Published on: Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:30:00 GMT
Original Story: How Donald Trump Created the Worst Diarrhea Outbreak This Century – The American Prospect

Trump’s Gut Feeling: America’s Runs.

Alright, settle in, folks. Because if you thought the constant existential dread was the worst thing to come out of the last few years, well, you clearly haven’t been paying enough attention to your toilet bowl. The illustrious minds over at The American Prospect recently dropped a bombshell, and no, I’m not talking about another poorly worded tweet. We’re talking about actual, bona fide biological bombshells: a particularly nasty strain of the runs, and guess who’s allegedly got his fingerprints all over it? None other than the 45th President of these United States.

Yeah, I know, I know. It sounds like something out of a particularly unhinged episode of South Park. But when you dig into the delightful details of how deregulation, dismissiveness toward expertise, and a general governmental disregard for, you know, basic human health played out, it actually starts to make a horrifying, albeit incredibly gross, kind of sense. This isn’t just about a bad batch of potato salad; it’s about the systemic dismantling of the very safeguards designed to keep our collective digestive systems (and everything else) humming along.

The Unstoppable Force Meets the Immovable Bowel

Let’s be brutally honest: when we talk about a “diarrhea outbreak,” most folks immediately picture a tainted buffet at a cruise ship or that one friend who insists on eating questionable street meat during international travel. What we don’t typically envision is a direct line from the Oval Office to your porcelain throne. But that’s precisely the uncomfortable narrative being laid out. The core theme here is chillingly simple: when you systematically hollow out the agencies responsible for public health, food safety, and environmental protection, the consequences aren’t just theoretical. They manifest. Sometimes, they manifest as a truly unpleasant, widespread gastrointestinal revolt.

The Trump administration’s tenure was, if nothing else, a masterclass in bureaucratic attrition. From the moment he rode down that escalator, the rallying cry was “drain the swamp,” which, in practice, often meant “fire the experts, ignore the science, and slash the budgets of anything that might inconvenience corporate profits.” This wasn’t just a philosophical stance; it was an operational directive that had tangible, often disgusting, outcomes. Think about it: fewer inspectors, less stringent enforcement, and a general air of “who needs regulations?” pervading the very departments tasked with preventing precisely this kind of public health catastrophe. It’s like firing all the lifeguards at a pool and then being shocked when someone drowns. Or, in this more visceral case, when everyone gets a nasty stomach bug.

From White House to Waterborne Illness

So, how does a president, even one with a penchant for fast food, directly cause a diarrhea outbreak? It’s not like he personally contaminated a batch of romaine lettuce (that we know of). The causal chain is far more insidious and, frankly, far more terrifying. We’re talking about the systematic weakening of institutions that, frankly, most of us take for granted. Agencies like the FDA, the CDC, and the EPA – the unsung heroes who stop you from getting cholera from your tap water or E. coli from your dinner plate – found themselves under siege. Budgets were proposed to be slashed, experienced personnel were driven out or replaced by political appointees with little to no relevant expertise, and regulatory frameworks were gleefully dismantled.

Take, for instance, the FDA’s food safety programs. When inspectors are fewer, and morale is lower, the chances of catching contaminated products before they hit shelves inevitably increase. Or consider environmental protections, which impact water quality and, by extension, agricultural practices. Roll back clean water regulations? Guess what? More pathogens in the environment. It’s not rocket science; it’s basic cause and effect, just with a much nastier byproduct. The very infrastructure designed to prevent widespread illness was starved and demoralized, leaving gaping holes for contaminants to exploit. It’s the ultimate ‘find out’ part of ‘f*** around and find out,’ just with a whole lot of uncomfortable squirming involved.

A Flimsy Foundation: When Public Health Crumbled

This wasn’t an accident. This was a feature, not a bug, of the “dismantling the bureaucracy” agenda. The idea was simple: if regulations are burdensome, get rid of them. If agencies are too powerful, gut them. The unforeseen (or perhaps, entirely foreseen by anyone with an ounce of foresight) consequence was that many of those “burdensome” regulations were literally the thin blue line between public health and widespread affliction. The Trump administration’s approach to governance often felt like trying to fix a leaky roof by removing all the shingles. Sure, it’s less ‘regulated,’ but now you’re just wet, and in this case, potentially violently ill.

The underlying philosophy, a precursor to what we now see fully fleshed out in things like Project 2025, was to treat federal agencies not as essential public servants but as obstacles to be overcome. The result was a vacuum of oversight, a diminished capacity for rapid response, and a palpable erosion of public trust in the very institutions meant to protect them. When you constantly tell people the government is the enemy, don’t be surprised when the government’s ability to, say, prevent a massive diarrhea outbreak, is compromised.

The Trump Flip-Flop: From Reformer to Regulatory Ruiner

Now, for a moment of delightful irony, let’s cast our minds back to a time before “Make America Great Again” became synonymous with “make America’s public health system sweat profusely.” Believe it or not, there was a version of Donald J. Trump who actually sounded… well, almost sensible, at least on paper, when it came to collective well-being. In the year 2000, during his brief and often-forgotten foray into the Reform Party presidential nomination, Trump presented a platform that, by today’s standards, would likely get him labeled a socialist by his own base.

Among his more striking proposals in 2000? A call for universal healthcare, paid for by the government. He also expressed support for maintaining a robust social safety net and, implicitly, the regulatory structures that often underpin such systems. This was a man, mind you, who then went on to spend his presidency systematically attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act and aggressively deregulate environmental and food safety standards. The 2000 Trump, who spoke of ensuring “every American has access to the best healthcare,” directly contradicts the 2017-2020 Trump, whose administration’s actions led to a measurable decline in public health protections. It’s almost as if his principles were less about consistent ideology and more about whatever position offered the most immediate, self-serving political advantage. From advocating for collective health to inadvertently triggering collective gastrointestinal distress – quite the journey, eh?

The Ripple Effect of Regulatory Laxity

It’s easy to snicker at the idea of “presidential diarrhea,” but the implications are anything but funny. A widespread outbreak of any illness, let alone one that causes debilitating stomach issues, has far-reaching consequences. There’s the immediate human cost: sickness, lost wages, medical bills, and the general misery of being glued to a toilet. Then there’s the economic fallout: reduced productivity, strain on healthcare systems, and potential damage to industries like food service and tourism. And let’s not forget the international perception – what does it say about a developed nation when its basic public health infrastructure seems to be literally shitting the bed?

This isn’t just about a few bad tacos; it’s about the foundational trust between citizens and their government. When the mechanisms designed to protect you are deliberately weakened, that trust erodes faster than a cheap paper towel in a puddle. The message sent is clear: individual liberty to cut corners trumps collective well-being. And sometimes, the collective well-being hits back, often quite explosively, from the inside out.

It’s Not Just Poop, It’s Policy

So, the next time someone tries to tell you that government doesn’t matter, or that regulations are always just “red tape,” perhaps gently remind them of the humble stool sample. Because sometimes, the most visceral proof of policy failure doesn’t come in a neatly packaged economic report; it comes in the form of a widespread public health crisis, leaving a trail of discomfort and, quite literally, a mess in its wake. “Make America Healthy Again” somehow morphed into “Make America’s Gut Ache,” and that, my friends, is a legacy that’s hard to stomach.

Snarky Takeaway