Just finishing reading an article that got me thinking. Trump supporters, for the most part, are anti-medicine and science, and they also believe in herd mentality and survival of the fittest.
“Survival of the fittest” describes the mechanism of natural selection where organisms better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. Coined by Herbert Spencer and popularized by Charles Darwin, it emphasizes that “fitness” means reproductive success—passing traits to the next generation—rather than just physical strength or speed.
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TRUMP SUPPORTERS
The following is from a daily email subscription I receive.
People who view the 1950s through rose-colored glasses, seeing them as an era of American greatness, miss many ways in which life was much worse then than now, ranging from gross racism and sexism to high poverty rates among the elderly. One often-overlooked feature of the “good old days” was that many children contracted, and some died from, infectious diseases that have now been almost eliminated — or had been almost eliminated, until today’s right-wing anti-vaccine agitators set the stage for their comeback.
In many ways the Trump administration’s hostility to vaccines is similar to its hostility to clean energy, which I wrote about yesterday. Both policy swerves will kill Americans. If Trumpists succeed in forcing the U.S. to burn more coal, thousands will die from air pollution. Only a year into the Trump 47 administration, there is already a resurgence in almost conquered diseases due to the anti-vax MAGA crusade. Both these sudden policy serves are economically destructive: A 2024 report from the Centers for Disease Control estimated that each dollar spent on childhood vaccination has saved around $11 in societal costs.
Moreover, the Trumpists aren’t content with just cutting off federal funding — they’re determined to stop anyone else from doing the right thing. The Trump administration has imposed a blockade on privately funded wind and solar projects, while RFK Jr.’s allies are pushing to prevent states from implementing childhood vaccine mandates.
If the policy that the idiots in charge were not also killing us, the sane ones, I would say let them sell all the snake oil they want, and encourage people to do as Trump suggested to destroy viruses.
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Never underestimate stupid.
Calls to poison centers have increased in a number of states following Donald Trump’s suggestion last week that disinfectants be considered a possible treatment for the novel coronavirus. Yes, people actually started ingesting disinfectants like Lysol last week. While Trump claimed his comment was sarcastic on Friday, he once again took no responsibility for the consequences resulting from his stupid remarks. When asked about the increase in people using disinfectants improperly, Trump replied: “I can’t imagine why,” during a White House news conference Monday. He failed to once again acknowledge the severe consequences his words have for some Americans.
Popular disinfectant companies like The Clorox Company and Reckitt Benkiser, the parent company of both Lysol and Dettol, quickly released statements emphasizing that their products should not be consumed. Despite warnings from healthcare providers and other officials, people acted on Trump’s advice and ingested chemicals, including bleach, across the country. In at least five states, poison centers reported they had an increase in calls within 18 hours of Trump’s broadcasted stupidity.
