in Politics 865 Words

Blaming mothers for Autism

Yesterday, President Trump and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – who has no education in medicine – announced that they had found the cause of autism: folate acid deficiency and mothers taking Tylenol.

Isn’t it amazing that hundreds, if not thousands, of researchers have not been able to find what causes autism over the last 60 years, but Bobby Kennedy, Jr. figured it out in a few months?

And what could be easier than blaming pregnant women? As if pregnant women don’t have enough to worry about, Bobby has now told them that it is their fault for their child’s autism if they took a Tylenol during pregnancy.

Black-and-white photo of a stethoscope
Photo by Hush Naidoo Jade Photography on Unsplash

It was Dr. Trump who spilled the beans. What Kennedy had to say was anticlimactic Touting it in advance as the most important press conference of his career, Trump came out and in no uncertain terms gave medical advice to pregnant women.

I’m glad I don’t own stock in the company that makes Tylenol! It was obvious that Dr. Trump had never seen the word “acetaminophen” before. He stumbled over it horribly. I thought everyone knew about acetaminophen, but I guess not.

It seemed to be a new word for Dr. Trump, but that did not slow him down in warning pregnant women to just grin and bear it through pain and high fever. I guess like he would?

He said they can take a “small one” but only if they just can’t stand the pain or high fever. He went on and on, pronouncing “Tylenol” like it was a nasty word. Sort of like he says, “China.”

Nothing like terrorizing women who are currently pregnant by telling them that the Tylenol pill they took last week might cause the fetus they’re carrying to be born with autism.

Easy for Trump and Kennedy to say. It’s also easy for them to use their platforms to make sweeping proclamations based on junk science, which is the only “science” they know anything about. Isn’t it Trump who thinks windmills cause cancer?

Trump and Kennedy have put the Centers for Disease Control in shambles.

Kennedy loaded the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices with known anti-vaccine activists and at least one mathematician with no medical training whatsoever so the committee could make dangerous recommendations last week. The committee did not disappoint Kennedy. It’s like people used to say about computers: “Garbage in, garbage out.”

Instead of listening to physicians and researchers who have dedicated their lives to immunology, we now have a U.S. Government giving citizens medical advice based on fiction and lies.

This is what we get when we have a Republican-dominated United States Senate confirming the nomination of an anti-vaxxer who admits he has a worm in his brain to be U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. We got what the U.S. President and the U.S. Senate think we deserve.

In the so-called memorial service for Charlie Kirk on Sunday, Trump quizzed the audience about what MAHA stands for. “Make America Healthy Again.” What should have been a reverent Christian memorial service for an assassinated conservative activist turned into a political rally as soon as Trump stepped on the stage with pyrotechnics and Lee Greenwood belting out “I’m Proud to be an American.”

That shocking display set the stage for what Trump was going to say. At least we were forewarned, and no one should have been surprised by it. The surprise would have been if Trump had walked up to the podium and calmly delivered words of peace and talked about Charlie Kirk instead of talking about himself. That would have been shocking!

How strange for Charlie Kirk’s young children to be subjected to fireworks and hate speech at their father’s memorial service! Was that supposed to give them comfort? Oh… I forgot… it wasn’t about Charlie Kirk or his children. It was about Donald Trump. It always is.

Trump is so far removed from Christianity, he has no clue how offensive his behavior and remarks yesterday were to real Christians. I guess he forgot to wear his MAGA baseball cap. He ranted about hating his opponents. He ranted about “left-wing liberal lunatics.” He bragged about the crowd size.

I have been to more funerals and memorial services in my 72 years than I can count, but I’ve never heard a speaker at one of them talk about hating people or call half the population of the United States “lunatics.”

People keep saying, “This is not who we are.” I used to say that. I’ve uttered those words in 2025, but I can’t say those words now. America, that’s who we are. It’s time to face the truth.

When the President of the United States can openly talk like that and no one in the United States Congress says one word of criticism, that’s who we are.

We need to admit it. As long as half of us are in denial, we cannot address the problem. Step 1: Admit there is a problem.

Janet

27 thoughts on “Blaming mothers for Autism”

  1. Very good points Janet. And yes, reference his hate speech, I wonder what the “real” Christians that follow him think of his tirade against opponents? Maybe they will think that the words of Jesus need to be re-thought and instead of loving your enemies and praying for those that hate you, you should hate them and wish them ill… Incredible! But as incredible and unpresentable that he is, I really believe that his followers are much, much worse. He may be putting on an act for support but they mean it… I don’t know, but that is my opinion. I lived in the US many years and got to know the idiosyncrasy of the people, more or less, that is why I know that many of these MAGA people were there already, they were just waiting for their own hate filled and foul mouthed messiah. All the best Janet. I have just returned from a 7 day sailing trip to several Greek islands and the weather was phenomenal! I hope your weather is good and that you continue with your planning, organising and preparing your historical novel. I am also in that process with my poetry book (s) as there is one in English and one in Spanish.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. I’m afraid you are exactly right, Francisco. Trump is just the mouthpiece for the hate-filled people that apparently account for half the U.S. population. He came along with the world’s biggest platform and said all the things they wanted to say. He has emboldened them to now say those things out loud. They assume everyone agrees with them, so they say hateful things in public, in small groups, even in private conversation — things they never would have said in “polite society” before Trump came along and in essence gave them permission to say whatever they wanted to say. It is ironic that they are free now to spew their hate for immigrants, for people of color, for successful women, for “left wing liberal lunatics,” etc. yet they don’t want a comedian on late-night TV to make a political joke on a TV show they don’t have to watch if they don’t want to. Their view of free speech is that they are free to say whatever they want to say but I’m not free to say what I want to say. We are in a dangerous place in our history. You are exactly right in saying the MAGA people were already there, and I keep reminding myself that they will still be here long after Trump is gone. They will continue to elect hateful people in all levels of government. That goes from local school boards, county commissions, city councils, state legislatures, etc. all the way to U.S. President. They are entrenched now on all levels. That’s what makes book bannings easier and easier. That’s what has made it possible in North Carolina for parents to get tax-funded vouchers to help them pay for their children to attend private school instead of that money going to make public schools better. (Those vouchers also go to wealthy families that were already sending their children to private school and do not need financial help to do so.) It’s a domino effect then as public education suffers, then the conservatives criticize the public schools for failing, so conservatives want vouchers so they can send their children to private schools, so they can gloat and justify their actions because the public schools are failing. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Their interpretation of the New Testament does not match what I have come to believe. It is baffling how they can hold the Bible in one hand while holding a gun in the other hand. In their minds, Jesus condones murder as long as you’re murdering the right person. In their minds, it’s just fine that Trump ended USAID because those poor people in Third World countries need to take care of themselves “like I do.” Too many Americans believe that everyone in the world has the same opportunities we have. Nothing could be further from the truth! Meanwhile, the economic gap between the rich and the poor in the US widens and, under the Trump Administration the ultra-rich are handed more and more power. We are becoming (or have become!) an oligarchy. Corporations merge into monopolies with the blessing of the government — the government that on paper outlaws monopolies. Americans have no idea how blessed we are. Americans’ belief that we are smarter, better, and stronger than the rest of the world is going to be our downfall. Your sailing trip sounds fantastic! I’m so glad you got to do that and had perfect weather! We are enjoying a warm week here as the trees are telling us that autumn is upon us. I have a natural dread for it, but I will try to find the blessings in the change of seasons. It is a blessing that I have my writing to distract me from politics and the coming cold weather. It amazes me that you are able to write poetry — and that you are able to write poetry in two languages! I can’t imagine!

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  4. It is one more level of evil being perpetrated with the blessing of the hate-filled MAGAs while they hold their Bibles and wear their cross necklaces. There is no compassion. There is no empathy. There is only finger pointing and name calling. There is only shaming. There is a problem; therefore, it must be “your” fault. “You” took that Tylenol pill; therefore, “you” are to blame for your child’s challenges. It is a sad day when Europe is forced to say, “Don’t believe anything the U.S. says about medicine.”

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  8. Come to think of it, you are correct about that. One of my blogger friends in England told me this week that it wasn’t King Charles’ fault — that he has to do what the government tells him to. That was enlightening. My recollection was that the invitation we witnessed in the Oval Office came in the form of a letter from King Charles.

    Liked by 2 people

  9. Janet, you have said it exactly as it is. These MAGA people are now…and will be more after Trump’s mandate…very much emboldened. It is ok to repeat what they say and think about politics, religion or society, but not the opposite. This idea is closely linked to the praxis of totalitarian dictators that create this exaggerated and sick sense of patriotism and nationalism (two “isms” that I strongly dislike and fear) in their people. They create an enemy and use it to distract the people and to make them think that they are the saviours, and that way people do not even think of their corruption and misgovernment. And of course, they want to control the news media. It is extremely dangerous for a country to start in that direction. There has always been idiots, cretins and fools, but society did not applaud them. In the past they were usually shunned or left alone, while now they are glorified. We have lost much of the gains of the 60’s and 70’s and our clock, everywhere, is going backwards. We are on a bus going in reverse… Reference poetry, I find it a way to engage in the creative search and also a way to invent a different world where the stupidest of the group is not the leader. I mean a pack of wolves would never follow the most incompetent one, they will always follow the wisest, strongest and most capable one. If animals can do that, why are we humans failing? In any event, take good care and keep writing. I am looking forward to your book. All the best!

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Yeah, I’m not taking any health recommendations coming from this administration. RFK Jr. is not credible, and I will continue to follow the previous guidance. The problem now is that we need to spend more time seeking professional advice from the international scientific community, something many people won’t do. Unfortunately, the communities with the fewest resources are the ones that will bear the consequences of this madness.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. That’s right, Edward. The people with the least healthcare will fall prey to “the word on the street” which is now driven by social media… which is driven more and more by whatever the Administration is pushing at the moment. Disinformation and scare tactics on steroids.

    Liked by 2 people

  14. Your point is spot-on, Francisco. Yes… why are humans so easily led by the dumbest people? It seems that good people can no longer get elected. Take care, keep painting and keep writing. Enjoy the remainder of your holiday.

    Liked by 2 people

  16. Absolutely! The amount of misinformation and harmful content that social media pushes daily is incredible. I don’t use it myself, but the things my wife sees every day and tells me about are insane.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. I’m not on Facebook every day, but ridiculous things pop up and are then reposted as truth. The more vile, the better. I’m concerned about the youth and young adults who have grown up in the social media and hateful politics era. They don’t know how things should be, used to be, can be. This insanity is their “normal.”

    Liked by 2 people

  18. “Trump is so far removed from Christianity, he has no clue how offensive his behavior and remarks yesterday were to real Christians.”

    Sadly, this type of insensitive and corrupt behavior is now normalized every single day in our part of the world, without challenge. What used to be the fringe so-called ‘born-again’ Christianity is in the fore and is unrecognizable.

    Con men and women with and of unaccountable mega churches preaching the gospel of blame the poor for their poverty.

    The irony of them taking tithe from the poor in exchange for ‘snake oils’ and the promise of fake prosperity miracles is dumbfounding…

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  19. Norah, you have described my feelings and observations exactly. The televangelists rake in millions of dollars from many people who honestly cannot afford to donate to them. They build grander and more ornate churches and houses, wear expensive clothes and flashy jewelry, and purchase private jet airplanes. I don’t understand how they can read the New Testament and then demand the lifestyle they do. I don’t know how the “born-again” Christians got so brain washed about the love of Christ. They have lost their compassion and empathy for the less fortunate. Like you said, they blame the poor for being poor. They hate the foreigner. They fortify themselves and their homes with guns. It is beyond my comprehension how they think they are living the way Jesus wants them to live. It is way beyond my comprehension how they think Trump was sent by God to save America. Everything is money, money, money. Guns, guns, and more guns.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Every time we think it can’t get much worse, he proves us wrong. Revenge is mine sayeth the Trumpster whose synchophants enforce his notion that he’s God.

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  21. Yes. And now it is the fault of people like me who dare to be critical of the tactics of ICE — it’s our fault that a sniper murdered two detainees yesterday. It is not Trump’s fault for sending them out in masks, sunglasses, and riot gear without badges or any ID to snatch people off the street. I feel another blog post coming on….

    Liked by 1 person

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