特朗普2016年的竞选活动让很多人印象深刻，部分原因是他公开藐视科学，包括对疫苗持怀疑态度，称气候变化为中国炮制的“骗局”。
Trump's 2016 campaign trail impressed many partly due to his public disdain for science, including his skepticism of vaccine and his claims that climate change is a "hoax" made up by China. 很多人认为他在当上总统后不会走相同的道路，不会为了个人的政治利益而无视专家的意见和科学经验。然而，当下的新冠肺炎危机证明他们想错了。Many could not imagine that his approach to the presidency would follow the same path, that he would ignore expert knowledge and scientific experience for his own political gain. But the current COVID-19 crisis has proved them wrong. 近期，特朗普政府决定解雇全国顶级病毒专家里克•布莱特（Rick Bright）。在这场公共卫生危机最为严重的时刻，这样的决定再次让整个科学界感到震惊。布莱特原本在带领国家机构开发疫苗，却在上个月遭解职，原因是他拒绝推广特朗普所宣传的药物治疗方法。特朗普认为该药物可能会彻底扭转当下的抗疫形势。The Trump administration's recent decision to remove Rick Bright, the country's top virus expert amid the height of the public health crisis, has again shocked the science world. Bright led the government agency to develop a vaccine but was removed from his post last month because he refused to push the drug treatment promoted by Trump as the possible "game changers" in the battle against the COVID-19. 4月5日，特朗普告诉记者说“这是种非常强大，非常有效的药，还不会致人死亡。我们还做了一些非常好的测试。用这种药还能给我们带来什么损失不成？”"It's a very strong, powerful medicine. But it doesn't kill people," Trump told reporters on 5 April. "We have some very good results and some very good tests. What really do we have to lose?"As research unfolds, the answer might be their lives. 美国退伍军人健康管理局的研究显示，羟氯喹和相关的氯喹在新冠肺炎患者的治疗方面几乎没有效果。不仅如此，该药物甚至还会增加某些病人的死亡风险。According to a research done by the Veteran Health Administration in the U.S., hydroxychloroquine and the related chloroquine have shown little effectiveness in treating COVID-19 patients. It could even increase the risk of death in certain patients. 布莱特在对国会的证词中说：“我当时就发表了意见，今天我作出证词，因为抗击这种致命病毒的道路必须由科学引领，而不是政治或任人唯亲。”
"I spoke out then, and I am testifying today, because science - not politics or cronyism - must lead the way to combat this deadly virus," Bright said in his testimony to the Congress. 这已经不是特朗普第一次公然无视科学。此前，即便世界上最权威的卫生组织已经宣布新冠肺炎构成“国际关注的公共卫生紧急事件”，他仍淡化病毒影响，错过了抗疫的关键窗口期。It was not the first time that Trump has shown his clear disregard for science. Trump has spent the critical window of opportunity downplaying the virus, despite the public health emergency of international concern announced by the world's most authoritative health organization. 2月，美国疾控中心国家免疫和呼吸系统疾病中心主任南希•梅森尼尔 (Nancy Messonnier) 发出公开警告，表示几乎可以确定病毒会在美国流行。疾控中心还敦促各医院和社区为疫情蔓延做更充分的准备。In February, Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, issued a public warning to the country that the virus was almost certainly going to spread among American people. The CDC also urged hospitals and communities to be more prepared for the spread. 梅森尼尔在一次媒体吹风会上表示，“这已经不再是疫情会不会发生的问题，而更多的是什么时候会发生，有多少美国人会罹患重症的问题。”"It's not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness," she said in a media briefing. Dr. Richard Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, prepares to testify before a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing to discuss protecting scientific integrity in response to the coronavirus outbreak on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 14, 2020. /Reuters但特朗普的第一反应并不是思考疫情是否会在美国暴发，而是因为股市的大跌而迁怒于梅森尼尔的发言。他给卫生及公众服务部部长亚历克斯•阿扎（Alex Azar）打电话，威胁要解雇梅森尼尔，理由是她引起了美国民众“不必要的”恐慌。自那以后，梅森尼尔在白宫新闻发布会上的现身次数便减少了。
But Trump's first reaction was not to consider whether an epidemic will happen in the U.S., but to get angry over her comments as the stock market crashed. He called Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and threatened to fire her, for she has scared American public "unnecessarily." Since then, Messonnier has made fewer appearances at White House's press briefings. 奥巴马政府埃博拉疫情应对协调员罗恩•克莱因（Ron Klain）说，“总统和白宫向政府中的科学家传达了一个明确信息，那就是敢于站出来说实话的人要付出代价。”"The president and the White House sent a clear message to scientists in the government that there would be a price for speaking out and speaking up," said Ron Klain, Ebola response coordinator at Obama administration.“敢于站出来”的人不止梅森尼尔。美国首席传染病专家安东尼•福奇（Anthony Fauci）也多次反驳总统言论。有时甚至特朗普刚发表完淡化疫情的言论后没多久，福奇便表达反对意见。It was not only Messonnier who is "speaking up." Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, has also repeatedly contradicted Trump's claims, sometimes even a few moments before when Trump tried to play down the situation. 福奇曾在接受美国有线电视新闻网采访时承认，如果美国能更早采取预防措施，就会挽救更多生命。特朗普当时对此大为不满，转发了一条呼吁解雇福奇的推文。The grudge broke out when Trump retweeted a post that urged Fauci to get fired, after he conceded in a CNN interview that if prevention measures have been taken earlier, more lives could have been saved. “我喜欢这种东西，我真的懂。人们都觉得很惊讶，我居然懂这个，”特朗普说。“也许我有天赋。也许我应该做这个工作而不是竞选总统。”"I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it," Trump said. "Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for President."在视察疾控中心时，特朗普曾大言不惭地吹嘘自己的科学知识，让很多人惊讶不已。但那之后的第二个月，他便做出了更令人瞠目结舌的举动，建议注射消毒剂杀死病毒。这为他招致了大量专家批评，也让他在国际上成为笑柄。Trump's striking boast over his scientific knowledge during a visit to CDC has surprised many, perhaps more when in the next month he suggested injecting disinfectant to kill the virus. The statement has invited mounting criticism from experts and global ridicule. 政治和科学本不该对立。面对危机时，科学家寻找证据并列出一切可能性，供官员们做出最终决策。但政界人士不能一边无视专家建议，一边拒绝为后果承担责任。Politics and science are not supposed to be enemies. Faced with a crisis, scientists look for evidence and provide all kinds of possibilities to bureaucrats for them to make a final decision. But politicians cannot ignore expert advice while in the meantime refuse to take responsibility for the consequences. 美国智库尼斯卡南研究中心（Niskanen Center）主席杰瑞•泰勒（Jerry Taylor）指出，科学和硬数据无法在特朗普政府中占有一席之地。他说，“科学家告诉他们的都是不容易解决的问题。不论说到的是环保局，还是广义上的气候变化问题，又或是新冠肺炎病毒，他的政府总想着有什么奇迹出现。”Jerry Taylor, president of the Niskanen Center, has pointed out why science and hard data cannot have a place in the Trump administration: "Scientists tell them inconvenient things," said him. "Whether we're talking about the E.P.A. or we're talking about climate change broadly speaking, or we're talking about the coronavirus, his administration is constantly engaged in magical thinking."特朗普不相信事物的复杂性。或者说，复杂的全球大流行疫情并不是他能够兜售给选民的谈资。在大选迫近之时，他唯一能够兜售的是信心和笃定。Trump does not believe in complexity. Or rather, he cannot sell a complicated story of a pandemic to his voters. He can only sell confidence and assertion when the election is coming. 但这可能会带来可怕的后果。特朗普执意炒掉所有与自己意见相左的人，白宫正沦为他个人的政治机器，美国的信誉将毁于一旦。为什么美国的抗疫表现如此糟糕？答案或许就在于长久以来为政治而牺牲科学的传统。But the implications could be scary. As Trump keeps firing anyone who disagrees with him, the White House is sinking into Trump's own political machine that crushes America's own credibility. And the answer why America has performed so poorly in the COVID-19 battle may just lie in its long tradition of undermining scientific expertise for political reasons.