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Isolationism, Populism, and Infectious Disease: of Particular Concern for the Future of International Public Health

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Isolationism, Populism, and Infectious Disease: of Particular Concern for the Future of International Public Health Journal of Infection and Public Health 11 (2018) 444–445 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Infection and Public Health j ournal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jiph Letter to the Editor Isolationism, populism, and infectious disease: Of particular concern for the future of international public health Uncertainty over international emergency efforts to combat global infectious disease threats are the tweets response under the Trump regime made by Trump when two US aid workers, physician Kent Brantly and nurse Nancy Writebol, contracted Ebola in Liberia [20]. Out- I am a rock, lined below are three of his most infamous tweets on this issue: I am an island. “Ebola patient will be brought to the U.S. in a few days – now I I’ve built walls, know for sure that our leaders are incompetent. KEEP THEM OUT A fortress, steep and mighty, OF HERE!” That none may penetrate. [1] “Stop the EBOLA patients from entering the U.S. Treat them, at Recent electoral and referendum decisions in both the United the highest level, over there. THE UNITED STATES HAS ENOUGH States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK) have brought PROBLEMS!” into sharp focus a growing resistance to an international orienta- tion among an increasing number of states. A dramatic example “The U.S. cannot allow EBOLA infected people back. People that of this can be seen in the result of the so-called ‘Brexit’ refer- go to far away places to help out are great-but must suffer the endum decision in the United Kingdom (UK) that will ensure its consequences!” [21] departure from the European Union. Nationalism and racism were It was presumably in response to such comments that Samantha undoubtedly crucial elements fueling the outcome of this populist Power, former US ambassador to the UN, stated in a recent inter- vote [2]. A similar example of successful marketing of isolation- view “I would worry, in the face of an epidemic like Ebola, that ism and nationalism can be seen in the electoral triumph of Donald there would be a knee-jerk ‘let’s close our borders, let the people Trump to the presidency of the United States of America. Trump’s of West Africa tend to themselves” [22]. The Trump administration campaign was based on a particularly potent mixture of grassroots does not appear to understand that disease anywhere is a threat to xenophobia and nostalgia [3]. Trump’s campaign identified Mexi- health everywhere. can immigrants as criminals and rapists and focused on promising The insular xenophobic nationalism demonstrated by the new to build a wall (“Build The Wall”) to protect an America that he sug- US government provides an almost perfect antithesis to fundamen- gested would once again be a great country (“Make America Great tal philosophies in Public Health. This approach, combined with the Again”) [4–6]. Trump regime’s apparent lack of a moral compass [23], its disregard These incidents are far from being isolated events. In France for objective reality [24–26], and propensity toward erratic knee- the far right is gaining significant ground under the leadership of jerk responses [16–18,21], seriously endangers future international Marine Le Pen who espouses blatant Islamophobia [7]. Similar racist cooperative public health efforts. ideologies are being promulgated in the Netherlands and Denmark with growing populist electoral success [8,9]. Funding The impact of this growing racist insularity on international efforts to control potential infectious disease epidemics may be No funding sources. considerable. It should be acknowledged that the US was cru- cially involved in international efforts to control the recent Ebola Competing interests outbreak in West Africa [10–13]. However, Trump’s nationalist and isolationist agenda will undoubtedly undermine, if not erad- None declared. icate, US commitment to future participation in combatting such outbreaks (“America First”). It must be acknowledged that future international cooperation involving the US seems to be in jeop- Ethical approval ardy in a range of arenas. For example, the Trump administration has consistently attacked international organizations such as the Not required. United Nations (UN) [14,15]. Trump’s hastily implemented Muslim Ban, which denied access References to the US to citizens from seven Muslim countries (Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Iraq) demonstrates the new [1] Lines from the song I Am A. Rock Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle fromthe 1966 album Sounds of Silence. regimes defensive and blinkered thinking [16–18]. Interestingly, [2] Chakraborty A. After a campaign scarred by bigotry, it’s become OK to be racist although this executive order was quickly overturned, it has since in Britain. The Guardian 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/ been followed by a similar ban, this time targeted at six of the orig- jun/29/frenzy-hatred-brexit-racism-abuse-referendum-celebratory-lasting- damage. [Accessed 11 March 2017]. inal seven countries identified in the first ban (Iraq is no longer [3] The Observer. The Observer view on bullying, aggressive, nationalist Don- included in the list) [19]. ald Trump. The Observer 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jiph.2017.07.011 1876-0341/© 2017 The Author. Published by Elsevier Limited on behalf of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Letter to the Editor / Journal of Infection and Public Health 11 (2018) 444–445 445 2017/jan/22/observer-view-donald-trump-inauguration. [Accessed 11 March [18] Houghton F. Learning from the ‘Muslim ban’: implications of the Trump presi- 2017]. dency for international public health. N Z Med J 2017;130(1451). [4] Jacobs B. Trump says Mexico ‘rapist’ comments were planned in deposition [19] Kaleem J. Six states are challenging Trump’s travel ban in court. Los Angeles video. The Guardian 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/ Times 2017. http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential- 30/trump-comments-mexico-rapists-planned-deposition-video. [Accessed 11 washington-updates-washington-new-york-states-will-take-1489088278- March 2017]. htmlstory.html. [Accessed 11 March 2017]. [5] Glenza J. US is paying for border wall because Mexico will pay ‘later’, Trump [20] Achenbach J, Dennis B, Hogan C. American doctor infected with Ebola says. The Guardian 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/ returns to U.S. The Washington Post 2014. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ 06/donald-trump-mexico-border-wall-congress-america-pay. [Accessed 11 national/health-science/us-confirms-2-americans-with-ebola-coming-home- March 2017]. for-treatment/2014/08/01/c20a27cc-1995-11e4-9e3b-7f2f110c6265 story. [6] McCarthy T. Can Trump really make America great again? The Guardian 2017. html?utm term=.abc1fcc618a7. [Accessed 11 March 2017]. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/17/donald-trump-america- [21] Bernstein L. Trump wanted to keep Americans critically ill with Ebola out great-again-northampton-county-pennsylvania. [Accessed 11 March 2017]. of the U.S. The Washington Post 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ [7] Slawson N. Marine Le Pen leads gathering of EU far-right leaders in Koblenz. The news/to-your-health/wp/2016/08/24/trump-wanted-to-deny-u-s-care-to- Guardian 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/17/donald- americans-critically-ill-with-ebola/?utm term=.9f879694b4f0. [Accessed 11 trump-america-great-again-northampton-county-pennsylvania. [Accessed 11 March 2017]. March 2017]. [22] RTE. Samantha power on challenges presented by ethnic conflicts to [8] Graham-Harrison E. Progressive Muslims take on rightwards shift in Dutch pol- the UN. RTE; 2017. https://www.google.com/amp/www.rte.ie/amp/848520/ itics. The Observer 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/29/ ?client=safari. [Accessed 11 March 2017]. dutch-muslims-mark-rutte-geert-wilders-netherlands. [Accessed 11 March [23] Johnson J. Trump says ‘torture works,’ backs waterboarding and ‘much worse’. 2017]. The Washington Post 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ [9] Zucchino D. ‘I’ve become a racist’: migrant wave unleashes Danish tensions over trump-says-torture-works-backs-waterboarding-and-much-worse/2016/ identity. New York Times 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/06/world/ 02/17/4c9277be-d59c-11e5-b195-2e29a4e13425 story.html?tid=a inl&utm europe/denmark-migrants-refugees-racism.html? r=0. [Accessed 11 March term=.2f848e066e24. [Accessed 11 March 2017]. 2017]. [24] Hunt E. Trump’s inauguration crowd: Sean Spicer’s claims versus the evi- [10] Frieden TR, Damen IK. Ebola in West Africa—CDC’s role in epidemic detection, dence. The Guardian 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/ control, and prevention. Emerg Infect Dis 2015;22(11). jan/22/trump-inauguration-crowd-sean-spicers-claims-versus-the-evidence. [11] U.S. Department of Defense. DOD helps fight ebola in Liberia and West Africa. [Accessed 11 March 2017]. U.S. Department of Defense; 2017. http://archive.defense.gov/home/features/ [25] Topping A. ‘Sweden, who would believe this?’: Trump cites non-existent ter- 2014/1014 ebola/. [Accessed 11 March 2017]. ror attack. The Guardian 2017 [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/ [12] The White House Office of the Press Secretary. Fact sheet: U.S. response to feb/19/sweden-trump-cites-non-existent-terror-attack. [Accessed 11 March the ebola epidemic in West Africa. The White House Office of the Press Secre- 2017]. tary; 2017. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/09/ [26] Schmidt S, Bever L. Kellyanne Conway cites ‘Bowling Green massacre’ that 16/fact-sheet-us-response-ebola-epidemic-west-africa. [Accessed 11 March never happened to defend travel ban.
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