Did Trump’s Denial of Science Cause Critical Delays to the
Pandemic Response?

Most Certainly
By Lisa Welch, Ph.d

3 minute read

The question Americans should be asking is whether the
coronavirus pandemic would have been this bad had President
Trump not denied the validity of science since taking office.
At least 200 times since becoming president, Trump has
misrepresented, restricted or prohibited scientific research,
education or discussion, or use of scientific information,
according to Columbia University’s on-line “silencing science”
tracker. Demoralized or defunded, more than 1,600 scientists
have left federal employment since he took office.
Instead of working to keep the country at the forefront of
scientific advancement, Trump has recommended annual budget
cuts for research by the National Science Foundation, National
Institutes of Health, Health and Human Services, USDA and the
Environmental Protection Agency. With spectacularly bad
timing, he removed personnel from his National Security
Council charged with monitoring epidemics.
As a result, Trump unwittingly set the stage for a novel
respiratory pathogen – COVID19 – and this pandemic.

If we had a national leader who listened to public health experts
and other scientists rather than inner-circle Yes-men and know-
nothing TV commentators, could testing have begun sooner,
could social distancing have been implemented more effectively,
could adequate supplies of protective gear and test kits have
been stockpiled and efficiently distributed?
“It’s all the same techniques that we see in climate denial, and
science denial in general, downplaying the severity of the
problem; contradicting experts; and just relying on
circumstantial, anecdotal evidence rather than actual scientific
evidence,” John Cook, a cognitive scientist and climate
communication researcher at George Mason University told the
New York Times.

Some of Trump’s early actions clearly hogtied the nation’s
response to COVID19. And his repeated assaults on science and
non-partisan media have made it all too easy for many
Americans to ignore effective ways to slow the virus’s spread.
Among the administration’s most damaging moves was
dismantling the CDC pandemic response team in July 2019. It
could have assisted Chinese epidemiologists to track and
investigate the outbreak. If we still had the response specialists
in place, the US might have had a better understanding of the
virus, along with better information channels with China. Maybe
even giving us an early start in curbing it here.
Trump refused to heed warnings that we were under-prepared
and he left the nation woefully understocked for a respiratory
pandemic. “…We have it under control. It’s going to be just
fine,” he said when the first U.S. case was reported in January.

He told a rally that virus reports were a “hoax,” a claim later
backtracked. But the mixed messaging only added to the
confusion, as was his embrace of un-tested remedies. Tragically,
an Arizonan died after dosing himself with a chloroquine-based
fish tank cleaner.
Trump’s tweet that the virus threat threatened only the elderly
possibly gave the green light to young people who played close
contact sports or spent spring break in Florida and Mexico.
Some doubtlessly carried COVID19 home – 44 UT Austin
students tested positive after returning from Cabo San Lucas.
South Korea, Taiwan and Germany listened to their scientists
and made preparations, steps that could have been emulated
here. The US did not start producing necessary test kits until it
was too late. Even if a person can get tested, results can take a
week or longer because of bottlenecks at overwhelmed
laboratories.

What the country needs are leaders who don’t scoff at experts
and who don’t choose short-term economic gain over human
life. All too painfully, we are seeing the price we pay for science
denial.