Before penning my observations about the president and Tylenol, and even though I know more about Tylenol than most Americans, I reached out to a number of my local medical friends and colleagues – internists and pharmacists — to hear their opinions about the deleterious relationship between Tylenol ingestion during pregnancy and autism. Their communal answer: none. No knowledge of studies or reports of any children whose mothers took acetaminophen during their pregnancy and ended up with autistic children. I also talked to a number of mothers of autistic children — none of them took Tylenol during their pregnancy.

Trump’s contention that Tylenol causes autism has caused considerable amount of distress among women in general and childbearing age women in particular. It’s been fodder for much commentary and discussions among scientists.

The question that keeps rising above all others is: why does he do it? Standing on the dais flanked by Robert Kennedy and Dr. Mehmet Oz, all wearing grins of acquiescence I thought, surely Dr. Oz could have given him a near accurate opinion. Before Oz went into TV broadcasting, selling products of questionable worth, he was a good cardiothoracic surgeon. He could have given Trump “the real dope “about Tylenol.

“We will find the cause of autism,” the administration voluntarily promised a few months ago. Their answer? Tylenol. “Do not take Tylenol, even if you have pain or fever,” the president urged. The guardian of public health care and truth in therapy of maladies that ail the nation, urged American women to “tough it out.”

The president, known for talking about diagnoses and therapies of conditions he has no idea about, often baffles healthcare providers of the nation. During the Covid pandemic, he contradicted CDC specialists working to understand the viral condition felling so many Americans. Who can forget his ruminations about ingesting disinfectant, the use of sunlight and hydroxychloroquine. Whatever Trump came up with had no scientific or medical support. Much that he urged scientists to investigate never worked; it was never based on any science, or for that matter, reason.

Perhaps the one regrettable result of a presidency in which the office holder has free rein – to do good and, as in the case of autism and COVID, to actually cause harm, is, presidents are not held back by an oath that instructs: “above all do no harm.” Still many past presidents have depended on scientists to wisely and logically direct the nation with qualified knowledge, and proven science. It is what Americans expect of their chief executive: guidance by the best minds of the nation.

The United States is blessed with some of the best scientific minds on earth, working in the best academic, scientific research universities. All Trump has to do is fold an ego that proclaims that he knows more than every American about anything and everything. Proper, appropriate advice is always at hand for him — if he seeks it.

At times, America has imported scientific expertise. I am here thinking of NASA that depended on post-World War II German Nazi scientists. The most prominent among them was Wernher Von Braun, the inventor and architect of Hitler’s V-2 ballistic missiles used to bomb London. In America Von Braun was involved in the Saturn V launch vehicle that propelled Americans to the moon. Von Braun’s boss, Hitler, distrustful of his generals, guided his nation’s army disastrously. It would lead to Nazi defeat. Perhaps this is a cautionary tale. To rule well a leader should know how to delegate responsibilities. Good leaders use the eyes of others who can see further or more clearly than them.

This go around Trump has surrounded himself with men and women who will not question anything he demands of them. For a nation built on the democratic ethos of questioning everything asked of us, and questioning everything our elected leaders do or say, a leader who refuses to ask for the best advice from the best minds, does not augur well for that nation’s future.

Autism is a complex neuro-developmental condition caused by a constellation of genetic factors and environmental influences. Tylenol is not its cause. The answer to the question: “why does he consistently make patently wrong recommendations?” must be: God only knows.

All that said, women will simply ignore the leader’s current advice. Because of his unpredictable edicts and ideation, it is every physician’s hope that more lethal and complex medical or environmental catastrophes do not confront the nation during the leader’s tenure.

Pius Kamau, M.D., a retired general surgeon, is president of the Aurora-based Africa America Higher Education Partnerships; co-founder of the Africa Enterprise Group and an activist for minority students ‘STEM education. He is a National Public Radio commentator, a Huffington Post blogger, a past columnist for Denver dailies and is featured on the podcast, “Never Again.”