SEPTEMBER 4, 2025 – This evening I listened to snippets of the Senate hearing today during which RFK, Jr., Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, was grilled by Democrats and Republicans—as well he should be until he resigns or his boss decides to fire him. One can hope.
But just as Trump himself is a symptom, not the primary cause of America’s political problems, so is RFK, Jr. a reflection, not the original source of our “science problems.”
What is it about our country and culture, one must ask, that has led so many people astray when it comes to guns, vaccines, public health, public safety, and the big one . . . anthropogenic climate change? Or put more directly, what is it about us that when it comes to matters of objective, empirical data and analysis, so many of us are unduly susceptible to hearsay, misinformation, debunked conspiracy theories, and non-experts purveying “special expertise” enshrouded in non-conformity and unorthodoxy?
None of which is to suggest that medical experts and renown scientists always “get it right.” Of course they don’t—which is why the time-honored litmus test of scientific research is the peer-review process to which scientific papers are subjected. What’s critical about that process, however, is that the reviews are conducted not by amateurs, non-experts or experts in unrelated fields but by peers—other scientists with the relevant background and knowledge in the specific area involved in the subject research.
In the Age of Information, which, unfortunately, necessarily produces a corresponding shadow Age of Misinformation, it’s all too easy for untrained and undisciplined minds—let alone people motivated by ulterior objectives cast in political or financial moulds—to influence millions of consumers, citizens and voters. Welcome to the anti-vaxxers and climate change deniers.
I was shocked, appalled, and dismayed by the anti-science vitriol during the Covid-19 epidemic. How, I wondered, could people be so defiant in the face of such horrific and irrefutable evidence? I could understand disagreement over, say, economic policy as it applies to the issue of affordable housing, but how could such hateful sentiments arise in the fight between humanity and an amoral, uncaring, non-discriminating deadly virus driven by an unstinting impulse to survive and thrive? If anything could’ve united a polarized society, surely it would’ve been a killer virus. Instead, what was a universally common enemy managed to divide us further.
Resistance to the miraculously developed and distributed vaccine was wholly baffling. If Trump wants to assume full credit for Operation Warp Speed, I for one am more than happy to grant it. In record time an effective weapon was brought to the front and accessible to all. Yet, a sizable percentage of the public chose to forgo the antidote to a disease that had so devastated public health and brought untold stress to the health care system.
The parallel to climate change is unnervingly unmistakable. Reflecting its MAGA base, the Trump Administration denies the undeniable—climate change—and militantly opposes government-led efforts to reduce the established link between global warming and the consumption of fossil fuels. Ironically, however, that militancy isn’t as comprehensively targeted as the Administration’s assault on DEI: Citing numerous studies, NASA’s website still cites that 97% of climate scientists believe in anthropogenic climate change.[1]
The most disturbing part of the Trump regime’s contempt for science—and public health and safety—is its defunding of scientific research, including medical science research. Not so long ago I was hopeful that promising studies and research of my particular disease, multiple myeloma, would soon yield enhanced treatments, perhaps even a cure. Now that the plug has been pulled on NIH and university research funding, I can’t rely on what my research doctor told me before our government pulled the financial rug out from medical research, to-wit, “New treatments will surely come online over the next few years.” My case is hardly isolated.
The West Coast states are joining forces and resources to compensate for the reprehensible disruption of the CDC. We can hope that other states will emulate California, Oregon and Washington. Florida, apparently won’t. Today it was announced that the state is taking action to abolish all mandates for childhood vaccines. If this measure precludes me—an immune-compromised person—from setting foot in the state of Florida, how will we prevent unvaccinated Floridians from setting foot in our states?
One must do what one can do. Accordingly, this evening I scheduled my flu shot and Covid-19 booster for tomorrow morning at our local pharmacy. The new booster, I was informed, just arrived yesterday. Since RFK, Jr.’s resignation or firing isn’t imminent, I figured I should roll up my sleeve while the needles are sharp, vaccines are free, and my state government, at least, is still (scientifically) enlightened.
But there is no vaccine to prevent the pain, cost and disruption of extreme weather and climate change. We all will pay the heavy price for defunding meteorology and climate change research. We’ll be left with reduced ability to understand and respond to extreme weather events and the adverse effects of adverse climate trends. We will continually stagger under the cost of our neglect. Yet, as far as I know, no Congressional hearings are scheduled—or contemplated—to question Administration officials about the single greatest issue facing us and future generations: the health of the earth, our planet, our home.
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© 2025 by Eric Nilsson
[1] Shhhh! Don’t tell Trump but go to the NASA site page https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/faq/do-scientists-agree-on-climate-change/ , which features the question, “Do scientists believe in climate change?” and you’ll find this (NASA) response:
Yes, the vast majority of actively publishing climate scientists – 97 percent – agree that humans are causing global warming and climate change. Most of the leading science organizations around the world have issued public statements expressing this, including international and U.S. science academies, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and a whole host of reputable scientific bodies around the world. A list of these organizations is provided here.
