# What’s the point of withdrawing from W.H.O.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [January 21, 2025, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227 "2025-01-21T21:02:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GailForce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@GailForce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GailForce)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/1 "2025-01-21T21:02:36Z")
I assume that Trump’s reasoning is that the U.S. doesn’t benefit directly from WHO membership, and that we spend money on other countries (small, weak, populated by non-white non-Christians, etc.) that do benefit from WHO membership, but am I missing anything here? Is it just “Biden belonged to it, so I’m withdrawing” nonsense, pissing off the libs, or is there some rationale for why WHO membership is bad? ---
**Author:** ![survinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@survinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/survinga)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/2 "2025-01-21T21:04:35Z")
Trump does’t like multi-lateral institutions. He pulled us out of the WHO back in 2020, I think. So, this is just a rekindling of that old hatred. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/3 "2025-01-21T21:07:04Z")
‘Murica. ---
**Author:** ![GailForce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@GailForce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GailForce)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/4 "2025-01-21T21:11:03Z")
OK–does the W.H.O. use 'Murica’s resources without giving us much back? in other words, is this just transactional Trump saying “If I lose money on the deal, I’m out”? ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/5 "2025-01-21T21:12:15Z")
> [@GailForce](#): > > Is it just “Biden belonged to it, so I’m withdrawing” nonsense, pissing off the libs, or is there some rationale for why WHO membership is bad? They had the gall to disagree with him on COVID, making him look bad. You know that’s a paddlin’. Plus, yes, it’s the old “The US is getting ripped off!” thing, because he personally sees no value in being the leading member of a world-wide organization that doesn’t make money, it just prevents major health catastrophes. If there’s no immediate, monetary benefit to the US, he values it as zero. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/6 "2025-01-21T21:31:44Z")
When Trump does a thing, he does it for one or more of five simple reasons. - It gets him money. - It gets him praise. - It gets him power. - It gets him laid. - “Fuck you, that’s why.” It isn’t any more complicated than that. Withdrawing from WHO is mostly the last one. ---
**Author:** ![GailForce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@GailForce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GailForce)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/7 "2025-01-21T21:33:46Z")
And while I’m at it, may I expand the topic to ask the same question about reversing Biden’s lowering of prescription drug costs? Is there some sort of rational (or even semi-rational) basis for this position, or is it simply “Biden=bad”? Is there a groundswell of MAGAs screaming at him, “We want to pay more for drugs”? Or maybe a payoff to MAGA by Big Pharma? ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/8 "2025-01-21T21:40:43Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > They had the gall to disagree with him on COVID, This. Or rather, since the WHO didn’t align with the right’s world view during covid, they’re now just as untrustworthy as the scientists who inform them. So this may be a personal issue for Trump, but rank and file Maga will love this. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/9 "2025-01-21T21:55:15Z")
> [@GailForce](#): > > And while I’m at it, may I expand the topic to ask the same question about reversing Biden’s lowering of prescription drug costs? Is there some sort of rational (or even semi-rational) basis for this position, or is it simply “Biden=bad”? It lets him announce a new drug price reduction scheme in 6 months. One that all due to his heroism. It will be later & stingier. But praised by the ministry of propaganda as the yugest evar. That’s all it is. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/10 "2025-01-21T22:04:48Z")
I am not in favor of withdrawing from WHO but I also feel they made some grave errors on the covid virus by publishing data that was intentionally made hard to interpret. Some groups were at extremely high risk and should have had more emphasis put on ways to isolate these groups while other groups were at very low risk and should have been aware of that. The information came out in such a way that everyone was equally scared. I think less people could have died and the world economy could have suffered less. He should use his leverage to encourage more useful information. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/11 "2025-01-21T22:09:12Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > but I also feel they made some grave errors on the covid virus by publishing data that was intentionally made hard to interpret. Assuming that’s true (and I’m skeptical of the “intentional” part) I think the better way to handle it is to stay a member and work cooperatively for improvements. It’s not like having an organization working on world health issues isn’t a really good idea. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/12 "2025-01-21T22:11:54Z")
I think there are two reasons: 1. The US is the largest supporter of WHO, and to Trump that makes us suckers. 2. WHO did in fact cave to pressure from China regarding aspects of how Covid happened and what fault China may have had (for instance, they downplayed the lab leak hypothesis\* and heaped slovenly praise on China at China’s insistence) \*I am not saying it did come from a lab, only that China didn’t want WHO to even consider the possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/13 "2025-01-21T22:21:00Z")
> [@survinga](#): > > Trump does’t like multi-lateral institutions. I think there’s a lot to this. Trump doesn’t like institutions where the US has a voice that is worth just as much as any other member nation. It is obvious that he dislikes the WHO, NATO, NAFTA, and likely the UN, among others where the US is equal to everybody else. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/14 "2025-01-21T22:22:02Z")
Trump and the Republicans are anti-science, WHO is pro-science. WHO helps people, that’s Evil Socialism. WHO is international, that makes them evil foreigners. It will hurt people, and both Trump and the Right like hurting people. And among the “alt medicine” conspiracists WHO is a spreader of disease, like the rest of the mainstream medical community. And [guess who](https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/12/06/nx-s1-5218574/rfk-vaccines-anti-vaccine-infectious-disease) is giving Trump medical advice? ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/15 "2025-01-21T22:52:33Z")
I am not a Trump fan in any way, but I have to admit I was very disappointed when the WHO “appoved Traditional Chinese Medicine” a year or two ago. ‘[WHO international standard terminologies on traditional Chinese medicine](https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240042322)’ Partial quote: “Driven by domestic and international demands, WHO is developing benchmarking documents for training and practice of traditional Chinese medicine”. Sorry, woo-woo is bullshit, no matter how ‘traditional’. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/16 "2025-01-21T22:57:10Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > If there’s no immediate, monetary benefit to the US, he values it as zero. But note that there are 100 million visits per year by Americans to foreign countries and 70 million visits per year by foreigners to the U.S. So if there is a big problem with an infectious disease in a foreign country there is a good chance that all this travel will spread it to the U.S. Thus it is of strong benefit to the U.S. to stamp out infectious diseases world-wide. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/17 "2025-01-21T23:05:41Z")
> [@GailForce](#): > > I assume that Trump’s reasoning is that the U.S. doesn’t benefit directly from WHO membership, and that we spend money on other countries (small, weak, populated by non-white non-Christians, etc.) that do benefit from WHO membership, but am I missing anything here? I realize you are stating the above in terms that you believe that Trump thinks in, but the United States does, in fact, benefit from WHO membership because diseases, and (as should be painfully obvious) especially pandemic outbreaks, do not respect national borders. Our participation in WHO provides insight in and some degree of control over international response to infectious disease as well as famines and other conditions that could foment threats to our national security, and the value we get for the dollars invested in WHO is nearly incalculable. > [@OldOlds](#): > > WHO did in fact cave to pressure from China regarding aspects of how Covid happened and what fault China may have had (for instance, they downplayed the lab leak hypothesis\* and heaped slovenly praise on China at China’s insistence) For sure, WHO does have problems, but the reason China has such an influence is largely because the United States as ceded that role. China is actually very invested in international health because of the impact that has on Chinese trade and security. The unquestioning acceptance of what was clearly incorrect Chinese analysis about the early spread of the virus, and rejection of any version of a ‘lab leak’ hypothesis (even the quite plausible case of researchers doing field work on betacoronaviruses having inadvertently brought the wild-type virus back to Wuhan where it could mutate and spread) was patently absurd, but getting access and cooperation from a totalitarian regime that happens to also be one of the most important pharmaceutical and medical providers in Asia and Africa means doing some convoluted acrobatics at times. Pulling out of WHO not only hurts nations that don’t have robust medical systems; it hurts the national security of the United States with respect to natural not only natural pandemics but hypothetical engineered bioweapons, for which the WHO is really the only international group doing any kind of surveillance. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/18 "2025-01-21T23:06:54Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > I am not a Trump fan in any way, but I have to admit I was very disappointed when the WHO “appoved Traditional Chinese Medicine” a year or two ago. They’ve approved of homeopathy for even longer. It’s what comes of trying to pander to anyone politically powerful. WHO is no great bastion of medical good practice - but they are better than the Republicans want to exist. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/19 "2025-01-21T23:10:59Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > They had the gall to disagree with him on COVID, making him look bad. You know that’s a paddlin’. Yeah, this is one of the many vendettas Trump will prioritize. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227/20 "2025-01-21T23:12:16Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > So if there is a big problem with an infectious disease in a foreign country there is a good chance that all this travel will spread it to the U.S. Thus it is of strong benefit to the U.S. to stamp out infectious diseases world-wide. Yeah, see, that’s the sensible position to take, and you know how Trump feels about that. He doesn’t have enough object permanence to follow that argument through. It’s of a part with his hatred for trade deficits. All he sees is the money going out, and he can’t understand the links from that to the US having all the resources and products it wants. To him, money is immediate, you have it or you don’t. That someone might get sick a week after their vacation, and pass it along to others, is far to time-remote for him to see the connection. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-point-of-withdrawing-from-w-h-o/1013227.md?page=2)