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Trump Tweets ‘Tremendous Progress Being Made!’ on HIV – as He Works to Roll Back HIV/AIDS Programs and Policies

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One week after President Donald Trump promised to work to “eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years,” and “defeat AIDS in America,” in his State of the Union address last month, The New York Times ran a scathing report on the Trump administration’s efforts that are actually working against that goal, and actively harming those living with HIV/AIDS.

For Trump at the State of the Union, it was literally just a hypocritical applause line.

So it’s a bit ironic that Trump, who despises what he falsely calls “the failing New York Times,” Tuesday morning tweeted out a Times story: “HIV Is Cured In 2nd Patient, Doctors Report.”

The story begins, “Scientists have long tried to duplicate the procedure that led to the first long-term remission 12 years ago. With the so-called London patient, they seem to have succeeded.”

Trump, just as he did in his State of the Union address, offered only empty words.

“Such great news for so many. Tremendous progress being made!”

In mid February The New York Times reported: “Trump Pledged to End H.I.V. But His Policies Veer the Other Way,” offering a litany of examples detailing how the Trump administration has actually worked to reverse progress being made in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

“In November, the Trump administration proposed a rule change that would make it more difficult for Medicare beneficiaries to get the medicines that treat H.I.V. infection and prevent the virus from spreading,” the Times reported, adding, “the Trump administration proposed a new policy to cut costs for Medicare by reducing the number of drugs that must be made available to people with H.I.V.”

“Mr. Trump has repeatedly urged Congress to repeal the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, even though Medicaid is the largest source of coverage for people with H.I.V. And he has promoted the sale of short-term health plans that skirt the Affordable Care Act, even though such plans usually exclude people with H.I.V.”

“To end the spread of the virus, federal health officials say they must reduce the stigma attached to gay men and transgender people who are at high risk so they will seek testing and treatment. But for two years the administration has tried to roll back legal protections for people in those groups.”

The executive director of the American Academy of H.I.V. Medicine said the Trump administration’s moves last year “could be catastrophic” for Medicare patients living with HIV.

Back in June of 2017, six members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) resigned, citing President Trump’s lack of interest or strategy to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Trump “simply does not care,” they wrote. Later that year, in December, without warning, Trump fired the remaining 16 members, “via a letter from FedEx.”

Overnight the White House website, HIV.gov, had been scrubbed of their names.

Trump has waited more than a year to reconstitute the White House AIDS Council. With new leaders the panel is slated to meet this month.

“In May 2017,” HIV Plus Magazine reminded last month, “the White House announced intended and deliberate funding cuts to HIV programs including PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), the Ryan White Program, and the Global Fund. These funds administer critical resources in the fight against HIV both domestically and internationally, and cutting them would not only immediately hurt those living with HIV, but also increase new infection rates.”

It adds that as Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence “caused the worst HIV outbreak in Indiana history in 2014 through his negligence of drug users and people living with HIV.”

 

 

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Lindsey Graham Goes on Bonkers Rant About ‘40,000 Brazilians’ With ‘Gucci Bags’ Heading for Connecticut

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3 years ago

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October 13, 2021

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U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is claiming 40,000 Brazilians are “headed for Connecticut wearing designer clothes and Gucci bags.” The U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) regularly releases statements on its work and has said nothing about “40,000 Brazilians.”

Graham last year was photographed, smiling, with a leader of the white nationalist group, the Proud Boys, apparently dining at a restaurant. One year earlier Graham appeared in a photo with far right wing politician Geert Wilders, “a controversial Dutch parliamentary leader with anti-Islam and anti-immigrant views.”

And just months ago according to a pro-immigration group Graham appeared on Fox News “using talking points peddled by white nationalists.”

In August U.S. Customs and Border Patrol issued a statement saying its San Diego agents “have encountered an unprecedented number of Brazilian nationals,” putting that number at “more than 7,300 Brazilian nationals,” a far cry from 40,000.

There was no mention of “designer clothes and Gucci bags.”

Watch Senator Graham:

He was quickly mocked for his claims:

 

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McCarthy Unleashes QAnon Dogwhistle and Spins Wild Conspiracy Theories in Rambling ‘Country in Crisis’ Presser

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3 years ago

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July 29, 2021

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Embattled House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy went all-in for QAnon Thursday in his wide-ranging, rambling conspiracy theory-laden press conference in which he called the January 6 insurrection an “altercation” but referred to the Black Lives Matter protests as “riots.”

Standing at a podium with a sign declaring “Country in Crisis,” McCarthy attacked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, blaming her for the lack of Capitol Police on January 6 and the mask mandate.

“If you are vaccinated and you get the variant, there’s .003% you’d go to the hospital,” McCarthy said – not as a means to urge vaccination, but as a means to oppose the House mask mandate. (NCRM has not verified that claim.)

“There’s a greater chance you’d got hit by lighting,” McCarthy said. He then took a long pause, and then declared, “But for some reason, Pelosi thinks the storm is coming.”

That phrase, “the storm is coming,” is widely documented as one used by delivers in the dangerous QAnon conspiracy theory movement.

“We’ve watched Speaker Pelosi politicize medicine. Just as she’s doing right now,” he said of the mask mandate which is based on new CDC guidance. “We’ve watched the Sergeant of Arms have to pass a note to the Speaker during the altercations on January 6 of whether to call the National Guard.”

“We’ve watched Speaker Pelosi say during the riots of the summer, the disgust she had seeing the National Guard protecting the Lincoln Memorial. So yes, It’s fundamentally different.”

 

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Donald Trump Jr.: Biden Already Had a Chance to ‘Fix’ Racism Because Obama Is Black

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4 years ago

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October 20, 2020

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Donald Trump Jr. on Tuesday argued that former Vice President Joe Biden should have solved racial tensions when there was an African-American president.

At a campaign event in Pennsylvania, the president’s son responded after a member of the audience called Biden a “racist.”

“Well, he is,” Trump agreed. “He was best friends with every segregationist ever to walk the halls of Congress.”

“But he’s going to fix those issues now, right?” he added sarcastically. “Now he’s going to fix racial tensions in America. Why did you wait 47 years, Joe? You know, if you really cared, if you thought it was something you were going to campaign on, maybe you would have utilized, I don’t know, your 38 years in the United States Senate.”

Trump added: “How about if you really wanted to do something about the issue — because this is what I would have done. Now, I have a brain but maybe it’s different. But if I really cared about the issue I would have maybe utilized my eight years as vice president to the first African-American president.”

Watch the video below.

 

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