The Lancet (thanks to Ed M.)
Donald Trump’s decisive re-election as US President on Nov 5 puts many aspects of health and science in a deeply concerning position. Although there is broader alarm about his openly authoritarian intentions, his imminent return to the White House has left much of the health community in particular feeling dread and uncertainty about what comes next in the USA and globally.
The Trump campaign made few, if any, detailed promises on health policy but there can be no illusion about Trump’s attitude and chaotic approach to government. The Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era described his first term as “singularly damaging”. He is proud to rely on his instincts rather than any expertise, disdainful of scientists and the scientific process, and unpersuaded by any evidence that does not serve his agenda. He has fomented disinformation and misinformation even in moments of national crisis and is the figurehead of a Party with overt antipathy towards public health agencies and clear desires to radically reshape them. Robert F Kennedy Jr, tipped to have a prominent advisory role on health, if not a cabinet position, has made many misleading or false health claims and says that several departments at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “have to go”. Weakening the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and FDA risks creating a scientific vacuum for states, not to mention other countries, that rely on these agencies for guidance, but such hostility also serves to further undermine public trust in science at an already fragile time. These are grave developments for one of the world’s scientific superpowers and can only harm US health and medicine. The Senate, albeit now firmly in Republican control, must do its duty to safeguard the wellbeing of US citizens by rejecting grossly unsuitable or unqualified candidates for cabinet positions, including the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. (continued)