Making Life Worse, Every Day In Every Way

What are the science- phobic Trump swamp people up to now?  No good, of course:

The Trump administration is limiting scientific input to the 2020 dietary guidelines, raising concerns among nutrition advocates and independent experts about industry influence over healthy eating recommendations for all Americans.

For the first time, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture, which oversee the committee giving recommendations for the guidelines, have predetermined the topics that will be addressed. They have narrowed the research that can be used only to studies vetted by agency officials, potentially leaving key studies out of the mix.

The 80 questions the committee has been asked to answer do not cover several pressing issues the panel explored five years ago. This includes the consumption of red and processed meat, as well as the dramatic proliferation of ultraprocessed foods, which account for a growing percentage of calories consumed by Americans. Nor will the committee explore appropriate sodium levels for different populations.  (our emphasis)

The interests being served?  Not the public's, of course:

A wide range of experts say these are among the most critical questions as the nation faces an epidemic of lifestyle diseases such as atherosclerosis, heart disease, stroke, obesity and Type 2 diabetes. They also represent the issues that large food companies find most objectionable because they would probably cast high-sodium, high-sugar, high-saturated fat and highly processed foods in a poor light.  [snip]

“The dietary guidelines are under assault from multiple directions,” David Katz, author and founding director of Yale University’s Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, said in an email. “This time around, veiled organizations representing the interests of beef, dairy and Big Food are pretending to use science to argue against the actual science and to expunge key recommendations. Of course sustainability should be included. Of course we need to eat less meat.”  (our emphasis)

The Trump regime is barely 2/3 through it's first (and, hopefully, only term), and we defy anyone to point to a more damaging, corrupt, venal administration in all of American history.  Whether it's the despicable treatment of immigrants (including the latest outrage: deporting children getting treatment for life- threatening conditions), global climate change denialism, beggaring workers and farmers in a trade war, rolling back environmental regulations and propping up the fossil fuel industry, etc., etc., this is a regime whose sole purpose seems to be to drag us back to the dark ages, inflicting maximum pain to the maximum number of people along the way.