The Trump administration wants to destroy our health care infrastructure. These warriors won't let this happen without a fight.
Students, researchers and demonstrators rally during the Kill the Cuts protest against the Trump administration's cuts to research, health care and higher education funding at UCLA on April 8, 2025.
(Robin Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
It's that time of year. It's time for the 2025 “best of” lists. Movie. Books. Theater. Art. But why not a better 2025 for “democratic governance of key public health and biomedical research institutions”? This may be the first roll call, but not the last. Well, the way things are, maybe so, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
I am often asked how I can remain hopeful today. These are just a few of the people, institutions and groups that get me out of bed in the morning.
1.Civil servants of our country
Between Russell Vought, Elon Musk, and RFK Jr., the leadership and staff of most federal agencies charged with protecting our health and well-being have been purged and often replaced by woefully unskilled hackers whose job it is to make things worse. The most recent case? In December Biocosmos reported that 90 percent (!!!) of the top management of the Food and Drug Administration left a year ago.
That is why the first place on this list goes to our government. heroic civil servants— those who hung on as long as they could, and those who are still trying to keep the lights on at the FDA, CDC, NIH and all the other agencies on which our public health system depends. Let me be clear: we are, by and large, screwed. But the only reason we don't even more what sucks is that these people work day and night to keep what's left of these agencies afloat.
 
2.Those who stand up and fight
Current number
Nobody gets a PhD in how to fight hand-to-hand with competitive authoritarian regime obsessed with destroying public health and biomedical research in America. However, the most unlikely freedom fighters emerged from the ranks of scientists, doctors, legal scholars, students, retired government employees and former agency executives. Some of them flocked to groups such as Stand up for science And Protect public health. Others operate locally on their campuses through American Association of University Professors. But even more people have joined together in smaller groups, talking on secure platforms where they strategize together on a daily basis. This is important because the emerging distributed network architecture is more difficult for governments to attack. For many of these people who were trained to provide assistance or analyze data and were likely expected to enjoy their youth or golden years without having to fight Donald Trump, it would have been much easier to put their heads down and try to get through this current moment. Instead, they become significantly more active.
 
3.Data collectors
The Trump administration has removed vast amounts of data and health information from agency websites. As Nancy Krieger of the Harvard School of Public Health roughly speaking earlier this year it was “censorship. It's basically burning digital books.” Almost everything related to race, sexuality or gender have been demolishedand data about climate and environment was also cleaned. But almost as soon as this censorship campaign began, scientists and others began to act to preserve this valuable information, including groups such as Data Rescue Project, Harvard Law School Library Innovation Lab, Web archive for the end of the semesterAnd Environmental Data and Governance Initiative. We are lucky that so much data has been saved thanks to these stewards of our future.
 
4.Receipt Keepers
The Trump administration has halted thousands of federal grants to multiple agencies, disrupting research and innovation for a generation or more. Laboratories are closed, and talented scientists, both senior figures and trainees, are looking for opportunities in other fields or even in other countries. That's why it's so important that people document the depth of government's destructiveness. For example, Noam Ross, Scott Delaney, Anthony Barente, Emma Marson, Eric Scott and Mally Shan. founded Grant Witnesswhich catalogs grant terminations at the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Environmental Protection Agency. The fact that we have such a detailed report on grant terminations is largely due to the efforts of volunteers. Another interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Maryland, College Park, University of Pennsylvania, University of Utah, Georgia Tech and the University of Oregon created Science and Society Impact Mapping Project (SCIMaP), which details the current and future economic impacts on states and quantifies these cuts in terms of lost dollars and jobs. Want to know how a GOP member of Congress is attacking your hometown? SCIMaP has receipts.
 
5.Good reporters
Telling the story of these terrible years for public health and science requires journalists with deep knowledge. It's no surprise that the health news site STAT has some of the best reporting on what's happening now, including a multi-part story from December.”American science destroyedMax Kozlova, young reporter Nature, won awards for its coverage attacks on science and public health this year and deserves praise. Other outlets such as ProPublica And Wired and this year there were huge resources. ProPublica had your big piece in June about the destruction of science, and Wired was on CDC hits with a lot of stories this year at the beleaguered agency. These publications proved to be more reliable than large mainstream media outlets, with less ambiguity and more commitment to telling their readers the unvarnished truth.
 
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6.Lawyers
Number of lawsuits against the Trump administration In public health and science alone, an army of lawyers has been working nonstop for the past year. Lee challenging the termination of a grant, limiting indirect research costsor the terrifying RFK vaccination policy, state attorneys general and lawyers with Civil Litigation Group, Democracy forwardand others have been facing many problems for several months now. Not all of these cases have been successful, but they remain vital in getting the word out about what's going on—bringing the facts into the public domain, where the administration has to answer for its actions in court. Given our Supreme Court's enthusiasm for supporting Trump, persistence and commitment to this work is nothing short of heroic.
In fact, it is surprising how many people rose to the occasion when our institutions, including many major news outlets, large law firms, and universities, tried to hedge, cajole, capitulate, or cooperate. Many of us are tired of the holidays, but what a gift we give to each other – to those of us who continue to see hope and have worked so hard this year for a better future, despite the darkness around us.
Over the past year you have read Nation writers love Elie Mistal, Kaveh Akbar, John Nichols, Joan Walsh, Bryce Covert, Dave Zirin, My God Lord, Michael T. Clare, Kata Pollitt, Amy Littlefield, Gregg GonsalvesAnd Sasha Abramsky take on the corruption of the Trump family, set the record straight on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s disastrous Make America Healthy Again movement, examine the consequences and human cost of the DOGE wrecking ball, anticipate dangerous anti-democratic Supreme Court decisions, and amplify successful resistance tactics on the streets and in Congress.
We publish these stories because when members of our communities are kidnapped, household debts rise and artificial intelligence data centers cause water and electricity shortages. we as journalists have a responsibility to do everything we can to keep the public informed.
In 2026, our goal is to do more than ever before, but to do this we need your support.
Until December 31st, generous donors will match all donations up to $75,000. This means your contribution will be doubled, dollar for dollar. If we have reached full compliance, we will start 2026 with $150,000 invest in stories that impact the lives of real people—stories that aren't covered by the billionaire-owned, corporate-backed media.
With your support, our team will publish the important stories the president and his allies don't want you to read. We will cover the evolving military industrial complex and issues of war, peace and surveillance, as well as the affordability crisis, hunger, housing, health care, the environment, attacks on reproductive rights and more. At the same time, we will present alternatives to Trump's rule and intensify efforts to create a better world here and now.
Although your gift has a double impact, I ask you to support Nation with a donation today. you will Empower the journalists, editors and fact-checkers who are best equipped to hold this authoritarian administration accountable.
I hope you don't miss this moment – donate to Nation Today.
Forward,
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and publisher Nation
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