Bill Gates discloses in newly revealed footage that President Trump twice asked him to clarify the difference between HIV and human papillomavirus (HPV).Unfortunately, there's always someone who's willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, at least up to a point. This time it's Politico's Dan Diamond:
MSNBC’s “All in With Chris Hayes” aired footage Thursday night of the Microsoft founder speaking at a Gates Foundation event, telling the crowd about two meetings he had with Trump, one at Trump Tower during the presidential transition and another at the White House last year.
“Both times he wanted to know if there was a difference between HPV and HIV,” Gates said. “So I was able to explain that those were rarely confused with each other.”
Trump’s questions about HIV vs HPV got a lot of attention, but (1) it’s not clear how many 70-year-olds would know the difference (2) his persistent vaccine skepticism is arguably more important news. pic.twitter.com/tXmQK1lVEQ
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) May 18, 2018
Diamond is right about point (2) -- it would be dangerous if Trump, who's a skeptic, ever convenes the commission on vaccines he once seriously considered creating. But point (1)? Sorry, but age is no excuse for Trump.
Diamond elaborated:
This tweet provoked lots of responses — many of them unhappy.
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) May 18, 2018
It’s hard to respond individually, so I’ll try w/context here.
1) I could’ve worded this better. Trump clearly knows about HIV. And as the person in charge of the federal government, he *should* know about HPV, too.
2) But many older Americans are *confused about HPV*. That’s proven in surveys, I’ve heard it from public health researchers, etc. Lack of HPV awareness is one reason why vaccination rates lag.
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) May 18, 2018
Without more details, it’s hard to know why Trump asked his HIV/HPV question (twice).
Yes, Trump is an "older American." But he's the president of the United States. There are plenty of subjects on which he's allowed to be just another old guy. I assume he doesn't know the difference between XXXTentacion and Lil Uzi Vert. (Probably he's never even heard of either.) That's fine. It's not a problem if a president doesn't know such things.
But HIV and HPV? Sorry, that's policy stuff. He's supposed to know that. (He also has a son who's at the age when he should be getting the HPV vaccine, according to the CDC.)
But I'm discussing Trump as if he's a normal president and a normal father of a twelve-year-old. We know he's ignorant and incurious. We know he doesn't study anything and wings everything. We know he's simply not interested in learning new things. (We don't really need "more details" to know why he asked about the distinction twice.) And within his family, we know he doesn't do any parenting himself -- he never changed a diaper (by his own admission) and never played with his kids in the park, according to his first wife.
Diamond went on to tweet this:
6) Yes, Trump is moving to hit Planned Parenthood funding today. That decision is driven by anti-abortion officials in his administration.
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) May 18, 2018
Would Trump’s decision be different if he understood HPV and knew how Planned Parenthood fights STDs? Unclear, but reasonable questions.
We know the answer to that: Of course it wouldn't be different. Trump is doing what the religious right wants him to do. Trump always does what the religious right wants him to do. Knowledge wouldn't affect his decision -- he's been handed a to-do list, and he's dutifully checking items off, as Diamond knows, or ought to.
Your media at work, folks.
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