US Cases: 7,511,236*
US Deaths: 203,591*
Worldwide Cases: 36,063,675*
Worldwide Deaths: 1,054,153*
* - Numbers are a lower bound. True numbers are being suppressed by the Trump administration
The GOP has politicized science so extensively that scientists have had no choice but to respond. First, it was Scientific American, who endorsed a candidate for president for the first time in 175 years when it endorsed Joe Biden.
Today, the New England Journal of Medicine chimed in:
The response of our nation’s leaders has been consistently inadequate. The federal government has largely abandoned disease control to the states. Governors have varied in their responses, not so much by party as by competence. But whatever their competence, governors do not have the tools that Washington controls. Instead of using those tools, the federal government has undermined them. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was the world’s leading disease response organization, has been eviscerated and has suffered dramatic testing and policy failures. The National Institutes of Health have played a key role in vaccine development but have been excluded from much crucial government decision making. And the Food and Drug Administration has been shamefully politicized, appearing to respond to pressure from the administration rather than scientific evidence. Our current leaders have undercut trust in science and in government, causing damage that will certainly outlast them. Instead of relying on expertise, the administration has turned to uninformed “opinion leaders” and charlatans who obscure the truth and facilitate the promulgation of outright lies.. . .Anyone else who recklessly squandered lives and money in this way would be suffering legal consequences. Our leaders have largely claimed immunity for their actions. But this election gives us the power to render judgment. Reasonable people will certainly disagree about the many political positions taken by candidates. But truth is neither liberal nor conservative. When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent. We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs.
Any objective observer must recognize the significance of these two widely-respected, nonpartisan, scientific and medical journals strongly denouncing Trump and GOP leadership --- breaking with 175 and 208 years if tradition.
Obviously, these publications don't care about politics. They care about science and the public health. And that's why everyone who hasn't already drunk the #TrumpDeathCult kool-aid should listen.
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