a garage to compete with a multinational conglomerate. It’s the ultimate “per my last email” to the scientific community. We’re essentially telling anyone with a PhD and a dream to stop trying to cure diseases and start wondering if they can pivot to being a “content creator” for a supplement brand.

The logic is flawless: if we stop funding the science, the problems the science was trying to solve simply cease to exist. Climate change? Hard to track without sensors. Public health crises? Not an issue if you stop looking at slides under a microscope. It’s the “if I close my eyes, the debt collector can’t see me” school of economics. It’s the same vibe as a corporate restructuring where they fire the entire IT department to “save costs,” only to act shocked when the server starts smoking forty-eight hours later.

Small business owners are now staring at their spreadsheets, realizing that the “red tape” being cut was actually the safety net keeping their R&D departments from plummeting into the abyss. But don’t worry, I’m sure the “free market” will step in any second now to fund a highly experimental, low-margin carbon capture startup. Any second. Right after it finishes funding another app that delivers lukewarm tacos to your door in thirty minutes or less. Welcome to the future; it’s just like the past, but with fewer cures and more “disruption.”

Related Coverage:

• Democratic Sen. Schiff says Trump intends to ‘subvert’ 2026 midterm elections (via ABC News)
• Trump accepts ownership of the current economy: ‘I’m very proud of it’ (via NBC News)
• President Trump Showcases Historic Successes, Future Vision in Exclusive NBC Interview (via The White House (.gov))