Frank Bruni's latest New York Times opinion piece, "America Can’t Be Great if America Is Stupid," is a fiery critique of the Trump administration’s cuts to education and scientific research. Bruni argues that the same intellectual infrastructure that enabled Operation Warp Speed—the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines—is now under attack. From firing over 1,300 employees at the Department of Education to slashing funding for scientific research, Trump seems more interested in punishing academia than fostering American innovation. Bruni warns that without investment in education and science, "America will stand as tall and bright as it did before Trump started meting out his punishments"—which is to say, not at all. America’s global leadership, he contends, depends on remaining a powerhouse of knowledge, not just military might or economic strength.

Key Points:

• Education and science are under attack: The Trump administration is gutting funding for research and cutting education jobs, actions Bruni argues will weaken America's global competitiveness.
• Operation Warp Speed’s irony: Trump boasted about the vaccine effort, but seems blind to the fact that it was made possible by decades of government-funded science.
• Department of Education cuts: Over 1,300 employees were fired, reducing the department’s workforce by half in just two months.
• Higher education’s vulnerabilities: Bruni concedes that universities have their problems—intellectual elitism, lack of ideological diversity—but argues they remain vital to American progress.
• The anti-intellectual stance: Trump's past admiration for "brainy people" contrasts with his famous 2016 comment, "I love the poorly educated."
• Consequences for innovation: Attacks on institutions like the National Institutes of Health and the CDC could undermine future medical and technological advancements.
• America’s competitive edge: With more Nobel Prizes in science than any other country, the U.S. should be fostering brainpower, not suffocating it.

At its core, Bruni’s piece asks a pressing question: Can America remain a great power if it stops believing in knowledge?
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