Almost every other western country does fund their own databases, CVE was just significant because its the one central source of truth. its like a standard. Instead of having to coordinate with dozens of different registries every time you publish a vulnerability you just communicate with one instead.
Researchers also don't directly talk with MITRE they go through one of the intermediaries that assigns the number.
In public spaces like this, though on the face of it the argument might appear to be with the toddler, it's also about batting down the idiocy and not letting it swamp out basic common sense and reason.
Bluesky has a different tact that also works: block and hide and don't engage. However in forums like HN, where earnestness and questions are so prevalent, leaving these baiting questions and statements unanswered instead leaves them as bastions of the mind rot. Because these toddler-level arguments are being repeated daily through propaganda channels all over the internet, and if they are never answered, the constant swarm of propaganda takes in even more people.
I do sometimes wonder how different HN would be if it had "block". Mind you I think few people are getting their propaganda from here, it's more likely to be downstream of other well-poisoners.
From what I understand of the article, none of these allies were funding it.
> Multiple countries, companies, and individuals contributed finding and fixing bugs.
Clearly that itself isn't enough. Someone has to pay for maintaining this service. It appears that no one other than USA spent money in funding it.