Putting Mike Pence in charge of the US coronavirus response is some kind of sick joke

So Vice President Mike Pence is heading up the US government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. Is that some sort of sick joke?

Because I find it hard to think of anyone less suited to manage a complex healthcare crisis. As governor of Indiana, Pence slashed public health spending and then delayed the vital introduction of needle exchange programmes, which contributed to the state’s worst ever outbreak of HIV

Pence has a track record of making wild claims about pubic health. Back in 2000 he penned an infamous opinion piece in which he called for “a quick reality check… Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn’t kill”. But each year nearly half a million Americans die because of tobacco smoking. Such easily available statistics didn’t stop Pence making a series of pro-tobacco choices as a member of Congress and governor. As it happens, Pence has received more than $100,000 in campaign donations from tobacco companies.

It would be lazy – and Pence would say wrong – to conclude that Pence was simply being bought off to pass legislation that would benefit his particular funders. That said, Pence has received fossil fuel funding in the past and has consistently lobbied for fossil fuels, in particular coal. Koch Industries donated $300,000 to Pence in 2012.

This was a drop in the ocean of the $127m that Koch Industries are estimated by Greenpeace to have spent financing individuals and organisation that have attacked climate change science and policies. Pence has previously disputed the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This includes startling statements such as “Global warming is a myth. The global warming treaty is a disaster…. the earth is actually cooler today than it was about 50 years ago. In fact, most climatologists agree that, at best, global warming is a theory about future climactic conditions and cannot be proven based upon the historic record.”

But Pence’s less than enthusiastic response to science goes beyond worldly dollars and cents. It’s much more fundamental than that. Pence is an evangelical Christian and has disputed the science of evolution saying “Charles Darwin never thought of evolution as anything other than a theory. He hoped that someday it would be proven by the fossil record but did not live to see that, nor have we” In a 2009 interview, Pence refused to say that he believed in evolution instead saying “God created the heavens and the Earth”.

There is absolutely no reason why someone’s religion should affect their understanding and assessment of climate and health science. Many outstanding scientists also profess faith to a particular religion. But Pence’s anti-science must be seen in the context of the Trump administration’s continual attempts to manufacture “alternative facts”. Trump gives every indication of being a chronically deluded individual given to self-aggrandising speculation. The Washington Post still updates its list of lies the president has told since taking office. It currently stands at more than 16,000.

Beyond the continual erosion of trust in the institution of the presidency, the toxic impact of these continual lies is the muddying of what is known. Even reality. Facts matter yes, but the way in which knowledge is produced matters more. When it comes to science that means careful collection and analysis of data. It means trust in the methods of science which are often very difficult to understand for those not directly involved. As abstract as this all often seems, when it comes to public health, the science is absolutely crucial because it will importantly determine how many people will suffer as the disease develops.

How should people should be tested for this new virus? How should suspected individuals be treated? How should social distancing such as cancelling large events be managed? How should travel and transport be controlled? How should research budgets be adjusted to speed up vaccine research and production? Having an individual like Pence not just involved, but actually leading the response, represents at best an impediment to effective decision making. At worst, an unhinged mix of Trumpian and evangelical ideology will ignore the science and people will die.