Trump's first cabinet press conference

It's enough to make you sick

Don’t know if you caught the Trump cabinet meeting press conference earlier, especially the questions and answers about public health.

But I did, and it was pretty foul.

First you had HHS Sec. Robert Kennedy Jr. blithely waving off a question about the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas that has already killed one unvaccinated child. Many more are being treated in a Lubbock hospital. Hopefully all of them survive.

"It's not unusual; we have measles outbreaks every year,” Kennedy said at the cabinet meeting.

The fact that we’ve had other measles outbreaks is true, but this is the first death from measles anywhere in the United States in ten years. This is serious. Lots of kids are getting sick, more might die and this guy is doing nothing.

And remember, when there was a public debate about measles vaccine safety in Samoa in 2019 — with less than a third of kids in that country vaccinated — Kennedy chose to capitalize on the opening and disinformation about the vaccine, and flew to Somoa to urge the Prime Minister to study whether unvaccinated children would fare better without vaccines instead of vaccinating every child.

83 people died. Mostly small children.

And now this guy is in charge of the deadliest U.S. measles outbreak in a decade?

Then, Elon Musk was given the floor. He used his time in front of the cameras to joke about cancelling protections against ebola, as though that’s not a big deal. “With USAID, one of the things we accidentally cancelled very briefly was ebola prevention.”

Turns out that it wasn’t “very briefly” and that it is, in fact, a very big deal.

We’ve now learned that Musk’s indiscriminate cuts at CDC and USAID left us unprepared to respond to a recent ebola outbreak in Uganda.

In previous administrations, the U.S. would have sent experts to respond in person, would have helped set up border screening to prevent the spread of the virus, would have worked with the WHO to end the outbreak… both because we want to reduce preventable suffering and death in other countries AND because outbreaks like this one can spread from country to country, continent to continent, ultimately harming and killing those of us here in America.

What does that portend for the next outbreak of ebola, or bird flu, or God only knows what else?

If you get a chance, read this thread on twitter from ebola expert Craig Spencer: https://x.com/Craig_A_Spencer/status/1894806732070604952 which goes into greater detail about the failure, the lie and the cover up.

So. What can we do?

The check on an out-of-control executive branch is Congress. But Congress is playing dead. No pushback on the President, no accountability for Musk or Kennedy Jr. No urgency to meet the threats that they pose to this country.

But we have a chance to wake them up. It’s not going to be easy, might not be quick, but if we are persistent, relentless and stick together, I am confident we can get their attention. Call them (202-224-3121) incessantly. Show up to their offices. Demand that they hold public town halls in person, back in their districts. Make them answer for what is happening to this country right now.

If you live in Lubbock (where children sickened in the measles outbreak are being treated), your Congressman is Jodey Arrington (806-763-1611).

If you live in or near Gaines County (where the outbreak is centered), your Congressman is August Pfluger (202-225-3605).

Otherwise, you can reach your member of Congress at 202-224-3121.

Only when they fear us more than they fear Trump will they do their job.