A Pattern of Denial
There lurks a perilous, long-standing pattern of denial of factual evidence, persisting at the highest levels of the current administration and brought to light again in its response to the Coronavirus emergency. The pattern is perpetuated within the President’s inner circle through a reasonless dismissal of scientific research without credible counter argument. This pattern is paraded out in careless and impulsive statements. It is a deaf ear to valid data. A stubborn entrenchment in obsolete beliefs.
The resulting outcomes are consequential.
When the President says of Coronavirus, “It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear” – it seems evident, once again, that he has failed to take serious note of the scientists and officials on the front lines. The President accused the Democrats of politicizing Coronavirus during his South Carolina campaign rally on February 28 but, instead, politicized it himself by accusing the opposition party of using this as “their new hoax.” His remarks came on the heels of the World Health Organization’s statement that the virus now has reported cases in fifty-six countries, with the warning of a “very high” global risk.
Trump’s son, Don Jr., went a step beyond civility when he criticized Democrats in a February 28 FOX News interview: “For them (Democrats) to take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here and kills millions of people so that they can end Donald Trump’s streak of winning is a new level of sickness.”
Rather than stepping up in this crisis to strike a bi-partisan tone, the President and his favored company have used this as a political tool, with an eye on their political survival, and not for the sake of the public’s best interest.
It is but a glimpse into a broader, ominous pattern, part of an agenda that conceals itself behind the President’s bully pulpit, as we witness America’s top showman conning us all. In a February 23 article in Salon Magazine, Dave Masciotra states, “Trump will use his power to subvert the rule of law, undermine American agencies and institutions of government, and enact his ‘how much money will it bring in’ agenda by cutting environmental protections, health and safety standards for workers and consumers, and funding for anything that implies a common good, from libraries to student loan forgiveness programs.”
Trump reinforced this approach to governing in appointing Vice-President Mike Pence to oversee the administration’s efforts to address Coronavirus. Pence’s track record on public health issues has been antithetical to science and its findings and recommendations. Just a sampling of that history should alarm us. While running for Congress in 2000, Pence raised concerns when he sided with the tobacco industry by defying the evidence, saying, “...despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn’t kill.”
In 2015, during his tenure as Governor of Indiana, he initially opposed a clean needle exchange program for IV drug users, despite research findings that such programs are effective in curtailing the spread of HIV. The result was an increase in HIV infections due to this delay and earlier cuts in HIV funding during Pence’s governorship. It was only after intense pressure, some of which came from his own party, that Pence relented and approved the funding. By then, however, it is estimated that nearly two-hundred new HIV infections occurred in rural parts of Indiana that had been most impacted.
This pattern of denial hangs over numerous issues relevant to our health and well-being. The President and Veep are both climate change deniers, blind to the science. Blind to the nearly unanimous consent of scientists that man-made climate change is real, that it is visible in the dwindling jungles of the Amazon, the burning forests of Australia, the melting glaciers of the Arctic, Venice under water. A quote from writer Tom Krattenmaker from The Humanist magazine: “There is no wealth if there is no healthy, functioning planet. There is no vibrant economy if there is chaos and social breakdown brought on by floods and fires and temperatures so hot that it’s unsafe to go outside some days.”
This administration’s continued resistance to science and public health findings are perilous to us all. It is time to change course.
Contact Rich at richmskgn@gmail.com.
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