According to current Republican doctrine, university elites are part of the problem, and need to be gone. Researchers in for-profit companies are OK, provided on the one hand that they know their place, and on the other that their research has immediate product applications.
I think they want to live in a scientific backwater, not understanding that this will ultimately be a standard of living backwater. Or maybe they figure that "everyone" will learn their place and remain in the US, which is after all the "best" country, yada yada yada. Any brain drain will be both temporary and small.
Seriously, though, opposition to research that isn't short-term profitable predates MAGA, and isn't limited to extremists among Republicans, though they generally want proportionately less, not none at all. And as for humanities - what possible use could they be, except to entertain a few of the business elite?
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I think they want to live in a scientific backwater, not understanding that this will ultimately be a standard of living backwater. Or maybe they figure that "everyone" will learn their place and remain in the US, which is after all the "best" country, yada yada yada. Any brain drain will be both temporary and small.
Seriously, though, opposition to research that isn't short-term profitable predates MAGA, and isn't limited to extremists among Republicans, though they generally want proportionately less, not none at all. And as for humanities - what possible use could they be, except to entertain a few of the business elite?