How Trump Weaponized the Department of Transportation

Take, as well, the administration’s efforts to stoke racial division. Duffy’s April letter also singled out diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts for particular scorn. In October, Duffy froze federal funding for two Chicago subway projects, citing the Chicago Transit Authority’s implementation of a DOT policy that supports small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged people.

Autocratic governments often target scientists because their knowledge represents a threat to regime messaging. So it has been no surprise to see the ax come for transportation research. In May, the DOT pulled $54 million in university research grants focused on improving transportation for low-income workers and people of color. The Transportation Research Board, a division of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, preemptively canceled projects and disbanded committees related to climate, sustainability, equity, and air quality.

Duffy has used both the checkbook and the bully pulpit in attempts to intimidate Trump’s political rivals. In June, the DOT pulled $4 billion in federal funding for California high-speed rail. In December, it cut grants for a Colorado bus station, electric-vehicle chargers, and a train safety project to pressure the state to release election-denier Tina Peters from prison. In the past two months alone, agency statements have blasted the governors of California, Colorado, North Carolina, New York, Maryland, and Minnesota.