Trump Kills HIV Research

[PeterRS]

It's getting harder for reasonable people outside the USA to have any other than aggressive feelings against the recently elected President. Near Thailand, the cutting the USAID budget has affected hundreds of Myanmar reporters camped out on the border with Thailand on whom the world has depended for months if not years for news of what has been happening re the ghastly civil war in that country. USAID paid their salaries. This started weeks before the present earthquake. Now no more.

Worse, The Guardian today has informed us that Trump and his cohorts have made "Sweeping HIV Research and Grant Cuts." This will "decimate" progress on elimiating the pandemic. Let's not forget that in his State of the Union address in 2019, Trump said his actions would eliminate HIV in 10 years -. 

“Scientific breakthroughs have brought a once-distant dream within reach,” said Trump in his address. “Together we will defeat Aids in America.”

We all know the man is a liar, a cheat, a misogynist, a narcissist wth a foul mouth and a pussy grabber. Now he adds the dubious distinction of being the man who is likely to increase the prevalence of HIV, at the least in his own country.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/31/trump-administration-hiv-research-grant-cuts

[floridarob]

I already received messages from friends in Jakarta that work in HIV outreach and said they've lost all funding....he's making Trump a hated name worldwide....

[reader]

Pres. George W. Bush initiated the AIDS funding program worldwide in 2003 and every president since continued it, even Trump in his first term. Strongly suspect Musk was the catalyst for the change.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President's_Emergency_Plan_for_AIDS_Relief

 

[PeterRS]

  On 3/31/2025 at 6:25 PM, reader said:

Strongly suspect Musk was the catalyst for the change.

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If Trump 2 is anything like Trump 1, Musk will probably be out the door sooner rather than later! 🤣

[Moses]

I understand the feelings of people in Jakarta, but shouldn't the Indonesian government be concerned about its citizens? Why should a US taxpayer pay for medicine all over the world?

Now you will write to me that I am defending Trump (whom I have repeatedly called an orange clown on the pages of this forum), but I must say that Trump is taking logical steps from an economic point of view - he is pulling the US out of the whirlpool of bankruptcy.

Already, the cost of servicing the US national debt is greater than the cost of defense. Already, rating agencies are skeptical about the US's ability to pay off the national debt.

For several years now, the US Treasury has been sounding the alarm because the money in the state treasury is running out noticeably before the end of the financial year, and the parliament is raising the debt ceiling every time.

If something buries the US, it will be the national debt and the inability to service it. And the most vulnerable spot is the transition of international trade to alternative currencies. And the most vulnerable spot is the transition of international trade to alternative currencies, which was sharply stimulated by the sanctions of Joe Alzheimer and only in the last 5 years the share of the yuan in international trade has grown 4 times, and only in 2024 - two times. The yuan is already ahead of the Swiss franc and it is not long before it will overtake the British pound.

The Global South's gradual abandonment of US dollar settlements, the reduction of these countries' reserves in Fed depository receipts, and the sharp increase in gold reserves are all very alarming signals.

Personally, I think that Trump and Musk are saving the US economy. Well, or at least they are declaring the right direction of movement: the US is now in a situation where the country needs crisis managers. Nobody likes them, they are firing hundreds and cutting companies' spending on coffee and toilet paper, but the companies are surviving.

[vinapu]

  On 4/1/2025 at 9:01 AM, Moses said:

 them, they are firing hundreds and cutting companies' spending on coffee and toilet paper, but the companies are surviving.

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I don't think US presidents remit goes as far as to interfere with companies spending in such detail.

[Moses]

  On 4/1/2025 at 9:11 AM, vinapu said:

I don't think US presidents remit goes as far as to interfere with companies spending in such detail.

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You do realize that this is a comparison of the president to a crisis manager, and not a message about Trump regulating toilet paper costs?

[reader]

  On 4/1/2025 at 7:00 AM, PeterRS said:

If Trump 2 is anything like Trump 1, Musk will probably be out the door sooner rather than later! 🤣

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Would--like many--applaud the departure of Musk. However, Trump's second term is strategically different. Trump 1 was focused more on the political. Trump 2 is zeroed in on how he can affect the economy. He's much more confident that he has a mandate to rebalance sources of income, apply wide-spread tariffs, rewrite long-standing alliances and all but eliminate foreign aid.

As much as Trump would like a third term, he has the luxury of not having to spend half his time trying to get re-elected. He believes--and not without reason--that he has a free hand to do whatever the hell he wants.

[reader]

  On 4/1/2025 at 9:01 AM, Moses said:

Why should a US taxpayer pay for medicine all over the world?

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Because it was the humanitarian thing to do 22 years ago and to many of us it remains so.

[Moses]

  On 4/1/2025 at 12:39 PM, reader said:

Because it was the humanitarian thing to do 22 years ago and to many of us it remains so.

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Weak argument: for 200 years in the US, slavery was also popular business (at least in some states), need we continue?

You and I both know that USAID was not doing charity, but spreading soft power. Well, here it is: the money ran out.

You probably help the guys in Thailand as much as you can. But what will you do when the money runs out? Take out a loan to help?

[reader]

  On 4/1/2025 at 12:46 PM, Moses said:

Weak argument: for 200 years in the US, slavery was also considered humanitarian (at least in some states), need we continue?

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Sure. We could always reflect on Russia's humanitarian activism of the past few centuries if you wish.

In the final analysis, however, I believe your ringing endorsement above of Trumpism speaks for itself.

[Moses]

  On 4/1/2025 at 12:54 PM, reader said:

Sure. We could always reflect on Russia's humanitarian activism of the past few centuries if you wish.

In the final analysis, however, I believe your ringing endorsement above of Trumpism speaks for itself.

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As usual: when you have no arguments, you helplessly switching to me and Russia.  

[PeterRS]

Of course  getting a country's finances in order is one of the prime duties of an eected government, one too many leaders do not take seriously e.g. Britain under the last lot of incompetent leaders. But how does cutting the minuscule budget for HIV research have any effect whatever, other than to make life more miserable for more Americans in the long run? This is more true when you consider that Trump will undoubtedly, as he did in his first administration, cut taxes for the mega rich? So with one hand he saves a  bunch of tiny peanuts and with the other he doles out massive amounts of government money which he fails to tax. Wasn't it Warren Buffett who said that his secretary paid more in taxes than he did???

Similarly the cutting off of aid to Myanmar, a country so desperate by decades of a brutal civil war the likes of which the world has rarely seen since WWII, is surely self defeating. Not providing aid for earthquake relief is bad enough when other smaller countries have tried to help as best they can, albeit with no assistance whatever from the Myanmar military government. In the longer term, strategically and historically both Democrats and Republicans have done virtually nothing whatever for Myanmar other than ensure that it is likely to end up in China's camp eventually. Given that it is the fourth largest country in East Asia, that seems exceedingly foolish. A plague on both their houses!

[reader]

  On 4/1/2025 at 12:56 PM, Moses said:

As usual: when you have no arguments, you helplessly switching to me and Russia.  

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It would be impolite not to point out the obvious.

[Moses]

  On 4/1/2025 at 12:57 PM, PeterRS said:

minuscule budget for HIV research

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What I see from news NIH cuts 450 mln from $3.953 billion of US HIV research budget. And not just cuts, but cuts specifically 145 grants. Are you sure, what specialists made wrong choice and journalist made right choice in criticizing? 

But most I wonder: why title of this thread is named "Trump kills..." - it is pure speculation and leftist propaganda.

[reader]

  On 4/1/2025 at 1:06 PM, Moses said:

Are you sure, what specialists made wrong choice and journalist made right choice in criticizing?

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Since when is Musk a specialist in public health?

You have a real soft spot for the Donald. Must remind you of the glory days of having a strong authoritarian leader.....like Stalin.

[Moses]

It's also funny that the British Guardian writes about what Trump is doing in the US and doesn't write a word about what's happening on British soil, about the horrors of the healthcare system with queues lasting several months.

It seems to me that this is also an element of propaganda, promoting the agenda of the British government, and a distraction from the problems "underfoot".

[Moses]

  On 4/1/2025 at 1:11 PM, reader said:

Since when is Musk a specialist in public health?

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Since when Mask is working in NIH?

[reader]

  On 4/1/2025 at 1:12 PM, Moses said:

Since when Mask is working in NIH?

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Musk dictates across a range of agencies and they follow or leave. NIH's top specialist, however, resigned before he'd enforce DOGE's most recent order to cut back.

[Moses]

  On 4/1/2025 at 1:11 PM, reader said:

You have a real soft spot for the Donald

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[Moses]

  On 4/1/2025 at 1:11 PM, reader said:

You have a real soft spot

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My soft spot is common sense. If a family doesn't have enough money, then either income must be increased or expenses must be reduced. The state increases income through taxes. Does anyone here want to advise Trump to increase taxes in USA for to keep distribution of HIV-drugs in Jakarta?

[vinapu]

  On 4/1/2025 at 12:46 PM, Moses said:

 

You probably help the guys in Thailand as much as you can. But what will you do when the money runs out? Take out a loan to help?

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I don't know about reader but my last trip in January was entirely financed by debt and I'm proud to report that paying it off goes very well, 

[vinapu]

  On 4/1/2025 at 9:16 AM, Moses said:

You do realize that this is a comparison of the president to a crisis manager, and not a message about Trump regulating toilet paper costs?

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Trump as crisis manager is like fireman trying to extinguish fire by pouring  more gasoline on it 

[reader]

  On 4/1/2025 at 12:57 PM, PeterRS said:

 In the longer term, strategically and historically both Democrats and Republicans have done virtually nothing whatever for Myanmar other than ensure that it is likely to end up in China's camp eventually. Given that it is the fourth largest country in East Asia, that seems exceedingly foolish. A plague on both their houses!

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I don't disagree. In the current crisis. however, only Trump could have authorized the deployment of one of more of FEMA's 29 Urban Search and Rescue teams scattered across the nation. They are comprised mostly of firefighters, medical personnel and engineers and have been successfully used overseas in wide-spread collapse situations.

[Moses]

  On 4/1/2025 at 1:30 PM, vinapu said:

was entirely financed by debt

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I also use credit cards during the grace period when traveling, and during this time the capital is turned into investments or lies in deposits at %% this is an obvious practice. But that was not the question