Elton John sees Donald Trump as having the potential to end AIDS. The musician appeals to the US President to stop the AIDS epidemic after peace efforts.
Elton John has commented on US politics and current world events in a new interview. The Briton also said that, in his opinion, Donald Trump could become “one of the greatest presidents in history” if he could just “end AIDS.”
First peace for Palestine and Israel, then put an end to AIDS
In an interview with Variety, the musician was optimistic that the US president could get a lot done in the near future. Regarding Palestine and Israel, the 78-year-old said: “There is a big war that will hopefully end soon,” which is why, in his eyes, Trump could soon shift the focus to the AIDS epidemic. Because Elton John said: “There is another fight, that of the people who suffer from HIV and AIDS and who should be getting their medication, but can’t because the governments won’t allow them. That’s inhumane.”
He continued: “My big problem right now is, yes, thank God, maybe there will be peace after more things are sorted out. But there are crimes against millions of other people that are being committed because of governments, stigma and hate. It’s so frustrating when you have the medicine, when you have PrEP, when you have the antiretrovirals. We could stop the spread of AIDS if people would just get off their butts and treat their fellow human beings in a Christian way.”
Republicans have to do something
In the Variety interview, Elton John particularly emphasized the need for Republican support in the fight against AIDS, which he said was “the only disease that can be completely cured within a human lifetime.” That’s why he appealed emphatically to Donald Trump. To support his point, he put it this way in the interview: “President Trump may have solved the peace problem. If he wants to go down in history as one of the greatest presidents in history… if he ends AIDS, that would really be a great achievement for him.”
Will Elton John’s words change Trump’s direction? One of his first acts in his second term as US leader was to close the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which provided food and medical care to people with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.