“Soft Eugenics” and Trump’s War on Public Health
Under the Trump administration, public health policy has taken a sharp turn toward soft eugenics—a survival-of-the-fittest ideology an ideology that quietly promotes survival of the fittest by dismantling systems meant to protect the vulnerable. Masked as personal responsibility, this approach weaponizes neglect, stripping away healthcare access and vital services while cloaking it in the language of personal responsibility and wellness.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine activist and now Secretary of Health, drives this agenda through his “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement. By blaming illness on lifestyle choices, Kennedy ignores structural factors like poverty and environmental exposure. In his view, being unwell is a personal failure—unworthy of public support.
Kennedy has gutted the Department of Health and Human Services, slashing programs and firing staff. Notably, he shut down the “Safe to Sleep” office, which worked to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) a move that chillingly reflects a belief that only the strong should survive.
Even more disturbing is Kennedy’s push for a national autism registry, setting the stage for categorizing and surveilling neurodivergent people as genetically unfit echoing historic eugenics tactics.
Alongside Elon Musk’s tech-driven pronatalism, which glorifies high-IQ reproduction while slashing access to healthcare, the Trump’s policies consistently devalue lives deemed “less fit.” The message is clear: only the strong deserve to survive – meaning white and wealthy.