Tim van Opijnen | Fortunately, there is still resistance in America – sometimes from an unexpected quarter
Washington is well on its way to burning America to the ground, observes Tim van Opijnen. Fortunately, there are also moments of resistance. Sometimes even when you least expect them. “To this audience, the young speaker was the triumph of the American Dream. To the federal government, he is a ‘DEI hire’, or worse: a statistic waiting for an ICE van.”
A heady irony hangs over the Wall Street elite coming together to celebrate the immovability of scientific facts. Yet that was the setting on Monday evening in a magnificent ballroom in New York City. Among a colourful mix of scientists, wealthy and powerful people, and teachers, I raised my glass to the New York Hall of Science and to the radical idea that truth matters. It felt less like a gala and more like a chic gathering of resistance.
The evening grew edgy when the director of the New York Port Authority took the stage. He oversees an infrastructure empire of eighty billion dollars and half a million jobs. In the current political climate, you would expect such an official to tread carefully. Forget it. With the recklessness of someone who knows the numbers are on his side, he dismantled the current administration. Denying facts, he argued, does nothing to stop the rising waters and storms on the East Coast. While Washington seems intent on burning the house to the ground, here stood someone shoring up the foundations.
But the emotional anchor was a “senior explainer” at the museum. Five years ago, he arrived from Southeast Asia as a teenager; now he speaks passionately about teaching science to children. In his charisma you could see the sort of enthusiasm and optimism that cannot be faked. As the applause swelled, a grim contrast pressed itself forward: to this room, he is the triumph of the American Dream. To the federal government, a few hundred miles to the south, he is a ‘DEI hire’, or worse: a statistic waiting for an ICE van. The overwhelming applause was nothing less than a collective middle finger to the nativism that now passes for policy.
The next morning, the news felt like an ice-cold shower. The government is conducting a demolition derby on the institutions, determined to gaslight us until we bend out of sheer exhaustion.
Take the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Until recently the beacon of public health, but last week forced under pressure from Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) to perform a semantic pirouette so clumsy it would be hilarious if it weren’t deadly. The CDC website now states that the claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is no longer ‘evidence-based’. But the headline of the page still reads: “Vaccines do not cause Autism*”. Note the asterisk! It refers to a footnote saying the headline must remain because of a recent deal with a Senate committee. It is governing by footnote while the truth dies in the small print.
And while the CDC is sowing confusion, the State Department is ensuring that the world definitively sees us as completely unhinged. On Thursday, every country that promotes inclusivity, subsidises abortion and tackles hate speech was labelled a ‘violator of human rights’. The argument leans on the Declaration of Independence: ‘all men are endowed by their Creator’ with rights the government may not infringe upon, and apparently God is particularly upset about diversity training. By framing inclusivity as oppression, the US transforms from a rational actor into a theological repression machine. Who is still surprised that our bridges are creaking and our signature under treaties has become worthless?
Still, I keep thinking back to Monday evening. The government may have the power, the asterisks and the bullies. But it cannot replicate what happened in that ballroom. It cannot sanitise the enthusiasm of that young immigrant. When he spoke about his love for this country, he proved that this political regression will turn out to be nothing more than a footnote. The director of the Port Authority knows it: bridges do not stay up by faith, but by the laws of physics. In that room everyone knew that a society does not thrive on exclusion, but on diversity and cooperation. Washington may wield the wrecking ball, but the resistance is unbroken. Facts are tough. But as I was reminded on Monday: hope is tougher.
Tim van Opijnen is professor of paediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, in the US, where his lab develops new antibacterial treatment methods. He writes a monthly column for Folia about doing research in Trump’s America.
