Former Obama official: Trump administration is turning 'health expert' into 'climate scientist'
Unless Ivanka or the inventor of the Egg McMuffin happens to be reading this, it’s a good bet Donald Trump doesn’t give a shit about you.
If Trump could kill off half the country and still get reelected, there’s a good chance it’s all but certain he’d do that. So we’re probably not going to see mass testing, contact tracing, or other sensible measures being used to allow us to safely reopen the economy. Nope. You people are COVID fodder. Get used to it.
Of course, Trump doesn’t want more coronavirus-related deaths — because, you know, that would look bad. So get ready to see those fatality numbers questioned, first by Trump and then by his army of sycophants in Congress and the media. You know what’s a lot easier than saving people’s lives? Appearing on Fox News and screaming pseudoscientific gibberish while smearing Anthony Fauci.
It’s all part of the burgeoning effort to turn science into a mud pit where nothing is quite as clear as it seems. Because in GOP-land, data and evidence are not what determine scientific truths anymore — the assent of people who are jonesing for Old Country Buffet and monster truck rallies does.
Andy Slavitt, who served as the acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Obama, already sees this phenomenon playing out.
He’s read the tea leaves and can see that public health officials are about to get the climate scientist treatment — i.e., their inconvenient truths will be questioned and ignored until we have a bona fide “controversy” surrounding settled science.
He’s put his concerns into a looooonngg Twitter thread that’s well worth reading in full.
Enjoy and/or shudder:
— Andy Slavitt @ ðŸÂ¡ (@ASlavitt) May 9, 2020
— Andy Slavitt @ ðŸÂ¡ (@ASlavitt) May 9, 2020
— Andy Slavitt @ ðŸÂ¡ (@ASlavitt) May 9, 2020
— Andy Slavitt @ ðŸÂ¡ (@ASlavitt) May 9, 2020
— Andy Slavitt @ ðŸÂ¡ (@ASlavitt) May 9, 2020
— Andy Slavitt @ ðŸÂ¡ (@ASlavitt) May 9, 2020
— Andy Slavitt @ ðŸÂ¡ (@ASlavitt) May 9, 2020
— Andy Slavitt @ ðŸÂ¡ (@ASlavitt) May 9, 2020
— Andy Slavitt @ ðŸÂ¡ (@ASlavitt) May 9, 2020
— Andy Slavitt @ ðŸÂ¡ (@ASlavitt) May 9, 2020
— Andy Slavitt @ ðŸÂ¡ (@ASlavitt) May 9, 2020
— Andy Slavitt @ ðŸÂ¡ (@ASlavitt) May 9, 2020
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Of course, this country has always had its share of science skeptics and enthusiastic pseudo-scientists. It’s just that one of them is president now, and that’s scary dangerous. Not only that, he’ll glom on to pretty much anything that confirms his fantasies and established worldview — even if that means killing hundreds of thousands of people.
And if you don’t think they can convince a significant percentage of Americans to abandon science and embrace nonsense, ask yourself why so many people are willing to believe Adam and Eve got chased out of the Garden of Eden by velociraptors.
We’re in a dangerous spot now, with a vicious, cornered animal making decisions on our behalf.
Pray that the Flying Spaghetti Monster will save us all in due time.
Is Trump still chafing your arse-cheeks? Then Dear Fcking Lunatic: 101 Obscenely Rude Letters to Donald Trump and its boffo sequels Dear Prsident A**clown: 101 More Rude Letters to Donald Trump and Dear F*cking Moron: 101 More Letters to Donald Trump by Aldous J. Pennyfarthing are the pick-me-up you need! Reviewers have called these books “hysterically funny,” “cathartic,” and “laugh-out-loud” comic relief. And they’re way, way cheaper than therapy.
