Wrong, Wrong, Wrong

by Errington C. Thompson, MD –

Just by sheer chance, you should be right about something.

But Donald Trump’s band of disrupters continue to be wrong about just about everything.

They’ve taken the wrong side in the Ukrainian war. They are destroying the American economy with poorly conceived tariffs. Arkansas, led by his former press secretary Sarah Huckabee, asked for disaster relief after devastating severe weather. The Trump White House said no.

The Trump White House decided that it would continue the racist agenda and force the most prestigious university on the planet, Harvard, to conform to their will.

Autism

As most of you know, I’m a trauma surgeon. I don’t spend most of my time thinking about neurodevelopmental disorders. As a matter of fact, I think you could argue that I don’t spend any of my time thinking about neurodevelopmental disorders, but Robert Kennedy, Jr. is obsessed with autism. I guess this is no surprise. RFK, Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, is one of the most prominent voices in the global anti-vaccine movement. He has continually and wrongly stated that vaccines cause autism. This is wrong. This lie has been thoroughly debunked.

Let’s jump into the weeds. A 2014 meta-analysis, which included more than 159 peer-reviewed articles, found no link between vaccines and autism. The anti-vaccine community will latch onto something; when the something is disapproved, they will latch onto something else. Over the years, they have latched onto the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, also commonly known as MMR. In this same study, there was no evidence that MMR was associated with autism.

Some vaccines contain a compound called thimerosal, which is used as a preservative and for its antibacterial and antifungal properties. You guessed it, the anti-vaccine folks have latched onto thimerosal. Thimerosal and mercury have also been proven not to be associated with autism.

In the 1960s, the rate of autism in the United States was somewhere around 1:10,000 to 1:20,000. Now the rate is around 1:40 children. What happened? Well, the answer is complex. For those of us who have some gray hair, we remember in the 1960s and 1970s that autism was considered part of the schizophrenia spectrum. Autism was also thought to be caused by having “cold” parents. Because your parents did not show you enough emotional support, you developed autism.

Since then, the diagnosis has actually changed. Health professionals have gotten better at making the diagnosis. So, comparing rates in the 1960s to the rates of today is completely useless since the definition has changed dramatically, as has our ability to diagnose the disease. Oh, and autism is now thought of as a spectrum. Asperger’s is now thought of as part of the autism spectrum.

The causes of autism are complex. It is NOT caused by “cold” parents. This should not be a surprise to anyone. It is a neurodevelopmental disorder. Several studies have looked at thousands of twins. There is clearly an inherited component to autism. For example, if one twin develops autism, the other twin has a 60% to 80% chance of developing autism. Several genes have been identified, and several genetic mutations also appear to be associated with autism.

However, there is an environmental component that goes with this. That’s what makes this so incredibly tough. We know that low-birth-weight babies are at higher risk for developing autism. Also, advanced paternal age at conception is associated with autism. Maternal complications such as diabetes, infection, and obesity have also been associated with autism.

A couple of weeks ago, RFK, Jr. announced at a cabinet meeting that he would have the cause of autism by September. This was incredibly reckless. If the answer were that easy, we would already have it.

Tariffs 2.0

Let’s take another look at Donald Trump’s economy-crippling tariffs. The New York Times traveled to Iowa and spoke with April Hemmes, an Iowa farmer. She is uniquely positioned to talk about Iowa farming. She’s been a farmer for over 40 years and has served on several state and national farming boards. As a board member, she has traveled to China multiple times to improve our trade relations with China.

In the United States, we produce more soybeans than we can use. We have excess. We export more than 53% of the soybeans produced in the United States. Most of this export—over $13 billion worth—goes to China.

China also imports soybeans from Brazil. China can buy soybeans from the United States and/or Brazil. The soybeans are used to feed livestock and produce cooking oil. I suspect the soybean difference is minor, but I don’t know. I’m guessing. I know that if the United States places tariffs on Chinese goods, China will look to Brazil for its soybeans. This will leave the Iowa farmer out in the cold.

That’s what happened when Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese imports of US soybeans in 2018. American farmers lost 71% of the export market, and Trump bailed them out—paid them off—with $28 billion in taxpayer money.

Soybeans are a small part of the China-United States international trade. Our trade is complex. Are there inequities in our trade through which China is taking advantage of the United States? I’m sure there are. On the other hand, Americans benefit from this trade. Negotiations to open up the Chinese market would be a starting point. Tariffs, a blunt instrument, are not a good starting point. Donald Trump’s tariffs are hurting Americans. He may create irreversible damage.

Constitutional Crisis

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran immigrant who entered this country illegally in 2012. He was arrested in 2019 as he tried to apply for a job at Home Depot in Maryland. The arrest was for his immigration violation. It was during this trial that he was accused of being a member of the Venezuelan gang MS-13. A judge found that if he were returned to El Salvador, his life would be in danger from a different gang, Barrio 18. Because of this, he was given special status and allowed to stay in the United States.

The Trump administration, in what can only be called an abuse of power, rounded up over 200 immigrants and sent them to El Salvador. Mr. Abrego Garcia was one of those people who were abducted. While the plane was in the air, whisking these economic refugees to El Salvador, a United States judge told the Trump administration to turn the plane around and bring these immigrants back to the United States. Of course, that didn’t happen.

In a different ruling, a federal judge told the Trump administration to return Abrego Garcia to the United States. The Trump administration threw up its hands and said that it had no jurisdiction to be able to affect his return to the United States. This case was sent to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court told the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia. The Trump administration has basically ignored the Supreme Court of the United States.

Do we live in the land of Donald Trump? In this land, anything that Donald Trump says and does is okay. Or do we live in the United States of America, where the Constitution and laws rule? This is not an esoteric question. Currently, Donald Trump and his Justice Department are ignoring court orders. The courts depend on the executive branch to execute their orders. But what happens when the executive branch refuses a lawful court order? What is Congress’s role when the President defies a court order? Does Congress order the FBI—part of the executive branch—to carry out the court order?

This whole move is about power. Trump wants the power to do what he wants. If he wants to deport anyone, he believes he has the power to do it. No one can tell him otherwise, and this is the problem. Our Constitution is about checks and balances. No one branch has “too much” power. If you want to send illegal immigrants to El Salvador, you need Congress to pass a law and appropriate money. You must hold a hearing to ensure the economic refugee has due process. This is the American way.

Eggs

Trump said the “cost of eggs has come down like 93%, 94% since we took office.” Another lie. This is one of the great things about Trump. We all know it is a lie. The question is how much of a whopper was it? Was it a little lie? Or was it one of his big lies?

It was a big lie. A dozen large Grade A eggs cost about $6.23 in March. In January, a dozen Grade A eggs cost $4.95. April’s numbers should be out shortly, but no one expects that there is going to be a significant price drop. The Bird Flu has wiped out a large number of chickens, causing the price of eggs to go up. We are importing eggs, but we consume over 100 billion eggs/year. It is tough to import that many eggs. Also, to make this story even better, Trump’s tariffs are hitting imported eggs.

Decompress

Trump has been and will be wrong about most things. Don’t let Trump get you upset or stressed out. I have mentioned this before, and I will say it again: We have to take care of each other and ourselves. Current events can be overwhelming. We need to sit down and have a cup of tea, do some Pilates or yoga, exercise regularly, probably focus a little bit more on eating right, and check in with our loved ones.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge Pope Francis’s life—as ideal a public life as our president’s is not. The Pope emphasized mercy and forgiveness. He reached out to the marginalized and the poor. On Easter Sunday last year, he bathed and kissed the feet of a dozen women imprisoned in Rome’s penal system. He did this to demonstrate humility.

In fact, he did what popes are supposed to do. He died at age 88. May he rest in peace.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed here, as well as assertions of facts, are those of the author. They do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of The Urban News.