Critics blast Trump’s self-congratulatory tweet about the decline in cancer deaths after his administration decimated research budgets

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump is often quick to take credit for any good news – while pawning off responsibility for negative outcomes on others, especially his predecessor. But social media users were stunned – and many outraged – when Trump tweeted Thursday morning a clear pat on the back for himself on recent news the rate of cancer deaths in America took a steep drop.

“Cancer Death Rate in U.S. Sees Sharpest One-Year Drop,” a New York Timesheadline reported Wednesday. “The cancer death rate in the United States fell 2.2 percent from 2016 to 2017 — the largest single-year decline in cancer mortality ever reported.”

President Trump was not even in office for the full year of 2017, so it’s literally impossible that anything he has done has contributed to the welcome decline in the cancer death rate. Continue reading.