In a significant move, President Trump chose the White House’s Roosevelt Room, a distinguished setting, to unveil a report on autism, signaling its deep personal importance to him. ‘I always had very strong feelings about autism,’ Mr. Trump declared on Monday, noting he had anticipated such an event for two decades. He later stated, ‘I’ve stopped seven different wars. I’ve saved millions of lives. I’ve done a lot of things. This will be as important as any single thing I’ve done.’
For an hour, with his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and other senior health officials present, Trump passionately discussed the increasing rates of autism. He controversially described it as ‘among the most alarming public health developments in history,’ despite scientific consensus often contradicting his assertions.
His address included scientifically questionable medical advice on vaccines and direct warnings to pregnant women against taking acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, which he claimed could cause autism in infants. He also suggested parents spread out their babies’ vaccinations, a recommendation that goes against the standard immunization schedule. Trump admitted his statements went further than those of Mr. Kennedy and Dr. Marty Makary, the F.D.A. commissioner, whose more cautious remarks led the president to acknowledge his own incomplete understanding of the facts.
‘We’re making these statements, and I’m making them out front, and I’m making them loud, and I’m making them strongly, not to take Tylenol, not to take it, just don’t take it unless it’s absolutely necessary — and there’s not too many cases where that will be the case,’ Mr. Trump asserted. He added, ‘And again, what’s the worst? The worst is nothing can happen,’ overlooking the potential dangers of untreated fevers during pregnancy for both mother and fetus.
Trump’s concern for autism dates back to at least December 2007, when he hosted leaders of the advocacy group Autism Speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. During that event, he speculated that administering too many vaccines simultaneously to babies was problematic. Months later, he revealed that he and his wife, Melania, had opted for a slower vaccination schedule for their son Barron, then about two years old.
‘What we’ve done with Barron, we’ve taken him on a very slow process,’ Mr. Trump shared at the time. ‘He gets one shot at a time, then we wait a few months and give him another shot, the old-fashioned way.’
At that time, Trump was a host on NBC’s ‘The Apprentice.’ Bob Wright, the former chairman of NBC, and his wife, Suzanne, who are grandparents to a child with autism, had established Autism Speaks two years prior. They had asked Trump to host a benefit concert, featuring singer Lionel Richie, in March 2008 to support the organization.
Even though the 1998 medical journal article that sparked the link between vaccines and autism had not yet been retracted, Dr. David Mandell, an autism specialist at the University of Pennsylvania, confirmed that ample scientific evidence was already available to refute this alleged connection. Dr. Mandell noted that within four years of Andrew Wakefield’s 1998 study, it became clear he had fabricated his data, and robust epidemiological studies consistently showed no link between vaccines and autism.
Alison Singer, former executive vice president of Autism Speaks, recalled that many parents were still worried. Singer, who later founded the Autism Science Foundation in 2009, affirmed that the scientific debate surrounding vaccines and autism is definitively resolved: there is no connection. She remembers Trump bringing up the topic during a brunch at Mar-a-Lago with her and the Wrights. ‘Melania was carrying Barron, he was a baby, and even at that time, Donald Trump did talk about his interest and concerns around vaccines,’ Singer recounted. She believes his interest in finding the causes of autism is genuine.
Beyond personal sentiment, Trump may also have strategic political motives for addressing the autism issue. He is keenly aware that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., another prominent figure who has repeatedly linked vaccines to autism, played a role in his election success.
‘I think this is both personal and political’ for Mr. Trump, observed Craig Snyder, a Washington lobbyist who previously represented Autism Speaks in 2007 and now works with the Autism Science Foundation. Snyder elaborated, ‘On the personal side, he’s thought this was a priority issue for a very long time.’ He further suggested a political angle: ‘And on the political side, I think that he believes that MAHA supporters, Kennedy supporters are a really important part of his coalition. They are a significant reason he won the election. So this is under the rubric of fulfilling a campaign promise.’
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately one in 31 American 8-year-olds currently have an autism diagnosis, a significant increase from one in 150 in 2007.
‘When I was growing up, autism wasn’t really a factor,’ Mr. Trump told The South Florida Sun-Sentinel at the time. ‘And now all of a sudden, it’s an epidemic. Everybody has their theory, and my theory is the shots. They’re getting these massive injections at one time. I think it’s the vaccinations.’
Over the nearly two decades since the initial fund-raiser, Mr. Trump has consistently voiced concerns about autism and vaccines. He addressed the topic on social media in 2014 and again during a 2015 presidential debate, describing a ‘beautiful child’ who, after receiving a vaccine, developed a fever a week later and subsequently became autistic.
In 2017, just before his inauguration, Mr. Trump met at Mar-a-Lago with a group of autism advocates who share the belief that vaccines are responsible for autism.
Mr. Trump recounted a similar story on Monday, echoing past narratives about a former employee from the Trump Organization who claimed to have ‘lost’ her son after he was vaccinated and experienced a high fever. ‘I’ve lost him, sir, he’s gone,’ Mr. Trump quoted the woman as saying, adding, ‘And then I saw the boy. It was a whole — it was so tragic to see.’
Many parents of children with autism enthusiastically welcomed Mr. Trump’s engagement on the issue, having long campaigned for increased federal funding for research into autism’s causes and potential treatments. Two mothers of autistic children joined Mr. Trump on Monday, expressing their appreciation.
However, Alison Singer noted a stark contradiction in Monday’s announcement. ‘All of us who are in the advocacy world and who love people with autism had high hopes that the president and R.F.K. Jr. were serious when they said they wanted to find the causes of autism and that they wanted gold standard autism science,’ Ms. Singer stated.
‘But what we heard today was not gold standard science,’ she concluded. ‘It wasn’t even science. Instead, President Trump talked about what he thinks and feels without offering any scientific evidence.’