Trump Proposes Ending HIV Despite His Administration's Track Record

Donald Trump proposes ending HIV by 2030

In his State of the Union address tonight, Donald Trump says he plans to end the HIV epidemic within 10 years.

“In recent years, we have made remarkable progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS,” said Trump. “Scientific breakthroughs have brought a once-distant dream within reach. My budget will ask Democrats and Republicans to make the needed commitment to eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years. Together, we will defeat AIDS in America — and beyond.”

“Together we will defeat AIDS in America and beyond.”

President Trump says he has a plan to eliminate the HIV epidemic within 10 years. #SOTU pic.twitter.com/fVq4wo10VA

— Cheddar (@cheddar) February 6, 2019

While a laudable goal, Trump's past actions on HIV point to a far different position.

In December 2017, he fired his entire Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS with no warning after several member quit penning a TIME Magazine essay, "Trump Doesn't Care About HIV."

He defunded NIH vaccine research efforts and requested additional cuts in funding to fight HIV/AIDS that Congress has rebuffed.

He’s proposed diverting funds from the Ryan White HIV Program to pay for border security.

And then there's the litany of attacks on the LGBTQ community as a whole.

Sorry, I call bullshit. As the old commercial goes, "Where's the beef?"

“HIV advocates all agree that ending transmission is an important goal,” Stacey Long Simmons, director of advocacy and action at the National LGBTQ Task Force told the Washington Blade.

“Based on Trump’s repeatedly broken promises, we have cause to question his commitment until we see the necessary funding flowing to strategies that will actually end transmission.”

I'd love to be proven wrong in the long run.

We shall see.