Trump, Science and Social Justice

It has not escaped our notice that the specific process we have witnessed in the last month immediately suggests a possible alteration of the regulatory and ideological landscape. As with genomics, however, the devil is in the details and many of them remain obscure. Some general outlines have emerged, and they are frightening to anyone who cares about social, economic or environmental justice.

It seems certain that the Electoral College will confirm Donald Trump as the winner of the Presidential Election, although a few “faithless electors” might cast protest votes. It is absolutely certain that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote; at this writing, she is leading by 2,7 million votes and seems likely to have attracted more votes than any Presidential candidate in history except then-Senator Obama in 2008. Nevertheless, Trump and Vice-President-elect Mike Pence are not only claiming a mandate, they are backing their talk up with extraordinarily reactionary appointments.

In part, this may be down to Trump’s inexperience: He seems to be picking people he knows. And Generals. Reuters is running a list of top appointments, and Nature had a useful summary of possible science-related appointees last week. But what other criteria does he have?

Eugenics, apparently:

All men are created equal; well, it’s not true, ’cause some are smart, some aren’t. …  You have to have the right genes. … I’m a gene believer … I'm proud to have that German blood. There’s no question about it. Great stuff.

And white supremacy. Of course, that is denied, for instance by a founder of The American Conservative:

The United States is entering into [a] period of demographic transformation, where whites, politically and demographically dominant for all of the nation’s history, will become a smaller majority, and perhaps then a plurality. Whether this transformation will be assimilative or anti-white, peaceful or violent, remains to be seen. Those in the upper reaches of the Democratic Party throwing around loose charges of “white supremacism” are certainly doing nothing to make it go smoothly.

So what’s the nice, polite way to describe Steve Bannon, set to be Trump’s Senior White House Counselor, and former chairman of what the Southern Poverty Law Center has called a “white ethno-nationalist propaganda mill”? The New York Times gave it a go:

Mr. Bannon is in some ways a perplexing figure: a far-right ideologue who made his millions investing in “Seinfeld”; a former Goldman Sachs banker who has reportedly called himself a “Leninist” with a goal “to destroy the state” and “bring everything crashing down.” He has also called progressive women “a bunch of dykes” ...

Nope, can't be done.

But science, of course, is politically neutral. (Just the facts, ma’am.) So it should not be a concern that the Environmental Protection Agency will be run by a “close ally” of the fossil fuel industry, Scott Pruitt. Or that the Health and Human Services Secretary, Tom Price, has been focusing for years not just on dismantling the Affordable Care Act but also barring funds for Planned Parenthood; and opposing abortion. Or that running the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will be Seema Verma, a close advisor of Pence, who worked to make Indiana’s Medicaid plan "one of the most punitive in the country.” 

It could get worse. The Food and Drug Administration may go to Jim O’Neill, a colleague of the execrable Peter Thiel. Bloomberg notes:

O’Neill also could push the agency in new directions. In a 2014 speech, he said he supported reforming FDA approval rules so that drugs could hit the market after they’ve been proven safe, but without any proof that they worked, something he called “progressive approval.”

What could possibly go wrong? (Don’t all speak at once.) We should note that this is apparently a trial balloon. Scott Gottlieb of the American Enterprise Institute is said to be the other candidate. He has some FDA experience, under George W. Bush, but the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine said in 2005:

Gottlieb has an orientation which belies the goal of the FDA.

A quick glance at his Forbes columns shows he really hasn’t changed. But he regularly appears on Fox News, so Trump may know who he is.

The Union of Concerned Scientists are concerned enough to organize a 2300-signature letter, supporting “unfettered science.” Heads of 29 scientific societies (including the AAAS) politely called for a meeting to advise Trump. Another ad-hoc group of scientists called “Not Who We Are” has their own open letter, with climate scientist Michael Mann at the head of the list of signatories. They are all right, of course, but may be, um, waving into the wind.

To be fair, as we must, there is one surprising suggestion: Four key Republicans in Congress, all chairs of committees or important subcommittees, sent a letter to Trump urging the President-elect to keep Francis Collins as Director of the National Institutes of Health. Since Collins is a gentleman, there is no word of this on his blog or Twitter feed. But really, why would he need the grief?

Update: Francis Collins said on Friday, December 9, that he was flattered by the letter and would consider it a privilege to remain in his post.

Previously on Biopolitical Times:

• Presidential Candidates on Science
• Genetic Purity Tests for Politicians
• Obama on stem cell policy change
• Presidential Genes?

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