Trump's "War on Autism"

Verbal tics and stims. Rocking back and forth whilst bashing your head against the edge of a concrete wall. Social perversion and isolation. These have been the rather hyperbolic portrayals of autism by Trump and his cabinet. It's treated not as a condition, but as a disease, a fault, a "full-blown" rampage on American society carried out by people with "full-blown Autism".

Those were the remarks of President Trump - that we are heading towards ever-increasing rates of Autism diagnoses. Rates which are not the consequence of new diagnostic methods and faster, more optimal ways of spotting Autism - no. Instead, the Trump administration proclaimed that Tylenol (internationally known as Paracetamol), a medication used to relieve pain and fevers, was the cause of this surge. Indeed, Trump and his team, including staunch ally and the leader of the administration’s MAHA efforts, Robert F Kennedy Jr., said yesterday something we’ve heard before - something we’ve definitely heard from RFK Jr. in particular, many, many times. That Autism diagnosis is ‘man-made’- a product of risky, untested and dodgy vaccines and medication.

Despite the link between Autism and Tylenol always being unproven, that didn’t hold the administration back. In fairness, health advice has never really held Trump back either… We already know how far his links stretch back with bleach.

But, according to Trump himself, he “cares”. He “cares” about young people; he “cares” about this proclaimed scourge of autism. He views this issue as one “more important” than the economy, than foreign affairs or other domestic efforts. This motive has singlehandedly strong-armed Trump’s allegations, and the Republican Party’s obsession and praise of natural pregnancies free from medical intervention. Because where Tylenol offers relief that aids with and safeguards foetal health (i.e. unchecked fevers, which can cause miscarriages, birth defects, and a whole host of health issues for the foetus), Trump sees danger.

Which is why, just like RFK Jr’s unbridled history with vaccinations and medications, and indeed their links to Autism and neurodivergence, Trump and others in his team have a similar history.

There’s a reason, for example, why we take the Measles vaccine. If you or I catch measles today, our immune systems are built to cope, to identify the disease, deal with it, and purge it from our systems (to use non-medical language). But an infant’s immune system is not that of an adult’s. That’s why we don’t take risks with the lives of those who can’t defend themselves. In the 60s, 2.6 million people died from Measles. Today, the chance of catching the disease, let alone suffering severe health consequences from it, is incredibly low. Instead of a plague that kills millions, today it’s a mere runny nose, sneeze, or a cough, and it kills a minute portion of those it used to (although the number is still too high).

But this vaccine, a vaccine which has liberated many from the worry of mass infant mortality, has been attacked by Trump, RFK Jr., and others around his team.

Again, the common link between this and their recent Tylenol claims isn’t just the concerns around autism, but their claims being unfounded in scientific merit.

But, given the authority and indeed the diehard support of the MAHA movement throughout America, especially within the Republicans’ southern heartlands, these claims haven’t been seen as what they are - baseless, unfounded, and flat out false. No. They’ve been idealised.

People already fear Autism. Autism as a disability has never been dealt with properly by successive administrations in America, or indeed the world. Indeed, those with Autism are less likely to enter the workforce, more likely to be dependent on benefits and the state as a whole. That doesn’t mean those with autism are less able or more stupid. It means that governments around the world have failed Autistic people, emblematic of Trump’s actions over the past day.

He criminalises Autism. In essence, he’s continued the same dogma that these very people have faced for eons. Instead of supporting Autism programmes, from health services around early diagnosis to intervention in schools to maximise the learning potential of those with this disability, Trump decided to cut these programmes with his “big beautiful bill”. And now, he seeks to blow the last punch. To continue the relentless attacks on people with autism, and indeed to continue to put the reputation of the scientific and medicine community into jeopardy.

These attacks on access to Tylenol, measles vaccines, Covid-19 vaccines, and a whole array of treatments and services pregnant women use routinely safely continue, marked by the ignominy targeted towards these very groups of people.

This isn’t Trump “caring”, this is Trump attacking even more vulnerable groups who really don’t need to deal with the stress of their government being against them.

It continues with this idea that people don’t need help - they don’t need pain relief or even mental health support. They just need to “deal with it”, as Trump says.