Dr. Thomas K. Lew
In early 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I distinctly remember rounding on a patient in my hospital dying from respiratory failure – unfortunately, not an uncommon occurrence during that time. What stands out in my mind was that no matter how much oxygen he was hooked up to, my patient never took off his red “Make America Great Again” hat. And every time I would walk in, between his labored breaths, he would grumble about how evil Dr. Anthony Fauci was, how the newly released mRNA vaccines were dangerous, and how the Democrats wanted to control us with masking policies.
Experiences like this crystalized in my mind how intimately related politics can be with health care. Starting from the top, a trust in our public health system and in science itself could influence people to make healthier choices; on the other hand, leaders who breed distrust in these institutions could lead to death and suffering.
With this year’s election, we again have a choice between a leader who advocates for evidence-based public health, versus the exact same man and his political faction that helped create such animosity toward it. In my experience as a hospital-based physician treating the most sick and vulnerable, I must advocate against voting for Donald Trump for president and any MAGA-inspired politician who follows him.
Looking at Trump’s record, presiding under an unprecedented public health emergency, we can see how a second Trump administration would respond to another disaster. Although no one could have predicted the devastation of COVID-19, Trump minimized the growing threat, saying it would “disappear” while subtly feeding racist impulses with the term “China virus.”
Trump then refused to fully back mask mandates or social distancing, and undercut his top public health adviser, Dr. Fauci. He repeatedly questioned the seriousness of the threat even as people were dying, implying that widespread testing artificially inflated the case numbers. He said COVID-19 “affects virtually nobody,” as Americans were dying by the thousands.
By minimizing the threat of the coronavirus, he weakened arguments for citizens to protect themselves and their loved ones.
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Trump’s dangerous denials of reality make him unfit for office
Trump’s version of “virtually nobody” dying equated to over 1 million Americans passing away from COVID-19 in just under 2.5 years. There are some estimates that the Trump administration’s mismanagement of this crisis and mixed public health messaging contributed to more than 400,000 of these deaths.
Let that sink in.
400,000 Americans – grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers – who did not return to the dinner table, because they were listening to the president’s wayward and wrongheaded words.
Looking forward to what another Trump administration may bring, I fear for the health and safety of our sick, our elderly, our vulnerable.
He says he has “concepts” of a health care plan, yet to be released. But during his previous tenure, he had made moves to weaken the Affordable Care Act – which thousands of Americans rely on. Given four more years, he would likely weaken it further.
Trump has done little to curb gun violence and has bragged about not doing anything to regulate firearms even as more mass shootings have occurred.
He and the far-right Republicans continue to politicize scientific issues, such as climate change, calling it a hoax invented by China.
His allies have even gone so far as to block funding for the “Cancer Moonshot” initiative, which aims to cut cancer deaths in half and even cure cancer, simply because it is associated with President Joe Biden.
Opinion:Congress voted against funding a cure for cancer just to block a win for Biden
Trump and the MAGA faction’s policies reflect that he doesn’t care about the health of Americans. He cares about being elected, he cares about his crowd sizes, he cares how he is perceived – but he certainly doesn’t care about real American health care issues. His rhetoric and record show he either doesn’t care or believe in expanding health care to more vulnerable populations, how a warming planet increases chronic illness, how guns continue to kill innocent children.
And he certainly didn’t care for my patient in his MAGA hat, someone he may have deemed a “virtual nobody,” who ended up dying from COVID-19. We cannot risk our health and safety with another four years under Donald Trump or his MAGA allies.
Vote like your life, and the lives of all Americans, depend on it.
Dr. Thomas K. Lew is an assistant clinical professor of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and an attending physician of Hospital Medicine at Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley. All expressed opinions are his own. Follow him on X: @ThomasLewMD