Michael Kratsios: Trump's Science Agenda, Anti-Science Claims, Fauci's Damage, DEI & China

Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, returned to the role he held in the first Trump administration to argue that American science has stagnated — not because of a lack of funding, but because of how that funding is allocated. In a conversation with the All-In hosts, he laid out the administration’s diagnosis of what went wrong, what it plans to do about it, and why he believes the public perception of this administration as anti-science is mistaken.

The charge of being anti-science

Kratsios directly addressed the widespread perception that the Trump administration is hostile to science, pointing to a Nature poll in which 86 percent of scientists supported Kamala Harris. His response was not a denial of the poll but a reframing of the problem. “Over the last 15 or 20 years, I think science has been deeply politicized,” he said. The real damage, in his view, was done during COVID, when a single authority figure defined what counted as science. “If you didn’t agree with what he said, then suddenly you’re anti-science. And to me, that is the most anti-science conclusion you could ever make.” The administration’s recent report, Science: A New Golden Age, is intended to re-center science on inquiry rather than authority.

Where the money went wrong