The latest proof that President Donald Trump sees himself as more of a king than a president? Trump leaped to the aid of a celebrity supporter who couldn’t get a cancer treatment scheduled, but he has to be forced to fund the program that helps more than 40 million people eat — and is willing to do that only partially. A king, of course, dispenses favors to whomever he chooses. A president is supposed to faithfully execute the laws of the United States, but a federal judge said last week that the Trump administration’s plan to not fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program was “unlawful.”
On a weekend when so many people were wondering when they’d next be able to eat, Trump world reacted like it was an emergency when “Dilbert” cartoonist Scott Adams posted about his inability to get Kaiser Permanente of Northern California to immediately schedule him for a cancer treatment. “Going to make sure that my dad sees this,” Donald Trump Jr. responded on X to Adams’ request for the president’s help. Next came a reply from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “Scott. How do I reach you? The President wants to help.” Then the president himself wrote on social media, “On it!”
Trump world reacted like it was an emergency when “Dilbert” cartoonist Scott Adams posted about his inability to get Kaiser Permanente of Northern California to immediately schedule him for a cancer treatment.
Adams, who says he has prostate cancer that has metastasized to his bones, posted Monday that he was scheduled to have his treatment today. “For context,” he wrote, “I waited months for the drug, like everyone else. But I think my files got misplaced or something and that glitch just got corrected. Not sure.”
Kaiser said in a statement, “Mr. Adams’ oncology team is working closely with him on the next steps in his cancer care, which are already underway.”
There’s a long list of reasons to dislike Adams — including past racist and misogynistic comments — but his using every tool at his disposal to try to extend his life is not among them. The problem lies with Trump’s priorities. Although he moved to help Adams, Trump’s other actions suggest he sees money for cancer research as wasteful. As The New York Times reported last month, not only has the Trump administration “canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in cancer-related research grants and contracts,” the president’s proposed budget for next year “calls for a more-than-37-percent cut to the National Cancer Institute — the N.I.H. agency that leads most of the nation’s cancer research — reducing it to $4.5 billion from $7.2 billion.”
A president doesn’t show a commitment to fighting cancer by singling out one fan who has a scheduling difficulty. (“On it!”) A president shows a commitment to fighting cancer by funding the medical research that will help the country as a whole.
If the fight against cancer is to be won, it will require a systematic approach. It won’t be won by doling out favors.