The board, which was created in 1950 to be an independent entity to guide the National Science Foundation, is made up of scientists and engineers from universities and industry.

Doesn’t sound very independent when the president can fire them willy-nilly

Easy: just learn mandarin. Or french.

There has been a brain drain away from the US since his second election. Since the 60s and 70s, the worlds brightest would move to America. Not only are those people leaving, but so are the US brains.