Dr. Donald Trump Declares That Autism Doesn’t ‘Occur Naturally’

As HHS and RFK Jr. continue to bumble their way towards making America less healthy, while saying they’re doing the opposite of course, measles cases are still on the rise. The rate of new cases appears to be slowing somewhat, assuming we think the data coming out of the CDC these days is accurate. Given the staff and budget cuts HHS has implemented, I think that is very much an open question.

In the meantime, Kennedy also committed about a month ago to “knowing the cause of autism” by September of this year. The claim would be absurd coming from anyone, given the research and science indicating that there are a number of factors likely at play rather than a single “cause,” but from noted anti-vaccine advocate Kennedy the claim takes on a more sinister tone. Kennedy has already walked back the ETA for his eureka on autism moment, but it seems overwhelmingly obvious where this is going.

Making matters worse, because the fish rots from the head down, Donald Trump recently remarked that the cause of autism must be from an external source. He, to the shock of exactly nobody, provided zero reasoning or evidence for this claim.

President Trump said Thursday that autism must not occur naturally, citing figures inflating the spike in autism and suggesting the administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission could provide answers.

“When you hear 10,000, it was 1 in 10,000, and now it’s 1 in 31 for autism, I think that’s just a terrible thing. It has to be something on the outside, has to be artificially induced, has to be,” Trump said at a MAHA Commission event. “And we will not allow our public health system to be captured by the very industries it’s supposed to oversee. So we’re demanding the answers, the public is demanding the answers and that’s why we’re here.”

Because this is Donald Trump, even his cited numbers are wrong. Autism spectrum diagnoses 25 years ago were in the 1 in 150 children range. Today they are 1 in 36. That is still a sizable jump and if you can’t be bothered to have a nuanced thought about it, it might freak you out. But medicine on new diseases changes, as does how we classify certain conditions. A ton of awareness and outreach has been done both with doctors and among the public when it comes to autism. With that education comes more diagnosed incidents as doctors and the public begin to recognize the symptoms for what they are.

But most medical professionals seem to agree that genetics and family history play a role in autism prevalence that ranges somewhere between being very important to being the primary cause. That would be directly contradictory to Trump’s claim that the disorder must be externally caused.

The main question now appears to be whether Kennedy is influencing Trump’s views on autism, or the other way around.

Ahead of Kennedy’s confirmation vote in the Senate, Trump also shared figures questioning the autism rate.

“20 years ago, Autism in children was 1 in 10,000. NOW IT’S 1 in 34. WOW! Something’s really wrong. We need BOBBY!!! Thank You! DJT,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time.

This isn’t some conversation happening in a vacuum. Policy decisions will be made based Trump’s and Kennedy’s misguided views on autism spectrum disorder. Neither of these men are doctors. One of them insisted that the American people shouldn’t take medical advice from him, despite his holding the highest office in the land when it comes to American health and healthcare.

Already HHS is paring back authorization for some vaccines, such as the COVID vaccine. Kennedy is implementing secretive changes to how vaccines get approved in the future as well.

All of this happening on Donald Trump’s watch and the damage that is likely to be done will take decades to unwind.