It’s not often that President Trump’s Twitter account does more good than harm. He’s a hammer in constant search of a nail, and now that he’s the leader of the free world, his tweets often make him look petty, punching down at private citizens from the bully pulpit of the White House.
But there’s one group of people he ought to name and shame into submission every day until a public health crisis sweeping the nation comes to a grinding halt: anti-vaccine advocates.
Once upon a time, Trump was a creature of Hollywood, the home of the anti-vaccine movement. While disgraced pseudoscientist Andrew Wakefield technically planted the seeds of the movement, it didn’t grow until naked model-turned-bad actress Jenny McCarthy received glowing media coverage for promulgating the disproven theory that vaccines cause autism. In the last decade, various celebrities from Charlie Sheen to Kristin Cavallari have normalized the hoax. Thanks in large part to their efforts, 2019 has become the worst year for measles in America in nearly two decades.
Trump was one of these celebrities. In 2012, just a few years into “The Celebrity Apprentice,” Trump tweeted, “Massive combined inoculations to small children is the cause for big increase in autism.” Over the years, he occasionally entertained the fatal theory on Twitter, and during his presidential campaign, he even met with Wakefield.
But no matter how wrong and dangerous his opinions were in the past, Trump changed his tune, declaring that Americans “have to get the shots,” deeming them “important” given the measles outbreaks “going around now.”
Given Trump’s vociferous attacks on his enemies, his silence on matters is as deafening as his declarations. Most political adversaries ought to be reasoned and negotiated with. But vaccine opponents aren’t most political adversaries. They’re conspiracy theorists as averse to scientific evidence and facts as 9/11 truthers. Ample studies demonstrate that throwing more science at vaccine opponents only makes them double down. So instead, existing vaccine opponents can be deterred by disgusting, graphic depictions of the effects of measles and smallpox, and stigmatizing the conspiracy prevents more people from embracing it.
So Trump ought to embrace his inner bulldozer and tweet images of measles patients, statistics of outbreaks, and demands that American vaccinate their children every single day.
If called a hypocrite, he can simply explain that he was a product of a Hollywood culture that normalized the conspiracy, and if people still criticize him, they will look like the villains, not him.
It’s a political win for Trump, but that really shouldn’t matter. The president can save lives by using his Twitter as a public health campaign to reach his 60 million followers and save countless lives. And everyone ought to root for him.
