Musician Elton John said that President Donald Trump would “go down as one of the greatest presidents in history” if he were able to eradicate Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
“That would really be a feather in his cap,” John shared in a late November interview with Variety.
The 78-year-old singer founded Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992 to provide support and healthcare to millions of people worldwide diagnosed with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which left untreated will develop into AIDS. John’s foundation has raised more than $650 million to combat the disease. The foundation has also garnered bipartisan Congressional support from prominent figures such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE). And in 2019, during Trump’s first administration, Trump made a pledge to eradicate the HIV epidemic in the United States by 2030.
However, John shared in the Variety interview that he felt many world leaders have dropped the ball in combatting the AIDS crisis. John’s interview comes as Trump has effectively dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
In a report released late last month by UNAID, a United Nations agency dedicated to combatting the AIDS crisis, it was revealed that the cuts to USAID are “having profound, lasting effects”
President Trump had originally cut funding from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR); however Senate Republicans agreed to preserve its funding in the Rescissions package.
John shared with Variety that whileTrump and other world leaders may be fixated on the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Gaza, combatting HIV and AIDS is another serious issue that needs to be addressed.
“But there’s another war with people who are living with HIV and AIDS that should be able to get their medicine but can’t, because governments won’t let them,” John said. “It’s inhumane.”
“There are crimes against millions of other people that are happening because of governments and stigma and hate,” John continued. “It’s so frustrating when you have the medicine, you have prep, you have the antiretrovirals. We can stop the spread of AIDS, if people just got off their backsides and treated human beings in a Christian kind of way.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration decided against acknowledging World AIDS Day on Monday, marking the first time since 1988 that the United States did not acknowledge the day.
Tommy Pigott, a spokesperson for the State Department, shared in a statement affirming the decision to not participate in World AIDS Day comes as the Trump administration is “modernizing our approach to countering infectious diseases,”
“Under the leadership of President Trump, the State Department is working directly with foreign governments to save lives and increase their responsibility and burden sharing.”