The US has made itself an enemy of open research and the scientific community, and the article prior to the point you quoted actually does a good job in outlining why people feel that way.

Typical negotiations don't look anything like the policies they're inacting, not like retracting research or cancelling funding on the basis of including keywords that the party deems problematic (regardless of actual content), and certainly not like threats of annexation or extra-judicial disappearances if students writing political pieces in their college magazines.

It is a bold statement and it does sound dramatic, but it's still probably an understatement if you look at what has been happening. It's honestly dumbfounding to continue to see people defending this as in any way normal.