The Editorial Board is being more than kind when they attribute Mike Pence's concern in 2015 about instituting a needle exchange program. Just because someone says something doesn't mean that's the reason they support or don't support an action policy. We really should know that given Donald Trump's reign. While Pence might have said - and apparently you believe - that he was concerned about needle exchange increasing drug use. That only has not been the case elsewhere...it is disingenuous. Pence is a part of the Holier-than-thou Right Wing Religious Fanatics that really like nothing better than punishing those they think are evil or Un-American...by their definition.
It is a perverse affliction given the fact that this group of Bible-thumpers is the center of hate, bigotry and divisiveness in America.
9
Perhaps your most important statement is, “Nudging those who are infected into treatment, and helping them stay the course, will require active campaigns to help remove the stigma, shame and fear of a diagnosis.”
For two years as a university student, (in the South), my son worked part-time coordinating administrative work at a HIV clinic directed by the university’s medical school. His stories were instructive.
Twice each month the clinic sent medical professionals to public meetings and churches to explain and discuss prevention and treatment. Nearly every time the presenters were met with stony silence or angry denial that any of them had any reason to even be interested in HIV prevention. The presenters were occasionally accused of trying to smear the reputation of the group.
On another occasion, he told of a doctor who lost his temper and, at the clinic, publicly scolded a patient who was drifting in and out of treatment and a danger to the community now that he was aware.
Years ago, the medical profession got patients to honestly discuss drug use when the non-judgmental term “recreational drug use” was used. We need nationwide education to get beyond shaming and we need patient tracking to keep patients coming for treatment since they’ll stop because they’re shaming themselves. Shaming doesn’t end drug addiction or sex drive.
HIV prevention is substantially less expensive than the billions a year spent of HIV medications, which itself may be a problem.
19
Trump was going to solve the opioid crisis, too.
And stop nuclear war.
And on and on.
And when will Trump ever listen to advice from experts?
No, I’m not holding my breath on this one.
107
@Grey
'Trump was going to solve the opioid crisis, too.
And stop nuclear war.'
If you are implying that these problems still exist then that says Obama did not listen to his experts also.
@Steve
No, Obama did listen to experts all the time.
He was never given any solutions to stopping nuclear war . You can bet no one ever suggested he meet with Kim and exchange love letters.
11
Mr. Trump's plan to address HIV infection is being suffocated in its crib by one thing--his penchant for science denialism.
His policies will be remembered alongside those in 1850's England who viewed cholera outbreaks, increasingly common at the time, as the result of a "miasma" and not the waterborne illness carefully documented by Dr. John Snow, recognized as the father of epidemiology after his analysis of the 1854 outbreak sourced to the Broad Street pump, whose handle was ultimately removed with his encouragement.
Science can answer questions and offer solutions but only if it is brought to bear on problems without fear or favor. Accurate sex education, needle exchange programs and increasing access to health care for the marginalized work to quell many diseases but only if you do not prevent their implementation because of a set of constraining often religiously justified beliefs.
Just ask this: What Would Jesus Do? He would heal the sick.
Pathogens to not pass you by because you pray to a particular God any more than greenhouse gases produced in one area spare the godly. Our whole planet cooks.
Evangelists only talk about stewardship when they wish to build a new wing on a church when they should be talking about stewardship for the planet and all the creatures it carries through space at every opportunity.
Nature as reflected through science bats last.
91
@Douglas McNeill Thanks to you both; OP-EDer and commenter. Both the article's clearly noted content, and your caveats and reminders, are helpful and much needed now. As one moves from ranges of relevant data, to their suitable analysis; resulting in generalizable informational-knowing. With ranges of questions, and their inherent quests, to create much needed useable meanings and understanding for plannng and implementing effective, sustainable interventions. Consider, in addition to:"the state’s elected officials had more quickly heeded the advice of public health experts, "is enabling the process, of personal accountability to be an anchored, everpresent value and norm in our words and actions.
7
The U.S. has been combatting the spread of HIV for over 35 years. During this time the number of new infections has remained around the 40,000 per year level.
That's a shocking statistic.
Donald Trump's anti-HIV initiative deserves good scrutiny.
Just as important, the failed HIV prevention initiatives from the early 80s through today need to be thoroughly investigated and corrected.
12
@J your very first statement is false. Therefore, your assertion that the HIV prevention initiatives are 'failed', has no bearing in reality. See: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtmL/mm5021a2.htm#fig1.
It is absolutely true that, under President Reagan, the response of the Federal Government to the AIDS/HIV disaster was manifestly immoral. But eventually we learned. ACT UP helped tremendously toward our national education. The dramatic and positive effect of the national policies effected in 1993 is unequivocally clear.
We do not need regression to the time of Reagan. Trump (whose intuition is not even close to 'always right', as claimed by Peter Navarro) is headed full speed in that direction. Please do not obfuscate the issues, with further misrepresentation of facts.
16
A moonshot idea like this was met with a collective eye roll by the staff at CDC...we all know it’s nothing more than a Trumped up talking point.
2
Trumps bumbling attempts to address the H.I.V. problems are like any other of his 'proclamations' in that he doesn't know what he's talking about and never remembers what he said before. He is useless as a leader and I wouldn't believe anything he says. If you do your in for a disappointment.
5
To fight H.I.V., Trump wants to open up the Atlantic seaboard to oil and gas extraction. The connection? None. It's just another example of Trump's skills at creating diversions and distractions, as praised by an Interior Dept. flunky and reported in The Guardian this week. He's a grifter. Always watch that left hand and ignore the shiny object he's waving in his right.
5
This administration has not delivered on ANY substantive, reasonable, caring, healthy, whole-country positive policies.
Everything is lies, scandals, corrupt friends, corrupt dealings, cozy up to dictators, a Cabinet of policy hacks bent on destroying their agency's, and make a lot of hidden profit that the tax payers wind up paying.
Trump's curing HIV pronouncements are yet again a lot of words with little action.
4
This is another example of how facile Trump is when it comes to stating one thing and doing another with his policies.
It reminds me of how he plans to raid some pots of money allocated for other causes to pay for “the Wall”: He plans to obtain a third of the funds by raiding the Defense Department’s anti-drug fund...All while claiming he wants to make us “safer” and shielded from criminal activities and people south of our border.
Trump likewise is being stupid in shortchanging some of what actually has been helping in the fight against HIV.
3
The only things Donald Trump wants are (a) access to the national treasury to line his own pockets (see weekly trips to personal properties where he charges above market prices for rooms, meals and golf carts for the secret service agents protecting him, and, well, examples abound) (b) surety from prosecution (see interference with Justice Department investigations) and (c) non stop, strong man like flattery (see obsession with North Korea).
To imagine, let alone write, that Donald Trump "wants" or even knows or cares about anything else related to the functioning of government or public policy does the nation no service whatsoever.
5
As we have learned time and again with this President (and no doubt thousands of employees, contractors and associates), you can't take Trump at his word. He lies. He lies again and again, and makes loads of false promises. Pay no mind to what the man says. Look at what he does.
5
"Trump Wants to Eliminate H.I.V."
Please. What do you base that on? To the writer of this headline, have you been observing him? He couldn't care less about eliminating H.I.V. He has few goals other than reversing anything initiated and accomplished by President Obama and enriching himself. He is devoid of altruism or decency.
We need to build a firewall around this despot as quickly as possible to contain the damage he can do. News organizations don't help when they report about him as if he's a president---or as if he's a remotely decent human being. We do not have a president. We do not have an administration. We do not have a White House in the sense that we've ever meant that title. We have a despot occupying the presidency. Republicans in the House and Senate are accomplices to his crimes, to the grave damage he is doing to this country. News organizations help him along with reporting like this.
6
"Health experts" believe normal people should pay for HIV drugs ($10,000 per person) for those high risk gay men who do not have HIV but who refuse to use condoms (as a life-style choice).
Due to a provision of Obamacare, a small panel of doctors (who make their living treating HIV/AIDS) gets to dictate that all insurance plans must pay for this misuse of expensive drugs. That, and similar dictates, is of course a major cause of sky-rocketing healthcare costs. A conservative estimate of the cost of this mandate would be 5 million (assuming a third of gays opt for this "treatment") times $10,000, or $50 billion per year. (Congresss refused $5 billion to build a wall on our southern border.)
Unless the "experts" are going to pay for this $50 billion out of their own pockets, I do believe that normal citizens should, through their elected representatives, senators and President, be allowed to determine whether to take on this expense. Perhaps we could instead find ways to pressure at risk people to act sanely and to practice safe sex.
Geez, talk about deflection. Drugs cause 9% of HIV transmission in the USA.
I was in Europe during the aids epidemic, and the Dutch were perticularly blunt about the main cause. Clear and targeted messaging - A specific sex act.
That this is not being put forward front and centre in a progressive paper like NYT is shocking and shows that American purtism is still in effect. Look at the stats. Wear a condom, especially for non-vaginal sex. Heavily target the gay and trans community. Especially educate young gay men and trans girls who are very unlikely to be using planned parenthood.
1
“Trump wants to eliminate HIV”? You actually believe this guy?
2
Trump listen? The man was born without ears.
2
"The president wants to eliminate HIV." I believe this is a false statement.
3
Does anyone take Donald Trump to be a person with integrity? He is our national liar and con man. Believe nothing he says and trust nothing he does. I’ve got a Brooklyn Bridge to sell to anyone who thinks Donald Trump has good intentions about the health and welfare of people living with HIV.
2
“ The President needs to starting listening to health experts ...”
Are you kidding us ?
This president listens to no one unless someone is in the process of flattering him with a belly full of lies.
The editorial board is presumably being tactful here, but we’ve now had two years to understand that the basic problem with Donald Trump is that he doesn’t listen to anybody and is not about to change .
And since the New York Times is above all about telling the truth then please , let’s tell the truth here!!
2
As always, say one thing to hype your base and do the opposite to please your Republican Oligarchs. True Trumpian lies and hypocrisy.
ALWAYS WATCH BOTH HANDS - one distracts while the other will steal you blind.
Trump does nothing that is morally or ethically correct unto itself, only those things that profit him. No ifs, ands, or buts. It's all quid pro quo for the Thief of New York.
2
The spread of the AIDS virus from contaminated needles has been known for three decades. A reason recreational drug users meet is the doubtful quality of the outlawed drugs. Thus, they can get help in case of adverse side effect. Hence, the criminal law propagates the AIDS virus.
Decades ago, some sold needles with the slogan, "Get the good needles, not the bad AIDS." Often, the needles were used and repackaged, maybe half.
The spread of AIDS is a failure of democracy, like many other failures that editorial writers complain about without identifying democracy directly as the villain.
However, the Editorial Board, having drunk the cool-aid on democracy, doubles down, urging democracy to stop doing what they have been doing. I would offer a modest proposal for the Editorial Board.
They might advise the NYT managers to implement the programs needed. If they can't raise enough to fund these programs, they might consider imposing a fair tax on society to fund these programs.
We need to face an unappealing truth -- democracy failed; people are dying as a result.
If the programs that the Editorial Board suggests are the best remedy, why should the NYT refrain from imposing them on society? - Or, do they want to keep waiting for Godot??
4
With the president laser focused on kneeling football players I don't expect much progress on the HIV front.
1
Was it "the government" who found the cure for polio? This editorial reads like a short political rant by sore losers, based on the last editorial about climate change. Wake me up when it's over.
Trump, the "stable genius" doesn't listen to anyone. He goes with his gut. Get used to it.
This is what people elected. Sickening.
1
Headline: "Trump Wants to Eliminate H.I.V."
Trump has no interest in "eliminating H.I.V." He has no interest in public health whatsoever.
1
If he is going to ban the virus from the country he will have to limit immigration from certain countries with a high HIV infection rate among the population.
"Mike Pence, then Indiana’s governor, balked. Despite scientific consensus to the contrary, Mr. Pence worried that such a program would only encourage more injection drug use."
This is the evangelical agenda, i.e., to punish people for every possible "sin" -- be it pre-marital sex, drugs or whatever.
Their argument against needle exchange is the exact same big fat lie evangelicals spew when it comes to teaching sex education and birth control, i.e., teaching these facts will only entice people to go have sex outside of the church's teachings.
Key to Pence's mind is this phrase "Despite scientific consensus to the contrary,..." Pence throws away science and goes with the religious fairly tales, folklore and fiction of his ilk. This fool is one heartbeat from the oval office.
Despite every form of evidence to the contrary, evangelicals keep dragging America back to the dark ages when women were property and 'those people' were kept in their place. It's a huge hypocrisy that 80% of these so-called christians voted for the most un-christian man to ever run for president; there's just no reconciling their 'teachings' with their actions.
The only way to blunt the sick backwards efforts of evangelicals is to vote DEM at every level of government. If we sweep the GOP out of power we can undo the evangelical chokehold on politics and regain intelligent government that works to serve all people.
2
The NY Times seems to be of the opinion that the best way to control diseases like AIDS is to protect people from their own choices. I've noticed a propensity to push for PReP on these pages with little, if any, coverage of the skyrocketing rates of gonnorhea and, yes, syphillis. Rates of neonatal syphillis are rising but please let's just push PReP.
iDJT doesn't care about HIV. He cares only about the size of his crowds and the sound of his voice.
He also said that he was a stable genius...so please update your headline to trump "says".
2
As a 23-year survivor of HIV I find that the rhetoric sounds good, but the underlying allocations of funds, and especially cuts to Medicaid, belies the pretty words. Doctors and pharmacies, in the US at least, still insist on payment in dollars, not flowery rhetoric.
Getting people tested depends on reducing stigma; people need to feel it is safe to be tested. There is a great deal of false information, and ignorance, regarding HIV, even among health professionals. The Centers for Disease Control should be much more active in informing the public that treating those with HIV has two positive outcomes: first, the person treated nearly always remains healthy and productive; and second, once their infection is controlled (viral load, a count of HIV in a milliliter of blood, reduced to below-detectable levels), they cannot sexually transmit HIV. It may be possibe to end HIV in humanity eventually this way even if a cure or vaccine is never found.
Major cities, including San Francisco and New York, have made major progress in responding to HIV, and have learned the hard way what works and what doesn't. Honest, inclusive sex education, easy access to testing (including anonymous testing) and treatment, and general public awareness of current HIV standards of care, has been shown to help. Promoting stigma and cutting funds for testing and treatment only makes things worse. #nostigma #uequalsu
11
The most important comment in this article is right here...
"To eliminate H.I.V., the cost of medications capable of treating and preventing the disease will have to be sharply reduced (they currently cost tens of thousands of dollars a year per person). But so far, the administration has shown no appetite for using existing laws to override the patents of these drugs and produce them at cost - "
AIDS can be treated and eliminated it is entirely up to us.
29
You want Trump to listen to health experts? Dream on. He doesn't need experts because he knows everything about everything. He is a stable genius with a very large brain whose size is exceeded only by a monumental ego that dismisses any advice he doesn't want to hear, doesn't want to learn, doesn't want to acknowledge as coming from people who think they know more than he does.
48
It’s just Trump making like he’s “doing something” about a national issue. There’s a good chance the results will be similar to his other “weeks” and any initial efforts will soon be interred with the others in the not-interested-anymore file.
Living in SW Ohio we get plenty of news from Kentucky and Indiana as well. As Governor, Pence’s handing of his state’s HIV outbreak was a disgrace. However, he is smarter, more disciplined and focused on his ideology than his boss is. Those who want Trump gone before the next election best be careful what they wish for.
25
When politicians put their religious beliefs into policy and people die they should be held accountable. Indiana didn’t have a needle exchange program because Mike Pence believes people who do intravenous drugs or have anal sex deserve gods wrath. Now people are sick and he in the Vice President trying to eliminate funding to planned parenthood. Evangelicals don’t belong in government if they are there to impose their biblical law upon the rest of us. Our policy makers should be accountable to all of the people in the US.
27
Trump doesn't want to eliminate AIDS; he wants to talk about eliminating AIDS. He doesn't want to rebuild infrastructure; he wants to talk about rebuilding infrastructure. He doesn't want to get North Korea to drop its nuclear program; he wants to talk about getting North Korea to drop its nuclear program.
And then there's the list of things where he is doing the opposite. He said he would maintain Medicare; he actually planned to cut Medicare. He said he was concerned about American jobs; he has cost American jobs. He said he cared about the average person; he pushed through a tax bill that will hurt the average person while further enriching people so wealthy they have no use for the extra money except to massage their egos.
Watch what he does; ignore what he says.
53
in South Florida, Trump's cronies use their money to massage more than their egos, as recent news reports reveal. it is not so much that President Trump and his party are running the country exclusively for the benefit of the rich; it is ever more clear the direction is charted by rich egomaniacs and their insatiable lust for money as a symbol of their personal power over others is one among many of their symptoms.
5
“Despite scientific consensus to the contrary, Mr. Pence worried that such a program would only encourage more injection drug use.” I remember the same “logic” in the refusal to create effective sex education programs in our schools out of misguided fear that kids would want to try out what they learned in class. Heaven forfend that education would give them guidance in protection from pregnancy or STD’s. Ah yes, the ignorance of the religious right strikes again.
21
Mr. Trump does not believe anyone is smarter than he is and therefore does not listen to people who make that claim or are offered by academia or other institutions as being experts in their field. He backs this up by continuing to proclaim that he won the presidency and therefore is the best most smartest person around and has a very large brain.
This eschewing of knowledge has been witnessed time and again throughout his presidency: News outlets, intelligence agencies, scientific advisors, the FBI... have all been vilified at some point.
This lack of evidence based decision making won't change with this president and therefore it is all the more important to remove him from office in order to stop the United States and what it affects from causing lasting and irreversible harm.
6
Trump's driving force is a 'siege' mentality. How do you tell? The 'wall' is a great example. The depiction of made-up enemies is another. Trump is all defense based on a scheme to thwart an imaginary offense.
3
"The president will need to start listening to... experts". Funniest thing I have read in a long time!
16
"president will need to start listening to health experts" If so, it would be a "first" of Trump listening to any experts about anything! Trump and Trumpism embrace myth and ignorance, especially Saint Pence.
4
“Opioid Use Disorder” !!!
If this is the progressive community’s mindset to sugar coat one of the most deadliest forms of drug abuse then people over 45 in the US should anticipate to coddle many young adults and generations to follow until we leave this earth.
When direct behavior is not circumvented to curtail an issue or disease but is quantified to promote such behavior due to newly developed medications to manage or extend a life with the infection yet links the survival of controversial organization Planned Parenthood as one of few means to control the spread of the infection.
So is it that progressives want to keep troubled lives alive no matter what the cost including the destruction of other lives to subdue society for the ballot box.
I just shake my head in disgust since the ills of morality are being undermined in packaged doses and marketed as Editorials.
1
Let's see: Pence was a failed governor when Trump decided he would be the least threatening and most sycophantic person to have on his ticket. The words "Trump" and "listen" (as in "Trump should listen to scientific experts") do not ever belong in the same sentence. Hence, any so-called effort that Trump talks about for eradicating HIV is doomed from the beginning due to lack of leadership.
4
I think the NYT should cease reporting on what Trump wants or doesn't want. First, it doesn't matter what he wants because that could, and often does, change depending on his digestion or "whatever" day-to-day. Second, effective public policy should be geared towards logical, reasonably solutions to problems that improve the lives of all citizens. Trump, and most of his staff, are not committed to government, or public policy or citizens. They are intellectually and morally bankrupt and are unworthy to be in their positions. Don't hold your breath waiting for things to change regarding HIV or anything remotely beneficial to Americans who struggle with real-life problems.
6
To begin with, Donald Trump listens to no one. And if it happens to be a subject he knows next to nothing about, like H.I.V. and AIDS, he either blusters about it or does into denial.
Aside from the fact that he cares little about science, and even less about those who won't vote for him, lies the reality that if he isn't able to somehow make a personal gain, he won't support it.
5
@N. Smith
I still remember his conversation with President Trudeau, when he said the US had a trade deficit with Canada. When Trudeau contradicted him, he insisted he was correct. In an interview later, Trump admitted -- in a televised interview -- that he didn't know about it, so he made something up.
2
Thank you, NY Times editorial board, for forcing me to think about policy in a way that is not completely hopeless and discouraged. Trump, Pence, the evangelical right that holds the Republican Party in thrall, and Fox News that makes billions spreading fear and rage-based propaganda --- no, I can't believe they will stop and reason or pause to consider evidence-based public health policy any more than they will confess that middle eastern terrorists are not really embedded in invading caravans of refugee children harboring the next Kenyan poseur. But, the fact that you can still write opinion pieces as though that is possible, gives me some small hope.
1
Trump misunderstands human nature as well as budgets and wants to combat this scourge with ideas that are simply not up to the challenge---Pence and Indiana being a prime example of why this new program will not work. HIV is now a chronic condition. It is not a death sentence but it is crazy that US people are paying way more for the cocktail than infected folks in other countries. And this is but one of the problems that needs to be addressed.
This trustafarian is not the answer - unless the question is, Can the Dems can sink lower than Trump?
Reality has a liberal bias.
4
@Noah Fecht: Or "liberality has a reality bias."
1
Unfortunately, Trump---and his Vice-pres. too--- live in a world where the real is considered fake and the fake is considered real. The conclusions of scientists and others who are actually in the field about how to stop the spread of HIV they ignore, and they turn their love of fantasy to imagined dangers and threats of non-existent invasions by murderous migrants. Always this is true of Trump and those who blindly follow his gut-thinking (e.,g., Pence); they ignore the greatest dangers facing the world and our own country---climate change, rise of white supremacist and their hateful ideology, rise of Anti-Semitism (allied to the previous item), growing gap between the haves and the have-nots, North Korea's increase of and improvement of nuclear destructive capability, spread of authoritarianism throughout the world as in Saudi-Arabia,Russia , Turkey, etc., by leaders who find inspiration and support from Trump's statements. The actual policies of Trump are dangerous for our health and our survival.
2
When will the NYT along with an unfortunately large number of American voters finally acknowledge that nothing that comes out of the mouth or Twitter account of Donald Trump is anything but empty words. He does not appear to believe what he says even when he says it. And he certainly doesn't believe what he said the day before if what he said the day before doesn't align with what he is fantasizing at the moment. The man is simply a pathological liar who considers Truth simply an alternative reality, or "fake news". The problem is that too many Americans still believe that Trump is qualified to be their President and approve of his performance as President. This is a very frightening realization for too many of us who already see the disasters of Trump's administration occurring around the world.
2
As with guns, so with disease -- these guys have nothing but thoughts and prayers. To think that Trump is going to stop HIV is to believe he is going to deliver peace in Palestine, make progress on climate change, and sow racial harmony at home and abroad.
6
the only things trump wants is more money and applause. There are no "plans" or "policies" He's a grifter, a criminal, and a traitor. And that's it. I know, this is not as intellectually exciting as plans and policies but that's where things are.
From what little I know of him, I don't think he hates gay people. True, he has no use for us (unless we are staying in a trump hotel or applauding him). Pence, however, is a different story. He clearly actively hates gay people and would not mind if we all just died.
6
Also, among gay and bisexual men, black (and, to a lesser extent, Latino) men are even more disproportionately affected (compared to whites and Asians). It’s particularly bad in the rural South, where black men pursue sexual relationships within small, racially homogenous dating pools.
Another issue that some activists sweep under the rug or outright deny is a culture of homophobia in black (and certain Latino) communities. It’s the only possible explanation for the disproportionately high rate of transmission among straight black women who don’t inject drugs.
More testing clinics, better sex ed (e.g., don’t wear two condoms), and subsidized medicine (including PrEP) would definitely help, but changing the culture will have to come from within the black community itself.
2
Trump wants to be known for great things. It stokes his fragile ego. But what motivates him more than anything else is cutting his own taxes. In the contest between stoking his ego and cutting his taxes, his taxes will win every time.
2
Before we get bogged down by budgets and all that other jazz...ask yourself, who had unprotected sex with a porn star? Who not only had unprotected sex, but also had a nursing infant at home? Yeah, Donald Trump. Not only did he put himself at risk, but his wife and the baby she was nursing, as well. Trust me, if he doesn't know how to protect himself, he certainly has no great ideas on how to eradicate it either. Nor, does he know how to listen to experts. If he did, he would have wrapped it up!
5
Trump’s idea of healthcare: having his wife Melania stay at Walter Reed for a whole week for an outpatient procedure.
H.I.V.? CHIPS? Medicaid? Medicare? The ACA? Ask Donald Trump to define any of the issues related to these. He would be unable.
This man is the most greedy and self centered when it comes to health. (and other issues) If it’s not family related he could not care.
As an RN Case Manager whose job it always was to keep hospitals and healthcare facilities to adhere to guidelines, the Melania “stay” as we’d call it, took the cake and was proof Donald Trump is just an inept, selfish person. Ironically, the people that support him and voted or may vote with him are apt to be the ones who lose out on the most. Trump knows this, and I bet behind the backs of these supporters he’s laughing his head at them. That’s how cruel he is.
6
'Expanding access to evidence-based treatment programs', and demanding generic medications to reduce costs are sound recommendations. Just do not expect the needed support from a brutus ignoramus who thinks he knows it all, classic Trump, as his arrogance is directly related to his deep ignorance on most issues. Given that this vulgar bully has no remedy, his ouster is an urgent matter.
1
@manfred marcus
There is actually no evidence that "evidence-based treatment programs" have better outcomes than non-evidence based programs. That's a tough nut to crack.
"Researchers" who want federal grants structure research projects to prove the outcome that will enable them to get federal, state and private funding for the programs that they will set up to profit from the "proof."
Fully 80% of that research cannot be replicated, and in cases where the data is disclosed, other researchers attempting to replicate the experiments find flaws in design or fraudulent data cleansing.
Think about it rationally. If the current "standard of care," with drug therapy and residential care which is very expensive, offered a cure for addiction or other substance abuse were effective, wealthy celebrities would be cured. In fact, expensive rehabilitation has recidivism rates indistinguishable from AA and NA, which do not require government or private insurance payments.
The charitable/industrial medicine complex are tricking the ignorant that complex problems can be solved if you give them enough money.
Do not expect the well educated supporters of rational policy to follow the recommendations of the brutally ignorant to give more money to the cronies providing ineffective services to enhance their wealth.
Many people believe words mean something but in trump's world they are meaningless. trump frequently takes all sides of every issue for political purposes and so he can say to each group, look I agreed with you.
Anyone who believes his words is a fool.
3
Trump wants to ride the coat tails of hard working scientists for his own personal gain. Trump is a science denier, and a charlatan. Please don't give any credit to trump for what amounts to giving little more than lip service to an issue.
8
Stop writing editorials like this. Trump does not want to eliminate HIV. He does not care about HIV. The only thing he cares about is enriching himself and his cronies via the presidency. He's a grifter plain and simple.
8
The story of HIV in Indiana is why people like Pence are dangerous. We need to keep religion out of the governments of the US. Pence can talk all about his Christianity but his beliefs harm more people than ever. Not very Christian in my view.
4
The concept that Trump (and or his administration) is reasonable or open to feedback and correction is absurd, proven by his actions. Suggesting otherwise is another attempt to normalize this highly un-normal, and immoral band of thugs.
2
I don’t understand what’s so difficult to understand about the simple reality that Trump has precisely zero interest in “eliminating HIV:” that’s just something he tells the suckers, and which Trumpists then echo to make him sound halfway human.
And Pence? Please. If he’s anywhere near this (and what does he do all day, other than simper?), he’s doing exactly what he did in Indiana, which is drag his feet. In Jesus’ name.
Who cares who gets sick, or what the spread of HIV ends up costing the country? As Trump says, he’ll be gone by then.
2
Actions speak louder than words... Pls stop normalizing this administration by publicizing their slogans and empty promises... And let's call out the lies for what they are...
1
his state-of-the-union speech, wherein he made the claim to rid our country of HIV, was laughable. he cares nothing about the disease, hates the people who have it, won't fund it. it was so deceptively exploitive as to be cruel. would that one of his sexual digressions had given it to him.
2
To Trump, experts are wrong per se. Sciene is the enemy of his truth.
Trump wants to eliminate HIV the way an eight year old kid wants to hit 100 home runs in one season. He is incapable of genuine ambition or goal-setting.
28
Well at least rich people are getting the services they so deserve, after all - only taxes from the middle class are paying for the entire federal budget. So what could wrong?
3
In Goethe’s “Faust,” Mephistopheles complains that he always wants to do evil but inadvertently always ends up doing good.
Trump, seemingly an equally fictional character, is a mirror opposite who may want to do good but, we are told, as here, ends up doing evil. Except when he fires off cruise missiles, cancels nuclear treaties, increases the defence budget, threatens to invade Iran, and demands regime change against a sovereign country with sanctions that cause suffering to its people in which case Democrats and the otherwise condemning media line up behind the President.
1
If Donald could produce the Second Coming, I still wouldn't want him in the White House, representing this country abroad.
Don't tell me what good he might do. The bad he does overshadows that and many other things we don't even know about yet.
9
"The president will need to start listening to experts if he's going to eradicate ..." One could attach multiple endings to that beginning clause as this president disdain for experts is at the root of his overall failure to do anything sensible, nonetheless productive to "fix healthcare", "solve the immigration crisis", "promote peace", "help the middle class" and so on and on. He just believes in himself and he is the most unreliable narrator to ever hold public office.
13
Hard to imagine that Trump’s people have put forth a budget that has nothing to do w his promises. All you need to do is look at his promise to not cut Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security during his campaign and then look at this budget.
The worst part is that people will still believe him and vote for him against their best interests. PB
13
The headline assumes that there really is a Trump plan to "eliminate HIV." It also assumes that the President understands what his budget cuts mean to that alleged plan. Finally, the article ignores the Mr. Trump simply shots from the hip, without regard for truth or consequences. See, ie, withdrawal from Syria.
30
rRump had nothing to do with the budget or its under lying priorities. Only bulleted summaries. That is why there are inconsistencies and no follow through. The minions are conflicted and incompetent. Nothing gets done but erosion of rights and benefits by Pence and Miller.
44
Wishing to stop HIV transmission and finding a cure is more difficult than actually doing it. Policies merge, is it possible to achieve these aims without massive support for help groups, health education, providing more inner city jobs? Decidedly un-Trumpian?
2
Yes, his HIV budget is far too low to make a dent, and his vice president criminally aided the spread of HIV his home state ( it's astounding that Indiana even lets Pence back in state lines, because he and his family also left a $25 million bill for poisoning the land under their gas station chain.)
But this editorial shouldn't focus solely on the U.S. - Trump's reinstatement of the global gag rule means clinics all over Africa, Mexico and elsewhere that mention abortion don't receive U.S. aid for condoms and healthcare needs - actively PROMOTING the spread of HIV in areas devastated by poverty. Especially with the devastating effects of climate change - Trump exploding both population growth and deadly disease not only lights the match, he's started the global wildfire.
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"A vast majority of those who are infected live in marginalized communities
Still waiting for the $1.5 trillion tax cuts to trickle down to the people that need it the most.
Early intervention by expanding Medicare and Medicaid is proven to be cost effective in drug and HIV treatment programs in terms of getting these people off of public assistance and on the tax rolls. Also what's sorely missing are decent paying jobs, affordable health care, and caps on prescription drug prices.
46
@mlb4ever: I just did my Federal income tax return. For the second year in a row (post Trump's tax legislation). my income tax as a middle class retiree on a fixed income is double what it was before Trump and the Republicans took over the government. I'm paying for the huge tax break for the rich. Trump and the Republican party does not care about anyone but the rich. As many of us said during the Reagan "trickle down" economics, the trickle is yellow not green.
5
The shame of our nation, is how we allow people like Pence , Trump & "naysayers' In some states, to deny efforts to address the critical HIV issue & the basic healthcare issues --that effect it & all health problems.
The voters who continue to put these people in office, either Federal, State or local, must share the blame.Utterly, it is within the voters power to choose representatives that address the problems.
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Forgive me for seeming cynical, but I doubt that Trump cares one whit about eliminating H.I.V. in this or any country. I'd be surprised if he has actually read “his” budget, and I assume that it has been constructed by a committee which skews heavily toward policies approved by his main constituencies, i.e. religious conservatives, white supremacists, wealthy individuals seeking even more tax reduction, and polluting corporations seeking even fewer regulations. None of which has any interest in reducing H.I.V. among the most at-risk populations, gay men and African Americans adults. That there is a line in the proposed budget is simply a tepid concession to some sincere government professionals. Since I am reasonably certain that the Editorial Board knows this, I can only assume that this editorial is directed at Congressional representatives and their constituencies who still have an opportunity to do something of value.
137
> Instead, the Trump administration has repeatedly supported or enacted policies that result in further marginalization of L.G.B.T.Q. communities, which still suffer a disproportionate burden of H.I.V. infection.
...which policies? In the LGBT population, HIV is only an issue for gay and bisexual men; whatever impact it has on lesbians and bisexual women is negligible. The only policies that could be construed as related regard transgender military service. Maybe school bathrooms, too? Neither has much to do with HIV. (Without a clear, consistent definition of “Q,” it’s impossible to ascertain that “community’s” relevance.) No, his biggest impact on the LGBT population will be felt not through policy but the courts, which he has stacked with extremist conservatives.
19
@Mssr. Pleure
It seems a bit odd to say the impact is "only" on gay and bisexual men, as if that made it less important. Clearly, they are a significant fraction of the total.
It is churlish to suggest something is not important because it does not affect oneself.
1