We've read your comments about the eugenics undertones in Trump and RFK Jr.’s rhetoric. As public health experts, we share your concerns. Let’s take a moment to break this down. 🧵
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Eugenics is the belief that society should control who lives and reproduces, often targeting those deemed “unfit.” Historically, it has justified systemic oppression, forced sterilizations, and, at its most extreme, genocide.
During WWII, the Nazi regime used eugenics to promote "racial purity," which fueled the Holocaust. Policies targeted Jewish, Romani, disabled, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized groups, leading to mass sterilizations and the murder of 200,000 disabled individuals under the Aktion T4 program.
In the U.S., eugenics led to the forced sterilization of thousands, particularly poor women of color deemed "unfit" to reproduce. These policies also shaped laws like the 1924 Immigration Act, which aimed to exclude non-white immigrants. The effects are still felt today.
Trump and RFK Jr. have supported policies that marginalize certain groups, including the disabled, elderly, poor, rural communities, racial minorities, and more. Their cuts to public health—such as reducing access to Medicaid—and attacks on disability rights reveal whose lives they think matter.
RFK Jr. and Trump support policies limiting reproductive rights, echoing past eugenics programs that controlled reproduction. While not an exact repeat, these actions resemble troubling historical patterns of targeting marginalized groups and limiting autonomy.
Our stance: society should protect and value everyone, not just the “fit” or powerful. If we don’t challenge these dangerous ideas, we risk repeating the atrocities of the past. Eugenics didn’t just marginalize—it killed. We can’t afford to look away.
They advocate eugenics for seniors while they themselves are seniors & most certainly fit into their category of people who should not be allowed to live or reproduce.
Study or identifying individuals w/autism for future 'handling'? Multiple legit studies already in the books, no need for a compromised study with predetermined results so why identify in a registry?
This SMACKS of Aktion T4. And nobody is pushing back asking about the Kennedy family’s own brutal actions toward Rosemary by her own father, RFK Jr’s gramps. Anyone at nih/cdc who participates in this ill-conceived, dangerous, and misbegotten endeavor will be identified and held accountable in time.
We must identify and never forget all who participate in this cruel endeavor! Same for those who put the dictator back in office because they can never be trusted nor should be forgiven. They were warned by so many including the dictator himself, and they still threw all of us on the pyre.
Are registries like the one proposed for ASD mandatory? Is there a way for individuals to protect themselves from being added to the registry by providers?
Thank you for sharing this in such easily digestible- and distributable- increments plus references. Thanks, as well, for your service and I’m sorry for all you and your colleagues are having to endure (again). 🙏🏼
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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rfk-jr-autism-study-medical-records/
https://bsky.app/profile/lisaloe.bsky.social/post/3lnfuse7kos2b