Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Trump Lashes out at Scientists Whose Findings Contradict Him
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
May 22, 2020

Share

WASHINGTON — “A Trump enemy statement,” he said of one study.

“A political hit job,” he said of another.

As President Donald Trump pushes to reopen the country despite warnings from doctors about the consequences of moving too quickly during the coronavirus crisis, he has been lashing out at scientists whose conclusions he doesn’t like.

As President Donald Trump pushes to reopen the country despite warnings from doctors about the consequences of moving too quickly during the coronavirus crisis, he has been lashing out at scientists whose conclusions he doesn’t like.

Twice this week, Trump has not only dismissed the findings of studies but suggested — without evidence — that their authors were motivated by politics and out to undermine his efforts to roll back coronavirus restrictions.

First it was a study funded in part by his own government’s National Institutes of Health that raised alarms about the use of hydroxychloroquine, finding higher overall mortality in coronavirus patients who took the drug while in Veterans Administration hospitals. Trump and many of his allies had been trumpeting the drug as a miracle cure and Trump this week revealed that he has been taking it to try to ward off the virus — despite an FDA warning last month that it should only be used in hospital settings or clinical trials because of the risk of serious side effects, including life-threatening heart problems.

“If you look at the one survey, the only bad survey, they were giving it to people that were in very bad shape. They were very old, almost dead,” Trump told reporters Tuesday. “It was a Trump enemy statement.”

He offered similar pushback Thursday to a new study from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. It found that more than 61% of COVID-19 infections and 55% of reported deaths — nearly 36,000 people — could have been been prevented had social distancing measures been put in place one week sooner. Trump has repeatedly defended his administration’s handling of the virus in the face of persistent criticism that he acted too slowly.

”Columbia’s an institution that’s very liberal,” Trump told reporters Thursday. “I think it’s just a political hit job, you want to know the truth.”

White House Says Trump Has Followed Public Health Officials’ Recommendations

Trump has long been skeptical of mainstream science — dismissing human-made climate change as a “hoax,” suggesting that noise from wind turbines causes cancer and claiming that exercise can deplete a body’s finite amount of energy. It’s part of a larger skepticism of expertise and backlash against “elites” that has become increasingly popular among Trump’s conservative base.

But undermining Americans’ trust in the integrity and objectivity of scientists is especially dangerous during a pandemic when the public is relying on its leaders to develop policies based on the best available information, said Larry Gostin, a Georgetown University law professor who is an expert in public health.

“If the president is politicizing science, if he’s discounting health experts, then the public is going to be fearful and confused,” Gostin said, calling it “dismaying.”

The White House rejected that thinking, noting that Trump has followed his administration’s public health officials’ recommendations through much of the crisis.

“Any suggestion that the president does not value scientific data or the important work of scientists is patently false as evidenced by the many data-driven decision he has made to address the COVID-19 pandemic, including cutting off travel early from highly-infected populations, expediting vaccine development, issuing the 15-day and later 30-day guidance to ‘slow the spread,’ and providing governors with a clear, safe road map to opening up America again,” said White House spokesman Judd Deere.

‘Here’s My Evidence: I Get a Lot of Positive Calls About It’

Yet Trump has made clear that, at least when it comes to hydroxychloroquine, he has prioritized anecdotal evidence, including a letter he told reporters he’d received from a doctor in Westchester, New York, claiming success with the drug.

Asked this week what evidence he had that the drug was effective in preventing COVID-19, Trump responded: “Are you ready? Here’s my evidence: I get a lot of positive calls about it.”

Asked this week what evidence he had that the drug was effective in preventing COVID-19, Trump responded: “Are you ready? Here’s my evidence: I get a lot of positive calls about it.”

That veterans study, funded by grants from the NIH and the University of Virginia, was not a rigorous experiment, but a retrospective analysis by researchers at several universities looking at the impact of hydroxychloroquine in patients at veterans’ hospitals across the nation. It found no benefit and more deaths among those given hydroxychloroquine versus standard care alone. The work was posted online for researchers and has not been reviewed by other scientists.

The Columbia study, in draft form, also hasn’t yet been published or reviewed by other experts. The researchers ran numbers through a mathematical model, making assumptions about how quickly the coronavirus spreads and how people behave in hypothetical circumstances.

Trump’s criticism of the studies also comes as his allies have been eager to counter-message public health experts who say Trump is putting lives at risk by pushing states to quickly reopen in an election year. Republican political operatives have been recruiting pro-Trump doctors to go on television to advocate for reviving the U.S. economy as quickly as possible, without waiting to meet federal safety benchmarks.

Gostin said Trump should leave it to his public health agencies to assess emerging data and the value of various studies.

“I think there are real dangers,” he said, “for the president to play scientist and doctor on TV.”

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Republicans’ Trust in Media Increases Following Trump’s Return to White House

DON'T MISS

Jeanine Pirro to Be Interim US Attorney for DC, Trump Says

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Catch Fleeing Gang Member Who Tossed Gun Over Fence

DON'T MISS

Suit Challenges New Rules on Children in Federal Custody Who Crossed Into US

DON'T MISS

Fresno Mayor Dyer Bullish on Growth, Calls on Newsom for $200 Million

DON'T MISS

Rejoicing Peruvians See Pope Leo XIV as One of Their Own After His Many Years in Peru

DON'T MISS

FEMA’s Acting Administrator Is Replaced a Day After Congressional Testimony

DON'T MISS

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un Leads Missile Test, Stresses Nuclear Force Readiness, KCNA Says

DON'T MISS

Shohei Ohtani Could Have Landed 15-Year Deal, Agent Says, but He Didn’t Want to Risk Skills Decline

DON'T MISS

White House Overhaul of Troubled US Air Traffic Control System Will Cost ‘Lots of Billions’

UP NEXT

Rejoicing Peruvians See Pope Leo XIV as One of Their Own After His Many Years in Peru

UP NEXT

Shohei Ohtani Could Have Landed 15-Year Deal, Agent Says, but He Didn’t Want to Risk Skills Decline

UP NEXT

Joe Biden Blames Kamala Harris’ Loss on Sexism and Racism and Rejects Concerns About His Age

UP NEXT

Before Tariff Price Increases, Mark Cuban Suggests Stocking Up on These Items

UP NEXT

He Was Killed in a Road Rage Shooting. AI Allowed Him to Deliver His Own Victim Impact Statement

UP NEXT

More Older Americans Worry Social Security Won’t Be There for Them

UP NEXT

Sen. John Fetterman Raises Alarms With Outburst at Meeting With Union Officials

UP NEXT

Special Report: At Social Security, These Are the Days of the Living Dead

UP NEXT

Video: Raccoon With Meth Pipe in Its Mouth Discovered During a Routine Traffic Stop in Ohio

UP NEXT

What Customers Can Expect as Rite Aid Closes or Sells All Its Drugstores

Suit Challenges New Rules on Children in Federal Custody Who Crossed Into US

2 hours ago

Fresno Mayor Dyer Bullish on Growth, Calls on Newsom for $200 Million

3 hours ago

Rejoicing Peruvians See Pope Leo XIV as One of Their Own After His Many Years in Peru

3 hours ago

FEMA’s Acting Administrator Is Replaced a Day After Congressional Testimony

3 hours ago

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un Leads Missile Test, Stresses Nuclear Force Readiness, KCNA Says

3 hours ago

Shohei Ohtani Could Have Landed 15-Year Deal, Agent Says, but He Didn’t Want to Risk Skills Decline

3 hours ago

White House Overhaul of Troubled US Air Traffic Control System Will Cost ‘Lots of Billions’

3 hours ago

US Military to Start Kicking out Transgender Troops Next Month, Memo Says

3 hours ago

Los Angeles Coliseum and SoFi Stadium to Share Opening and Closing Ceremonies for 2028 Olympics

4 hours ago

Jennifer Aniston’s Alleged Stalker Appears in Court Shirtless and a Judge Orders a Mental Evaluation

4 hours ago

Republicans’ Trust in Media Increases Following Trump’s Return to White House

Americans’ trust in news organizations and social media has increased since last year, with Republicans driving this shift following T...

2 hours ago

2 hours ago

Republicans’ Trust in Media Increases Following Trump’s Return to White House

Fox News Channel host Jeanine Pirro and other members of the news media work outside the Manhattan Criminal Court building during the 2nd day of jury deliberations in former U.S. President Donald Trump’s criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in New York City, U.S. May 30, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Segar
2 hours ago

Jeanine Pirro to Be Interim US Attorney for DC, Trump Says

Fresno police arrested a known gang member who ran from officers and tossed a gun over a fence in southeast Fresno. (Fresno PD)
2 hours ago

Fresno Police Catch Fleeing Gang Member Who Tossed Gun Over Fence

2 hours ago

Suit Challenges New Rules on Children in Federal Custody Who Crossed Into US

3 hours ago

Fresno Mayor Dyer Bullish on Growth, Calls on Newsom for $200 Million

3 hours ago

Rejoicing Peruvians See Pope Leo XIV as One of Their Own After His Many Years in Peru

3 hours ago

FEMA’s Acting Administrator Is Replaced a Day After Congressional Testimony

A handout photo shows missiles being launched, in North Korea, May 8, 2025. KCNA via REUTERS
3 hours ago

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un Leads Missile Test, Stresses Nuclear Force Readiness, KCNA Says

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend