Scientific American Endorses
Joe Biden
We’ve
never backed a presidential candidate in our 175-year history—until now
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By THE EDITORS | Scientific American October 2020 Issue
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Credit:
Ross MacDonald
Scientific American has never endorsed
a presidential candidate in its 175-year history. This year we are compelled to
do so. We do not do this lightly.
The
evidence and the science show that Donald Trump has badly damaged the U.S. and
its people—because he rejects evidence and science. The most devastating
example is his dishonest and inept response to the COVID-19 pandemic,
which cost more than 190,000 Americans
their lives by the middle of September. He has also attacked
environmental protections, medical care, and the researchers and public science
agencies that help this country prepare for its greatest challenges. That is
why we urge you to vote for Joe Biden, who is offering fact-based plans to
protect our health, our economy and the environment. These and other proposals
he has put forth can set the country back on course for a safer, more
prosperous and more equitable future.
The
pandemic would strain any nation and system, but Trump's rejection of evidence
and public health measures have been catastrophic in the U.S. He was warned many times in January and
February about the onrushing disease, yet he did not develop a
national strategy to provide protective equipment, coronavirus testing or clear
health guidelines. Testing people for the virus, and
tracing those they may have infected, is how countries in Europe and
Asia have gained control over their outbreaks, saved lives, and successfully
reopened businesses and schools. But in the U.S., Trump claimed, falsely, that
“anybody that wants a test can get a
test.” That was untrue in March and remained untrue
through the summer. Trump opposed $25 billion for increased testing
and tracing that was in a pandemic relief bill as late as July.
These lapses accelerated the spread of disease through the country—particularly
in highly vulnerable communities that include people of color, where deaths climbed disproportionately
to those in the rest of the population.
It
wasn't just a testing problem: if almost everyone in the U.S. wore masks in
public, it could save about 66,000 lives by
the beginning of December, according to projections from the University of
Washington School of Medicine. Such a strategy would hurt no one. It would
close no business. It would cost next to nothing. But Trump and his vice
president flouted local mask rules, making it a point not to wear masks
themselves in public appearances. Trump has openly supported people who ignored
governors in Michigan and California and
elsewhere as they tried to impose social distancing and restrict public
activities to control the virus. He encouraged governors in Florida, Arizona and Texas who
resisted these public health measures, saying in April—again, falsely—that “the worst days of the pandemic are
behind us” and ignoring infectious disease experts who warned at the
time of a dangerous rebound if safety measures were loosened.
And of
course, the rebound came, with cases across the nation rising by
46 percent and deaths increasing by 21 percent in June. The states
that followed Trump's misguidance posted new daily highs and higher percentages
of positive tests than those that did not. By early July several hospitals in Texas were
full of COVID-19 patients. States had to close up again, at
tremendous economic cost. About 31 percent of workers were laid off
a second time, following the giant wave of unemployment—more than 30
million people and countless shuttered businesses—that had already decimated
the country. At every stage, Trump has rejected the unmistakable lesson that
controlling the disease, not downplaying it, is the path to economic reopening
and recovery.
Trump
repeatedly lied to the public about the deadly threat of the disease, saying it
was not a serious concern and “this is like a flu” when he knew it was more
lethal and highly transmissible, according to his taped statements to
journalist Bob Woodward. His lies encouraged
people to engage in risky behavior, spreading the virus further, and have driven wedges between Americans who
take the threat seriously and those who believe Trump's falsehoods. The White
House even produced a memo attacking the expertise of the
nation's leading infectious disease physician, Anthony Fauci, in a
despicable attempt to sow further distrust.
Trump's
reaction to America's worst public health crisis in a century has been to say “I don't take responsibility at all.”
Instead he blamed other countries and his White House predecessor, who left
office three years before the pandemic began.
But
Trump's refusal to look at the evidence and act accordingly extends beyond the
virus. He has repeatedly tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act while
offering no alternative; comprehensive medical insurance is essential to
reduce illness. Trump has proposed billion-dollar cuts to the National Institutes of Health,
the National Science Foundation, and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, agencies that increase our scientific knowledge and
strengthen us for future challenges. Congress has countermanded his reductions.
Yet he keeps trying, slashing programs that would ready
us for future pandemics and withdrawing from the World Health
Organization. These and other actions increase the risk that new diseases will
surprise and devastate us again.
Trump
also keeps pushing to eliminate health rules from
the Environmental Protection Agency, putting people at more risk for heart and
lung disease caused by pollution. He has replaced scientists on agency advisory
boards with industry representatives. In his ongoing denial of reality, Trump
has hobbled U.S. preparations for climate change, falsely claiming that it does not
exist and pulling out of international agreements to mitigate
it. The changing climate is already causing a rise in heat-related deaths and
an increase in severe storms, wildfires and extreme flooding.
Joe
Biden, in contrast, comes prepared with plans to control COVID-19, improve
health care, reduce carbon emissions and restore the role of legitimate science
in policy making. He solicits expertise and has turned that knowledge into
solid policy proposals.
On
COVID-19, he states correctly
that “it is wrong to talk about ‘choosing' between our public health and our
economy.... If we don't beat the virus, we will never get back to full economic
strength.” Biden plans to ramp up a national testing board, a body that would
have the authority to command both public and private resources to supply more
tests and get them to all communities. He also wants to establish a Public
Health Job Corps of 100,000 people, many of whom have been laid off during the
pandemic crisis, to serve as contact tracers and in other health jobs. He will direct
the Occupational Health and Safety Administration to enforce workplace safety
standards to avoid the kind of deadly outbreaks that have occurred at
meat-processing plants and nursing homes. While Trump threatened to withhold
money from school districts that did not reopen, regardless of the danger from
the virus, Biden wants to spend $34 billion to
help schools conduct safe in-person instruction as well as
remote learning.
Biden
is getting advice on these public health issues from a group that includes
David Kessler, epidemiologist, pediatrician and former U.S. Food and Drug
Administration chief; Rebecca Katz, immunologist and global health security
specialist at Georgetown University; and Ezekiel Emanuel, bioethicist at the
University of Pennsylvania. It does not include physicians who believe in
aliens and debunked virus therapies, one of whom Trump has called “very respected”
and “spectacular.”
Biden
has a family and caregiving initiative,
recognizing this as key to a sustained public health and economic recovery. His
plans include increased salaries for child care workers and construction of new
facilities for children because the inability to afford quality care keeps
workers out of the economy and places enormous strains on families.
On the environment and climate change, Biden
wants to spend $2 trillion on an emissions-free power sector by 2035, build
energy-efficient structures and vehicles, push solar and wind power, establish
research agencies to develop safe nuclear power and carbon capture
technologies, and more. The investment will produce two million jobs for U.S.
workers, his campaign claims, and
the climate plan will be partly paid by eliminating Trump's corporate tax cuts.
Historically disadvantaged communities in the U.S. will receive 40 percent of
these energy and infrastructure benefits.
It is
not certain how many of these and his other ambitions Biden will be able to
accomplish; much depends on laws to be written and passed by Congress. But he
is acutely aware that we must heed the abundant research showing ways to
recover from our present crises and successfully cope with future challenges.
Although Trump and his allies have tried to
create obstacles that prevent people from casting ballots safely in
November, either by mail or in person, it is crucial that we surmount them and
vote. It's time to move Trump out and elect Biden, who has a record of
following the data and being guided by science.
Editor’s
Note (9/15/20): This article has been edited after its publication in the
October 2020 issue of Scientific American to
reflect recent reporting.
