This reads like vague posturing instead of accepting (or even just looking at...) the reality on the ground.

I have about a dozen friends spread across 8 different mid-to-high level universities around the country in biomed. Europe and Canada are definitely a preference but China is entering conversation and has been for the last few years.

The alternative is to abandon an entire career or field of interest because the funding is held up by irrational national political policy.

> The US has a global reputational advantage that will take decades to fall behind China, regardless of what any US administration does.

Whatever makes you sleep at night.

> no matter how many times Reddit tells them so.

Oh god, are we still stuck in that "Reddit is a niche US nerd cave" mindset? In most countries where the youth speaks good English you'll see more under 30s on Reddit than on Facebook or Twitter.

On both counts, you're too stuck in your ways. Times have changed, gotta keep up.

> The US has a global reputational advantage that will take decades to fall behind China

I don't think this is the case at all.

> The US has a global reputational advantage that will take decades to fall behind China, regardless of what any US administration does.

As a former academic at a top US university, no, the US no longer has that strong reputation. 10 years ago, if you were someone, you wanted to come to the US. The best students in the world came and stayed.

Things are radically different now. Much of the best talent no longer comes and when they do come they leave. It's night and day.

It's not a binary choice. It's not the US or China. It's the US or Canada/EU/etc. And if you're from China, you used to stay, now you leave.

This isn't reddit. I saw this first hand.

We're close to the tenth year of the era of Trump, so a decade of reputational loss has already taken place. It's the tenth year of leadership by men who should be home yelling at televisions and cheating on golf courses, not leading countries.