EPA says it will eliminate its scientific research arm

Reaction to eliminating EPA’s research arm

• Strong majority of commenters view dismantling EPA research as reckless and destructive, especially for long‑term public health and environmental protection.
• Several describe direct collaborations with EPA scientists that materially improved regulation (e.g., toxicity modeling), arguing research is essential to detect new hazards.
• A minority argue EPA is bloated, politicized (e.g., DEI programs, focus on CO₂), and insufficiently effective on industrial/military pollution, seeing the cut as overdue or at least predictable under the new administration.

Voters, propaganda, and “voting against interests”

• Many see this as part of a long “divide and conquer” arc: redirect resentment toward minorities while advancing deregulation and tax cuts.
• Multiple comments cite work showing rural hospital closures (linked to Medicaid non‑expansion) actually increase Republican support, reinforcing the idea that suffering doesn’t shift partisan loyalties.
• Others stress decades of right‑wing media and corporate funding convincing voters that agencies like EPA are biased or anti‑freedom, so dismantling them can be framed as “draining the swamp.”

Institutional fragility and the Constitution

• Thread repeatedly broadens to the erosion of U.S. checks and balances:
  • Executive power used to sabotage agencies Congress funds, effectively nullifying appropriations.
  • Supreme Court seen by many as partisan, dismantling the administrative state and long‑standing precedents; defenders counter that this Court overturns fewer precedents overall and is “judicially conservative.”
  • Disputes over whether delegating legislative and quasi‑judicial power to agencies is compatible with the Constitution at all.
• Some argue the system has always run “on belief” and civic norms; once a faction stops honoring those norms, paper constraints fail.

Social media, “weaponized stupidity,” and free speech

• Widespread view that targeted manipulation via social media has outpaced citizens’ ability to reason about politics, enabling attacks on expertise and institutions.
• Comparisons to Germany’s more “defensive” constitutional model and speech limits; others note such legal tools still depend on political will.

What comes next

• Some predict future administrations will either:
  • Try to rebuild public research capacity, likely via expensive private contracts and further privatization, or
  • Be unable to restore capacity at all, accelerating U.S. decline.
• Underlying fear: once scientific capacity and institutional trust are dismantled, rebuilding them is far harder than tearing them down.