Podcast Summary: The Dream — "Just A Bunch Of Nerds Who Want To Help"

Host: Jane Marie (Little Everywhere)
Guest: “Rachel” (pseudonym), CDC microbiologist
Date: October 24, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, The Dream returns in its new format: deeper, more personal interviews exploring the American Dream and the obstacles stacked against it. Jane Marie speaks candidly with “Rachel,” an anonymous microbiologist at the CDC who describes the shifting, at times dangerous landscape for public health professionals in the U.S. They tackle the politicization of science, funding crises, a shocking recent attack on CDC offices, and the corrosive effect of expert distrust on society and the future of American research.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introducing “Rachel” and Her Work

• Rachel is a microbiologist at the CDC, specializing in infectious disease bacteriology and diagnostic research.
• She requests anonymity:
  "I don't feel comfortable doing this under my name or anything. Like it has to be anonymous, which is wild because I'm just a scientist. But now somehow my job is dangerous, which is a crazy thing to say." (02:29)

Diagnostics 101

• Diagnostics includes any test your doctor orders (blood, urine, swabs, etc.), from pregnancy and COVID tests to specialized disease detection.

• Petri dishes: Rachel gives a layperson-friendly breakdown on what they are and their role in growing and identifying bacteria.
  "I wore a lab coat to cut the cake at my wedding. So it's a level." (05:02)

• Rachel was inspired by a high school microbiology unit and fell in love with pathogens, initially dreaming of being a vet but realizing her real calling was disease research.

2. The Frustration of Public Health Work Today

Funding Cuts and Bureaucratic Roadblocks

• Rachel describes severe restrictions on her ability to purchase basic lab supplies due to ongoing funding freezes and administrative hurdles for federal research.
  "In order to just put in a credit card request to do the research I need to do, you jump through hoops." (08:24)
  "We had a patient sample and we could not test it because we couldn't get this reagent in time. It's been incredibly frustrating, to say the least." (09:09)

Morale and Job Insecurity

• With recent government furloughs, Rachel is technically out of work and uncertain if she’ll be paid.
  • She references Project 2025 and political figures actively seeking to harm federal worker morale:
    "We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected when they wake up in the morning. We want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains." — Russell Vogt, quoted by Jane (10:50)

Public Health Can’t Be Privatized

• Rachel asserts: "Public health is expensive and it doesn't give companies money generally." (12:19)
• Explains the broad mandate of public health, from infectious disease to gun violence and environmental hazards.

3. Devaluation and Demonization of Science

The Rise of Anti-Expert Sentiment

• Rachel and Jane lament the new, more personal animosity toward highly educated professionals.
  "My little bubble, a lot of this feels very new... a resentment of experts." (18:21)
• Jane: “There are like experts for things and we don't care about that anymore. And I don't know why it's happening, but I feel like there's some hubris, some mania happening where everything has to be like self-centered or something.” (20:17)

Science Communication and Misinformation

• Rachel notes the challenges of communicating complex, often non-binary scientific truth to a public that craves certainty.
  "It's hard for scientists to give straight, clear, easy-to-understand binary answers... so people get frustrated with us." (20:34)
• Misinformation thrives on simplicity. Rachel cites examples (like manipulations of scientific studies about vaccines and cancer) to illustrate the dangers.

Deep Distrust and Political Weaponization

• The CDC is publicly painted as corrupt or evil, not just by fringe actors but by prominent national politicians.
• Senate hearing testimonies are referenced, showing direct accusations that CDC employees are killers or puppets:
  "He said that CDC employees were bought by the pharmaceutical industry... CDC forced people to wear masks and social distance like a dictatorship." — Dr. Minarez testimony quoted by Rachel (24:13)

4. Violence Against Scientists — The CDC Shooting

Details of the Attack and Aftermath

• August 2025: A shooter fired 500+ rounds into six CDC buildings, striking over 150 windows, narrowly missing employees. Minimal media coverage, little public concern. "Just the idea that somebody hated scientists that much, Like, I like to say that we're just a bunch of nerds that want to help people." (29:04)

• Aftermath included orders to remove HHS decals from cars to avoid being targeted in public.

• The public silence from top officials galvanized further fear and demoralization.

  • Rachel: "Someone fired 500 rounds into your office and your boss doesn't say a word about it." (32:43)

• The shooting spurred the departure of the CDC director and longtime scientific staff, leaving only political appointees in charge.
  "There are no more career people at the office of the director of CDC... They've all been appointed by the administration." (34:13)

5. The Consequences: Future of Public Health, Research, and Talent

Brain Drain and Research Collapse

• With funding cuts, grant cancellations, and mass departures, Rachel fears an imminent brain drain—comparable to what built the U.S. scientific powerhouse in the first place (by attracting expelled European scientists in WWII). "It's becoming this like reverse brain drain... we're all going to have to go somewhere else or do something else." (40:58)

• Jane: "Compound that with anti immigration." (41:02)

• Rachel: "I've worked with so many people that got those visas to come in and work and study and who have been a benefit to science in our country and me as a person, and that's just not gonna happen." (41:02)

The Nightmare Scenario

• If another pandemic hit now, the U.S. would be in even worse shape due to diminished staffing, morale, and capacity at the CDC.

• Ripple effect: The CDC supports state/local health departments, who would lose critical funding, impairing responses everywhere.
  Rachel: "80% of the CDC's budget goes to state and local public health departments... you can look up your state and see what could be impacted there." (43:12)

• Young scientists lose access to education, research opportunities, and stable careers. "There's going to be a whole gap. The kind of damage they've done is going to take a very, very long time to fix." (41:36)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On being a public health scientist today:
  "I just keep thinking about all the NIH grants that got cut. That means people won't get cancer treatment, that they could have saved them." (39:13)

• On the CDC's role and public misunderstanding:
  "We're just a bunch of nerds that want to help people." (29:04)

• On political intimidation:
  "We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected when they wake up in the morning. We want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down." — Quoting Russell Vogt (10:50)

• On systemic defunding:
  "It only helps to keep doing it. I just keep thinking about the brain drain that happened during World War II or that era because people were pushed out. And so that's what built a lot of America's scientific power." (39:46)

• On existential despair:
  "At what point is my work a joke? At what point is no one going to listen to anything that comes out that we do? ... Is working there pointless? Part of the problem? Like, am I co-signing something by working there at some point?" (35:37)

Memorable Segment Timestamps

• [02:29] — Rachel explains her need for anonymity and feeling of job danger.
• [08:24] — Obstacles in getting supplies due to funding freezes.
• [10:50] — Russell Vogt quote about wanting bureaucrats to feel trauma.
• [21:16] — Rachel on how misinformation flourishes and the danger of oversimplified answers.
• [24:13] — Dr. Minarez's recounting of RFK's attacks on CDC credibility.
• [29:04] — Rachel details the CDC shooting and the emotional toll.
• [34:13] — After the firing of key directors, political appointees take over CDC leadership; experts are being systematically sidelined.
• [39:13] — Rachel laments research cuts and the tangible cost in human lives.
• [43:12] — Practical consequences for state and local health: CDC budget directly impacts community health infrastructure.

Closing Thoughts

“Just A Bunch Of Nerds Who Want To Help” is both a personal and systemic diagnosis of American public health at a perilous crossroads. The episode paints a vivid picture of dedicated scientists facing not only lost funding and eroding infrastructure, but also public hostility and literal violence. Through Rachel’s perspective, the theme resonates: disenfranchising scientific expertise isn’t an abstract threat—it’s already creating life-and-death consequences for society, and for the people who devote their lives to serving it.