Fighting childhood obesity is “not a priority” for the Trump White House, which finds it “inexplicable” that the prior Secretary of Health and Human Services ever gave the issue heightened attention.
That’s the disturbing upshot of a leaked White House memo first published on October 19th by Crooked Media. Here’s a screen shot of the relevant portion:
So I guess we can conclude that “making America great again” doesn’t extend to the millions of overweight and obese American kids who potentially face shorter lifespans due to chronic disease. Trump’s vision of “greatness” apparently also excludes the one-in-ten American kids with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, a diet-driven condition that causes such “crippling” abdominal pain, one patient described it as like “being stabbed in your stomach with a knife.” And for all of Trump’s talk about boosting our economy, he apparently cares little about the staggering costs of obesity, which drain our coffers of $150 billion every year.
Two days after the election of President Trump, I voiced my fears about the fate of hungry children who rely on federal programs for daily nutrition; it didn’t occur to me then that Trump might also try to undercut current anti-childhood obesity efforts.
But that’s only because we hadn’t yet seen this administration’s singular – almost maniacal – focus on destroying President Obama’s legacy. Given how closely the fight against childhood obesity is associated with Michelle Obama and her husband’s administration, I guess none of us should be terribly surprised that this critical effort, too, is on the chopping block.
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