It's great that you had a good experience. Many people do. Both @denlillaapan and myself graduated from top universities which have helped us in our careers.

That doesn't mean there aren't fundamental problems with how the academy is organized and incentivized.

I don't agree with Trump's approach, but I also have little sympathy for Harvard, or for many of the scientists, or their projects. There is so much fraud in science, and little accountability. The people I feel bad for are the students and junior researchers who had the rug pulled out from under them.

You should also consider why it should be necessary that the public provide funding to these research projects. The classic theory is that academic research provides public benefits, but I'd wager that we're earning a negative return on the marginal public research dollar. In that case, cutting back makes sense.

If it makes you feel any better, I think Trump's over-the-top actions against Harvard are a bargaining ploy, like his initial round of tariff announcements. He does this all the time, people always freak out, and then he always backtracks a bit while extracting more concessions. That's his modus operandi and I don't get why people can't see it by now.