If you have any doubts that Trump 2.0 will destroy the American scientific workforce for years to come, this summary of cuts at NSF makes the case very strongly.
The STEM education cuts are especially damaging. Even if the next President isn’t anti-STEM there’s no way to train new scientists and engineers overnight, especially when a lot of institutional knowledge has been purged, and private industry hires a ton of the people who are trained on those grants to the extent of having major facilities near key universities just to better compete for graduates.
If that’s not happening here, those companies are going to reconsider investing in the United States at all versus cheaper countries like China which are investing in STEM.
Engineering: -57%
Math, Physics, Chemistry: -67%
STEM Education: -80%
... and the list goes on...