When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the cancellation of nearly $500 million in federal mRNA vaccine research, the backlash from public health experts was immediate and fierce. Michael Osterholm, one of America’s most respected epidemiologists, called it “the most dangerous decision in public health” he has witnessed in more than 50 years.
Moving from science-based science to ideology-based policy isn’t theoretical — it’s happening. Listen to epidemiologist Michael Osterholm about RFK Jr.'s decision to halt federal research into mRNA vaccines in the Pod Save America podcast episode, ‘Trump Goes Bananas’ (jump to 58:30 minutes in) podcast episode where this shift is laid bare and the implications for public health become chillingly real. It what Dr. Osterholm's comments in this podcast that spawned this blog today.
Michael Osterholm is a Regents Professor and Director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), with over 50 years in epidemiology. He served on Biden’s COVID-19 Advisory Board, was a U.S. State Department Science Envoy, and co-authored Deadliest Enemy, a leading work on pandemic preparedness.
The guy knows his stuff! Unlike Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., or Donald Trump, for that matter.
To be clear... THIS IS VERY SERIOUS STUFF and NOT being treated as such by the Trump administration or apparently EVER by RFK, Jr. You know, the guy with the brain worm (the parasite is inert but still physically present as a calcified remnant in the brain)?
At first glance, this may seem like another skirmish in America’s endless culture wars over vaccines. But the consequences of this decision — especially if viewed through the lens of Trump-aligned Christian nationalism and its growing influence over U.S. governance — are far more serious than most people realize.
What’s being called Christian nationalism today is a very different animal, certainly than what RFK Jr. was raised with as a Catholic:
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It fuses political power with a narrow religious identity, often Protestant evangelical in tone, though some Catholics have aligned with it.
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It tends to prioritize political dominance, culture-war issues, and exclusionary definitions of “real Americans” over pluralism.
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It often reinterprets religion as a national identity marker rather than a purely spiritual tradition.
So while both call themselves “Christian,” the Christian nationalism we see in Trump-era politics is less about parish picnics, saints’ feast days, or community service — and more about wielding religious branding as a political weapon.
Didn’t realize this was what’s happening?
We’re watching America’s pandemic defenses dismantled — not because of science, but because of ideology. And in this new playbook, political loyalty outranks public safety.
Science is being sidelined for ideology — and that’s a deadly gamble.
A malignant narcissist like Trump fits into today’s Christian nationalist landscape almost like a custom-made piece — not because he shares its faith convictions, but because his personality traits and needs align perfectly with the movement’s structure and vulnerabilities.
How Trump’s Narcissism Intersects with Modern Christian Nationalism
1. Mutual Utility: “Imperfect Vessel” Theology
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Many Christian nationalist leaders frame Trump as chosen by God despite his flaws, much like biblical figures who were sinners but used for divine purpose (e.g., King Cyrus in Isaiah).
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This theology lets them ignore or excuse behaviors that contradict Christian ethics, because what matters is his political role, not his personal morality.
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For Trump, this is ideal: it grants him moral immunity in exchange for delivering political and cultural wins.
2. Demand for Loyalty, Not Truth
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Malignant narcissists thrive in systems where loyalty is the ultimate currency.
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Christian nationalism often places in-group loyalty above independent moral reasoning — dissent is seen as betrayal, not constructive critique.
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This dovetails with Trump’s “you’re with me or against me” worldview.
3. Weaponizing Persecution Narratives
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Christian nationalism already frames Christians as under siege in a secular, liberal America.
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A narcissist under legal or political attack can plug directly into that narrative, portraying himself as a victim of the same dark forces attacking “God’s people.”
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This merges his personal defense with the defense of the faith, rallying followers to protect both.
4. Grandiose Vision and Destiny Language
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Narcissists need to see themselves as world-historic figures.
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Christian nationalist rhetoric about America’s “divine destiny” gives Trump a ready-made stage to cast himself as the indispensable leader chosen to restore the nation’s sacred purpose.
5. Control Through Fear
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Both malignant narcissism and authoritarian religious movements use fear to maintain control: fear of outsiders, moral decline, divine judgment, or loss of cultural dominance.
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In Trump’s case, fear of chaos, immigrants, or “godless elites” becomes both political fuel and personal vindication.
Why This Works So Well in His Situation
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He doesn’t have to believe in the theology — he just has to affirm the identity of those who do and deliver their goals (judicial appointments, policy rollbacks, symbolic victories).
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The movement, in turn, provides unconditional public loyalty, protecting him from scandals, insulating him from accountability, and mobilizing millions of votes.
Why mRNA research matters
COVID-19’s global fatality rate hovered around 1%, which sounds low until you multiply it by hundreds of millions of infections. We got lucky in one crucial respect: the virus was deadly, but not in the 30%–60% fatality range of other pathogens that already exist in nature.
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SARS (2003): ~10% fatality rate
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MERS: ~34% fatality rate
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H5N1 avian influenza: 50–60% fatality rate in confirmed human cases
So far, these killers have been limited by poor human-to-human transmission. But nature is relentless. Spillover events — when a virus jumps from animals to humans — are happening constantly. Climate change, deforestation, and global trade are rolling the dice faster and more often.
When the day comes that a high-fatality virus spreads as easily as COVID-19, speed will be everything. mRNA vaccine platforms allow scientists to design a vaccine in days and produce it in weeks once the genetic code of a virus is known. Without that capability, we lose months — possibly years — while the death toll soars.
Who will suffer most?
The cruel reality is that in a global health emergency, vaccines don’t go where they’re needed most — they go where they can be paid for and politically secured first.
Without mRNA readiness, here’s who is most at risk:
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Low-income nations in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America.
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Populations in conflict zones like Yemen, Sudan, and Gaza.
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Marginalized minorities — Rohingya, Uyghurs, and other groups facing systemic discrimination.
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Indigenous and remote communities with minimal healthcare infrastructure.
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Even the rural poor in wealthy nations can face slower access.
This means millions — possibly tens of millions — of deaths concentrated among those who already have the least political and economic power.
Will Christians fare better?
Trump’s Christian nationalist movement openly seeks to privilege conservative Christian interests in government policy. But when it comes to pandemic preparedness, ideology doesn’t stop viruses.
Christians are the world’s largest religious group, and they’re spread across every continent and every income bracket. The reality is:
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Wealthy Christians in developed nations would likely get vaccines quickly.
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Poor Christians in Africa, Asia, and Latin America would die in large numbers, just like their non-Christian neighbors, because biology doesn’t check your faith before infecting you.
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In some regions, minority Christian communities could actually face discrimination in vaccine distribution if they are politically disfavored.
The irony is that Christian nationalist rhetoric often downplays science, promotes vaccine skepticism, and undermines public health infrastructure — choices that could end up killing more Christians, not fewer.
From science-based policy to ideology-based policy
As Osterholm and others have warned, America is moving away from science-based science — evidence-driven, data-grounded policy — toward an ideology-based framework where political identity, religious affiliation, and cultural narratives outweigh facts.
In public health, that shift is deadly. It means funding decisions are made not on the basis of readiness for real threats, but on whether the research fits the governing ideology. It means the next pandemic will be met with less preparedness, more chaos, and more needless loss of life.
The bottom line
We got a glimpse of what unpreparedness looks like in 2020, and that was with functioning mRNA platforms ready to deploy. The next time might not be so “lucky.”
Cutting mRNA research isn’t just a bad policy decision — it’s a dangerous experiment in what happens when a government stops treating science as the foundation for survival and starts treating it as an ideological battleground.
Pandemics don’t care about political slogans or religious identity. They only care about biology. And biology, unlike politics, doesn’t forgive mistakes.
If we strip away the slogans and photo ops, what remains is a dangerous truth: America is trading its science-based safety net for a political ideology that confuses loyalty with leadership and faith with power.
If we strip away the slogans and photo ops, what remains is a dangerous truth: America is trading its science-based safety net for a political ideology that confuses loyalty with leadership and faith with power.
Under Donald Trump as president, this shift is not just hypothetical, it is being enacted in real time, with trusted science replaced by ideology-driven decisions that weaken our pandemic defenses. High-fatality viruses do not care about party lines, religious identity, or whether a leader claims to be “chosen.” They spread, they kill, and they exploit delay.
Without mRNA readiness, delay is guaranteed. Some critics warn that if such policies are enacted and a pandemic strikes, the resulting loss of life could align, intentionally or otherwise, with the goals of those who speak of population control or demographic “realignment,” even if those goals remain publicly unproven. Within this climate, accelerationism the belief that creating or worsening crises will hasten a desired political or religious transformation, looms as a real danger.
Whether born of belief, confusion, or opportunism, allowing such thinking to shape policy all but ensures that the next crisis will be exploited rather than prevented. History will not care that it was done in the name of “protecting” Christianity. It will only remember that when the moment came, ideology won, Trump presided over it, and lives were lost.
I truly wish us all the very best...
Compiled with aid of ChatGPT
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