In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.
A number of posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion.
Unfortunately, Republican politicians and conservative media figures are increasingly joining up with the anti-vaxxers. Even before COVID, they fought vaccine mandates and other public health measures.
A second Donald Trump presidency would usher in a new type of class warfare — empowering populists to steamroll mainstream experts on issues such as climate change, economics and public health.
Why it matters: This year's devastating hurricane season has exposed the perils of Trump's war on climate experts, who have long warned that human-caused global warming is exacerbating extreme weather.Through warming ocean and air temperatures, climate change makes hurricanes like Helene and Milton more destructive — and more likely to rapidly intensify all the way through landfall. The catastrophic back-to-back storms tore through the Southeast just weeks after climate scientists reported Earth's hottest summer on record.
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Between the lines: Anti-expert sentiment exploded in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a crisis in which many Americans felt betrayed by health authorities they once trusted.
- 29% of U.S. adults in 2021 expressed a great deal of confidence in medical scientists to act in the best interests of the public, down from 40% in November 2020, according to Pew Research Center.
- Vaccine skepticism is especially partisan: Just 52% of Republicans believe the COVID vaccine is "very" or "somewhat" safe, compared to 91% of Democrats, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll last year.
- Trump has seized on that phenomenon, forging an unusual alliance with anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. grounded in their supporters' mutual distrust of public health experts.
Resistance to public health, relegated to the fringes of the American right and left before Covid vaccine mandates became a cultural flashpoint and a symbol of government overreach, now has a firm foothold in Republican politics — and a chance to wield real power in Washington.
The merger of the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Donald J. Trump presidential campaigns has put the movement’s most prominent leader within reach of a White House job or federal health position. Around the country, nearly 1,000 candidates, nearly all Republican, are seeking office with the backing of Stand for Health Freedom, a Florida nonprofit.
The movement even has a Trump-inspired slogan: Make America Healthy Again.
Now, the remnants of Mr. Kennedy’s campaign apparatus are organizing their efforts around Mr. Trump’s presidential bid. On Monday, former Kennedy campaign officials unveiled a new super PAC, The MAHA Alliance, led by Del Bigtree, Mr. Kennedy’s former communications director, and Brigid Rasmussen, his former chief of staff.
“The medical freedom movement,” Mr. Bigtree said, “now finds itself inches away from being represented inside the White House and inside the regulatory agencies of America.” Mr. Bigtree, who hosts a popular podcast, “The HighWire,” is the founder of Informed Consent Action Network — an advocacy group that has worked to loosen vaccine mandates and is petitioning the Food and Drug Administration to withdraw its approval of certain vaccines for hepatitis B and polio
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As the movement grows in influence, the C.D.C. is recording a dip in vaccination rates and a resurgence of measles, the most contagious of the common childhood diseases. There have been 13 measles outbreaks so far in 2024, compared with four in 2023, endangering those with immune disorders and those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.
