Would you mind not taking HN threads straight into political flamewar? The mess you set off is totally not in the spirit of this site, and the problems can be traced back to how you posted. Comments on HN need to get more civil and substantive, not less, as the topic gets more divisive.
Are we reading the same comments? I'm seeing a large number of people commenting on how they feel the various policies the current administration is enacting will affect STEM funding and research in the US in the future, and how this fits within the global context.
I'm not sure where you see incivility - are any of the posters in the child comments insulting each other?
I'm not sure where you see lack of substance - posts in the child comments are using past historical events, political analysis, and personal experiences to discuss current ones.
Maybe you're upset by the use of the word "fascist", but that's hard to avoid when the current government is discriminating against legal citizens purely based on their religion/skin color, or the president insinuated the assassination of his political opponents.
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13830700 and marked it off-topic.