Dr. Thomas K. Lu
In early 2021, COVID-19 pandemicI distinctly remember rounding a patient in my hospital who died of respiratory failure, but unfortunately, it wasn’t respiratory failure. unusual event In the meantime. What sticks in my mind is that no matter how much oxygen he was breathing, my patient never took off his red Make America Great Again hat. And every time I came in, between his labored breaths, he complained about how evil Dr. Anthony Fauci was, how the new Dr. Fauci was evil. Launch of mRNA vaccine It was dangerous, and how the Democrats were trying to control us with covert policies.
Experiences like this made it clear to me how closely politics can be intertwined with medicine. Starting from the top, trust in the public health system and in science itself can influence people to make healthier choices. On the other hand, leaders who foster distrust of these institutions can lead to death and suffering.
In this year’s elections, we will once again choose between a leader who advocates science-based public health and the very same people and their political factions that created such animosity. From my experience as a hospital-based physician treating the sickest and most vulnerable people, I have to advocate not voting for President Donald Trump and the MAGA-inspired politicians who follow him. No.
President Trump’s record as president during an unprecedented public health emergency provides insight into how a second Trump administration will respond to new disasters. Although no one could have predicted the devastation caused by the new coronavirus infection, President Trump minimized the growing threatwhile stating that it will “disappear,” subtly stirring up racist impulses with the word “.”china virus”
President Trump then declined to fully support mask mandates and social distancing, and downgraded his top public health adviser, Dr. Fauci. He repeatedly questioned the seriousness of the threat and alluded to widespread artificial testing even as people were dying. Inflated the number of incidents. Regarding the new coronavirus infection, he said,affects virtually no oneWhile thousands of Americans are dying.
By minimizing the threat of the coronavirus, it undermined the argument that citizens should protect themselves and their loved ones.
opinion:COVID-19, influenza, and RSV still exist. The “triple demic” does not care whether we have overcome the disease or not.
President Trump’s dangerous denial of reality makes him unfit for public office
Trump says “virtually no one” will die. over 1 million Americans He passed away from the new coronavirus infection less than two and a half years later. Some estimates suggest that the Trump administration’s mishandling of the crisis and mixed public health messaging contributed to more than 400,000 of these deaths.
Let’s understand that.
400,000 Americans – Grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers – they did not return to the dinner table because they had heard the president’s selfish, ill-conceived words.
While we look forward to what the incoming Trump administration will bring, we fear for the health and safety of our sick, elderly, and vulnerable.
says he has Medical planning “concept”not yet released. However, during his predecessor, He was working to weaken the Affordable Care Act. – Thousands of Americans depend on it. Four more years and we’ll probably be even weaker.
President Trump has done little to curb gun violence. bragging about not doing anything to regulate firearms Even as more mass shootings occur.
He and far-right Republicans continue to politicize scientific issuesclaiming that climate change and other topics are hoaxes made up by China.
His allies are blocking funding for the Cancer Moonshot initiative, which aims to cut cancer deaths in half and even cure cancer, simply because of its association with President Joe Biden. I even did it.
opinion:Congress voted against cancer treatment funding just to prevent Biden from winning.
Trump and the policies of MAGA supporters reflect that Trump does not care about the health of the American people. He cares about getting elected, he cares about crowd size, he cares about how he’s perceived, but he certainly doesn’t care about actual American health care issues. No. His rhetoric and record show that he cares about expanding health care to more vulnerable populations, how global warming is increasing chronic disease, and how guns continue to kill innocent children. It shows you don’t do it or don’t believe it.
And he certainly didn’t care about my MAGA hat-wearing patient, a patient who he may have considered “virtually no one” to him, but who ultimately contracted COVID-19. He died of illness. We cannot risk our health and safety for four more years under Donald Trump or his MAGA allies.
Vote as if your life, and the lives of all Americans, depended on it.
Dr. Thomas K. Lu is an assistant clinical professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and an attending physician in the Department of Hospital Internal Medicine at Stanford Healthcare Tri-Valley. All opinions expressed are his own. Follow him on X: @TomasLew
