The Rachel Maddow Show
American scientists take to the streets to protest Trump's cuts
Sat, 8 Mar 2025
As Donald Trump guts the programs and agencies behind some of America's greatest scientific achievements and fires the people responsible for those achievements and working on new ones, scientists across the country from every discipline took to the streets in protest to "stand up for science."
Chapter 1: Why are American scientists protesting against Trump's cuts?
Thanks to at home for joining us this hour. Really happy to have you here this Friday night. I love days like this. I love news days like this. There's so much to show you. Here's Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania today. People turned out to stand up for science. That was the name of the protest. To protest against the Trump administration's indiscriminate cuts to science in all ways.
You can see some of the signs here. fight for science, defend the NIH, defunding research is a recession plan. That's actually quite true. Here's a good one. Quote, budget cuts create all kinds of trouble. I had to look that up. Alkynes, A-L-K-Y-N-E-S, alkynes are organic molecules made of the functional group carbon-carbon triple bonds. They are unsaturated hydrocarbons.
Chapter 2: What were the standout signs at the science protests?
And budget cuts create all kinds of trouble. Here's another good one in Pittsburgh. Got polio? No? Thanks, science. And you see where it says it's a Berg thing and the Salk vaccine there, the University of Pittsburgh is where Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine. Across the state of Pennsylvania, outside City Hall in Philadelphia, look at this. This was the, I mean, this is impressive.
This was the stand up for science crowd outside Philly City Hall today. That's a big, look at that. That's a really big protest. Some good signs at the Philly protest as well. Your policy, defund the NIH, has been rejected by peer review. This is a good one. I feel like this one is special for Susan's birthday today. She loves Beaker from the Muppets. Susan, this happened in Philly today.
This is the only orange Muppet I trust to tell me about science. A version of this sign we saw a few different places today. I love trans mice. All right. I know you didn't listen to Trump's speech to Congress this week. I saw the numbers. It was the least watched Trump state of the union or joint speech to Congress of all the ones he's given. So I know you didn't watch.
But one of the things he said in his speech was that one of the terrible liberal things that his top campaign donor had discovered was happening in government was research to make mice transgender. And he said that in his speech, and all the Republicans gasped and laughed and jeered because that was so terrible. Actually, it's transgenic mice.
And transgenic mice are used in all kinds of laboratory research because mice are transgenic mice. when they have been genetically altered so you can study human illnesses and conditions in them even though they're mice. It is transgenic mice, you numbskulls. But sure, go ahead and shut down all the labs studying all the diseases, because what are you, five? This was Boston.
There were big crowds today in Boston as well. Stand up for science. Some signs in Boston. No science means no medicine, no tech, no progress, no future. Also this one, cut DNA, not the NIH. Genetics research and experimentation. Of course, because it's Boston, there's a Dunkin' Donuts sign. America runs on science.
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Chapter 3: How are cities across the U.S. responding to science funding cuts?
In Madison, Wisconsin, local public radio there put the turnout at what they described as more than a thousand at the Stand Up for Science protest at the Wisconsin State Capitol. Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wickler said he was there and he thought the crowd was even larger than that. He also singled out his favorite sign in Madison, which was, quote, no science, no cheese.
It's Wisconsin. Really, really big crowd turned out in New York City at Washington Square Park to protest against Trump's cuts to science. Look at that. Cold day, cold, windy day today in New York City. Nine out of 10 preventable diseases prefer the GOP. Every disaster movie begins with a politician ignoring science. See the one on the left there?
It was a cold, miserable Chicago winter day today in the Windy City, but people turned out in big numbers in Chicago as well to protest. In addition to all the scientists and supporters and regular people who showed up, they also got some high-level representation from their members of Congress, including Senator Dick Durbin and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.
In Atlanta, there were big crowds in Atlanta at Liberty Plaza. Atlanta, of course, is home to the CDC, which Trump has whacked with big cuts and huge numbers of firings. People turned out in the South, in Little Rock, Arkansas, on the state Capitol steps. Stand up for science. People turned out in Lansing, Michigan. The sign supporting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
We love NOAA. So stop firing the darn meteorologists and the people who run the freaking weather radar. People turned out in St. Louis, Missouri, which is a good science sign. Time to react with the steaming beaker.
Raleigh, North Carolina, part of what they love to call the research triangle, but here are researchers and scientists and their supporters and regular folks having to come out in Raleigh, North Carolina today, protesting against Donald Trump's massive cuts to scientific research. The biggest protest today was in Washington, D.C.
Literally thousands of people turned out to stand up for science and protest against Trump today. Really big turnout in Washington. Signs there include these. Science is not a liberal conspiracy. Fund science, save lives. Doge doesn't pass peer review. Also this one, very simply, cancer is not a partisan issue. This is a nice subtle one. Hello, Health and Human Services Secretary.
Quote, science prevents brain worms. Stand up for science protests happened all over the country today. And this was a big national organizing effort that was led by a small cadre of people just directly affected by these cuts. Graduate students and doctoral candidates and young scientists called this march today in Washington.
And then soon dozens of satellite marches sprung up all around the country. And you saw the evidence of that there. In addition to sort of nationally organized protests like that, we're also increasingly seeing just essentially local and independent protests pop up. Protests coming together in individual cities. Like this big protest yesterday in Trenton, New Jersey.
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Chapter 4: What other local protests are emerging against Trump's policies?
Protesters are pushing back tonight against possible staffing cuts at the Nashville Social Security Office. Thanks for joining us tonight at 10. I'm Lauren Lowry. Dozens of people rallied outside the office today. Our Sharon Dankwa has a look at why they say cuts could directly affect them here in the mid-state.
No closures, no threats. Protect SSA. Today, we're gathered here not just as individuals, but as a community of people who understand the vital role that Social Security plays in so many lives.
Resources provided in this building, Jennifer Brinkman says, so many could be taken for granted.
I know firsthand how essential these offices are. Especially this office right here. When my significant other, Greg, was diagnosed with cancer and could no longer work, we turned to this office for help.
So when she heard the Department of Government Efficiency could cut Social Security staffing nationwide by 50 percent, she organized this rally.
Our money, we paid. Hands off of SSA.
I was in Nashville, Tennessee yesterday, some local coverage of that local protest standing up for Social Security. We've also been looking today at local news reports about brand new little grassroots groups springing up in places like central Minnesota. They're going to be protesting tomorrow in St. Cloud.
Another one expected from a coalition of small local groups in Muskegon, Michigan, this weekend. Republicans are now trying to solve a line that it is only paid protesters, professional, full-time protesters funded by shadowy globalists who are the people who are criticizing what Trump is doing.
They are trying to say that none of these protests are real Americans and any criticism of Trump is somehow inauthentic. That is just, I mean, I understand why they might want to say that for political effect. It is absolutely belied by what we are seeing every single day all over the country.
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Chapter 5: How are citizens engaging with their representatives on science and policy issues?
What they said is they did not get a formal invitation.
Escanaba resident Teresa Ross organized the town hall.
Basically, I got mad and decided that phone calls to Representative Bergman's office was not cutting it, that I needed to do something more.
Bergman hasn't held a town hall in the UP since 2017. In an interview with TV6 last week, Bergman said town halls had become too disruptive, but he shows up for constituents in other ways.
He shows up for his constituents in other ways, just not when they're there in Escanaba in his district and they want to talk to him. Congressman Jack Bergman has apparently been too afraid to hold a town hall with his own constituents for the past eight years. But they want to talk to him. He represents a district in northern Michigan next door in Wisconsin.
Tomorrow at 11 a.m., Democratic Congressman Mark Pocan is going to hold a town hall in his Wisconsin district. And he is a Democrat. So he represents a Democratic district. But he is holding this town hall tomorrow way over in the corner of his district, as close as he can get to the neighboring congressional district that's represented by a Republican. by Republican Derek Van Orden.
Mark Pocan, the Democrat, put out a press release today saying, quote, the town hall will be held less than 10 miles from the border of Wisconsin's third congressional district, represented by Republican Derek Van Orden. Congressman Pocan has invited constituents from both his district and the neighboring third district to hear from a member of Congress.
With the implication being that they're certainly not going to hear from their own. Mark Pocan later said online, quote, we've officially invited Derek Van Orden to join us this Saturday at our town hall in Belmont. We are hearing he hasn't had an open public town hall, so we thought he could observe ours so that he could replicate in his district. Looking forward to him sharing his views.
So there's a lot to keep track of, obviously. There's so much that seems just indefensible or inexplicable from the Trump administration. It can be hard to keep up with it just on a day-to-day basis. Late tonight, for example, there's news from local offices of the National Weather Service.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of Trump's administrative changes?
Tonight, this hour, we're going to be talking about some of the really big ticket items that we're seeing going on, stuff that you have probably seen at least headlines about elsewhere. Our military and intelligence cutoff of Ukraine, basically making the overt and knowing decision to hand feed the Ukrainian people into the Russian army.
We've got new news on that tonight, particularly on the boomerang effect that is coming back at us on the intelligence side. I think you're really going to want to hear about that. It's an interesting story. We've also got news tonight on more mass firings at the U.S.
Department of Justice, where they really do appear to just be grabbing the building by the ankles, turning it upside down and shaking out all the nonpartisan career people who work at the U.S. Justice Department so they can replace them all with Trump operatives.
We'll have more tonight on both those stories, including an unsettling story that we are really trying to chase down about which apparently armed agents are playing a physical role in some of the things they are trying to do by force in Washington when it seems like they can't do them by law. That story, again, disturbing, something that we are still chasing, and that story is coming up.
But I will also tell you, It is Friday night, and at the end of this sixth week of the Trump administration, You know, it's clear you can't cover everything every day. And I get that and I'm at peace with that. But I do feel like there's value in just trying to cover the field as much as possible. Right.
Trying to cover the pushback and the protests, especially when they're coming from places you wouldn't expect or from places the national media isn't always looking. So really trying to do that. I'm also just going to keep trying to. tell you some of the crazier or dumber things that are happening, even if they aren't getting a ton of attention elsewhere. And again, you can't cover everything.
You've got to make decisions. But some of the stuff that I feel like I need to prioritize on the show is just stuff you might not be hearing from other news outlets. For example, I think it's worth all of us knowing that the Donald Trump Jr. hunting buddy who they put in charge of food safety at the FDA once they started firing all the regular science people who work at food safety at the FDA.
The Donald Trump Jr. hunting buddy who they put in charge of human food safety for our country is a man who apparently has no scientific background at all, but he does hunt with Don Jr. and he did serve as a defense lawyer for an infant formula manufacturer whose product was associated with an quote, elevated risk of a deadly bowel condition in premature infants.
He was the defense counsel for that infant formula manufacturer. For what it's worth, the FDA tells us that Don Jr. 's hunting buddy will comply with an ethics agreement that includes specific recusals related to the baby food formula company.
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Chapter 7: How is the Trump administration impacting federal scientific and security programs?
Because, yeah, who wants us to be protecting our pipelines, our power grid, and our water systems from cyber attacks? Who wants that? Who wants to be protecting that stuff? Make America great again, am I right? Donald Trump just removed the leadership of that program.
You should also know that Donald Trump has also just fired the government's foremost expert, the nation's, quote, national taxonomist of the specific pest that almost completely destroyed the Florida citrus industry just a few years ago in 2019.
There is a guy in the US government who is the scientist in charge of making sure that pest doesn't again get into the United States to decimate Florida citrus trees. Just six years ago, that happened, and it reduced Florida's citrus industry to, quote, ghost groves. Some experts were writing off Florida citrus entirely. That was a multi-billion dollar crisis in 2019.
Donald Trump just fired the guy in charge of making sure it doesn't happen again. One of the world's leading scientists on that particular agricultural problem and pest.
You should also know that amid all of this genius, very intelligent cutting of the United States government, the Department of Homeland Security has somehow this past week found $30,000 to air television ads, specifically in West Palm Beach, Florida, over last weekend, while Donald Trump was at his house in West Palm Beach, Florida.
These are ads that explicitly thank Donald Trump for being so great. And the Department of Homeland Security is now spending your tax dollars to air those ads thanking Donald Trump. The ads are running in West Palm Beach while Donald Trump is weekending in West Palm Beach. Ads just telling him he's great and reminding him who the Homeland Security Secretary is, who thinks he's so great.
They're doing that with $30,000 in tax funds. But sure, the guy who keeps the thrips and psyllids off the orange trees in Florida. No, Trump fired him because we can't afford him. Can't afford that. So, again, our attention spans are finite. We all only have so much bandwidth. Time is finite.
But I will do everything I can to bring you all the news I can, especially if I think it's stuff that you might not be running into other places. People all over this country are pushing back against what Trump is doing.
People are pushing back in numbers, big and small, in some big national organizing efforts like we saw today, in little local uproars like we saw today, in town halls, whether or not they can shame that Republican congressman into actually turning up. I absolutely believe that information is power. But so is getting up and doing something about it. Everybody's doing their part.
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Chapter 8: What is the broader impact of these protests and policy changes?
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That is a thing that happened. We lived through it. In Trump's first term, he briefly and inexplicably named this guy Matt Whitaker to be acting attorney general of the United States, the masculine toilet, you've been squatched guy. Trump eventually claimed he didn't know Matthew Whitaker, never heard of him. That was after he had named him as attorney general.
It was all a very weird, weird series of events. But whatever happened to that guy? Trump has named him to something else this time around. He has named him to be the new United States ambassador to NATO? Matt Whitaker has no experience being an ambassador or being any kind of diplomat or having anything to do with diplomacy in any way or anything related to foreign policy.
He also has no military experience. So obviously he's the perfect choice to be our ambassador to the world's largest military alliance. At his confirmation hearing this week, Whitaker was asked about the Trump administration's commitment to NATO. Whitaker told senators that commitment will be, quote, ironclad. Ironclad. He said that on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Donald Trump himself characterized his commitment to NATO somewhat differently. Quote, Donald Trump has cast doubt on his willingness to defend Washington's NATO allies, saying he would not do so if they are not paying enough for their own defense. Trump telling reporters in the Oval Office, quote, it's common sense, right? If they don't pay, I'm not going to defend them.
No, I'm not going to defend them. What's the opposite of ironclad? I mean, we all keep wondering if Donald Trump is going to pull the US out of NATO, but he kind of just did by word, if not by deed, right? The NATO commitment is a commitment to defend each other. It only works if your adversaries believe you're going to do it.
If the American president is now just out there saying, I'm not going to defend those other countries. That's kind of the whole ballgame, whether or not we formally withdraw from NATO or not. The latest Reuters Ipsos polling shows that while Americans did approve of Trump on foreign policy by two points in January, 39 to 37, they now disapprove of Trump on foreign policy by 13 points, 50 to 37%.
3%.
Trump is in lonely territory here. And that stark public opinion on this issue raises the question as to whether or not there's going to be some democratic limit, some democratic friction in terms of how far Trump can push U.S. foreign policy to essentially make the United States into a subsidiary of the Russian Federation, right? Trumpistan or Ameristan, if we're lucky.
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