pmags

Your comment suggests that you fundamentally misunderstand the process of scientific discovery and innovation, how the American scientific ecosystem works, or how the economic and technological return on scientific investment has helped to propel the US for the last 70 years.

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.

Engineering: -57%

Math, Physics, Chemistry: -67%

STEM Education: -80%

... and the list goes on...

I already had "deny access to life saving medicines and public health improvements" on my Trump 2.0 bingo card.

What do I win besides greater probability of serious viral infection?

This is a real and important challenge, which is even further exacerbated if you work on microbial organisms. I can easily think of a half dozen times in my own research where we tracked down differences in phenotype between ostensibly isogenic strains from different labs that turned out to be the result of in lab evolution.