How Donald Trump Created the Worst Diarrhea Outbreak This Century

https://prospect.org/2026/07/16/how-donald-trump-created-worst-diarrhea-outbreak-cyclosporiasis-food-safety/

A big problem for trust in government is that high-quality governance is usually invisible. When the various agencies designed to protect the American people from all manner of threats are working perfectly, most potential disasters are detected and prevented before they happen. A lot of highly trained government workers do diligent and difficult work for little pay and less recognition, heading off crisis after crisis, and the ignorant swing-voting layman assumes that all his tax dollars are being squandered.

So one hopes that the voting public is learning a hard—or I should say watery—lesson about how important good government is, by way of the manifold consequences of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Robert Kennedy hacking away at American state capacity. The latest consequence can be heard in the groaning emanating from thousands of bathrooms across the country: the worst cyclosporiasis outbreak in American history. It deserves a name, so I’m calling it the MAHA Trots.

573 points · 70 comments · view on lemmy.world

70 Comments

NekoKoneko@lemmy.world · 143 pts · 20d (1 reply)

I'm sure people are suffering, but I think we all have to agree that as long as Donald Trump continues to speak, it will only be the second worst diarrhea outbreak this century.

PancakesCantKillMe@lemmy.world · 38 pts · 20d

America has literally gone to shit!

Jordan117@lemmy.world · 61 pts · 20d (9 replies)

CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 19d (8 replies)

Yeah, but gEnoCiDejoE and Kamala had that cackle (and didn't have a peener!), so...this was the only proper outcome.

This will....checks notes....Send A Message To The Democrats To Do Better Next Time (TM) or some such bullshit.

Nalivai@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 19d (6 replies)

Not actively working against this specific genocide in this specific country is bad, very bad, disqualifying. Unless you also make everyone shit their pants forever, then it's OK to do whatever genocide you want, it doesn't matter actually.

chiliedogg@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 19d (1 reply)

The Gaza genocide is horrific. But it also wasn't on the ballot.

Anyone who didn't vote Harris was saying that they saw absolutely no difference between the 2 candidates and are okay with everything else that's been happening since last January that wouldn't have under Harris.

Nalivai@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 19d

If you listen to a lot of the perpetually online folks, even now, you'd think Gaza genocide is the only thing on the ballot, on any ballot, ever. You're not allowed to vote even for a school board member if they dare to talk about anything but how they personally gonna stop a genocide.

bedifferent@mastodon.social · 3 pts · 19d (3 replies)

@Nalivai @CharlesDarwin Totally agree. It's happening and has been obvious since early covid lying circa 12/19. Murdering Americans (including Herman Cain, the idiot) has been going on for a long time.

bibi wants Gaza gone. he suckered the oranges into helping. They both need to go or live in hell while they're here.

borkborkbork@piefed.social · 2 pts · 19d (2 replies)

Herman Cain

aw shuckyducky, the uzbecky-becky-stan-stan-man literally died for his love of our lard and slaver, herr drumpf

bedifferent@mastodon.social · 1 pts · 18d (1 reply)

@borkborkbork Yeah and isn't that insane? I still have an image in my head of Cain sitting inside a rally (weather was bad outside) in an upper bleacher. So that's either an indication he knew the potential consequences of going (he wasn't stupid) or he needed a quick exit?

borkborkbork@piefed.social · 1 pts · 18d

crazy times then, and still going now.

frankly amazed trump's not wolfing down lettuce to prove it doesn't cause dysentery

fartographer@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 19d

Diarrhea cuz no peena?

spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works · 41 pts · 20d (11 replies)

Should be called the MAGA Trots.

smokin_shinobi@lemmy.world · 34 pts · 20d (6 replies)

Feel like Trump Trots is good too.

betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 20d

Trump's dumps.

spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 20d

That's better.

Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 20d (3 replies)

Don’s Diarrhea

DrakeAlbrecht@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 20d (2 replies)

Donorrhea was just sitting there, waiting for you to pick it up.

13igTyme@piefed.social · 8 pts · 19d (1 reply)

Please do not pick up the donorrhea.

fartographer@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 19d

Take only Fartographs. Leave only Donarrhea.

tetrachromacy@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 20d (2 replies)

Donarrhea?

Treczoks@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 19d (1 reply)

Trumporrhea.

tetrachromacy@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 19d

From the Diarrhea Don.

punkibas@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 19d

Just: Diharrea Don

AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world · 30 pts · 20d

He did post a video of him shiting all over Chicago. He just didn't use a fighter jet to do it.

Thebeardedsinglemalt@lemmy.world · 29 pts · 19d (2 replies)

trumporrhea

RaftDespairPoise@lemmy.zip · 11 pts · 19d (1 reply)

Trumporrhea, or “a case of the Trumps” or “Trump dumps.”

CADmonkey@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 19d

Trump Trots?

jtrek@startrek.website · 28 pts · 20d (2 replies)

So one hopes that the voting public is learning a hard—or I should say watery—lesson about how important good government is

Most of them won't learn anything. If they were capable of learning, they've had ample time to do so.

CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 19d

Some of the undecided may learn. Most conservatives are probably a lost cause and always will be. These are the people that were claiming "it's just like the flu!" and "PLANDEMIC!" even as they lay dying of Covid, FFS.

And a whole lot of them were gobbling stuff like horse dewormer and calling for Fauci's head for endorsing life-saving vaccines.

Cons are not likely to learn a fucking thing from a round of this, even if they have the worst version of it.

SupraMario@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 19d

All they will do is complain to taco bell employees that their tacos are missing lettuce.

HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 21 pts · 20d

Shart of the deal

DrDickHandler@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 19d

Getting explosive diarrhea to own the libs.

ceenote@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 20d

I read the title and thought "woah, that's a little private," but then I realized it wasn't about his adult diaper.

tumblechinchilla@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 20d (2 replies)

He was upset at being the only person to constantly shid pant. So he made it so everyone shid pant. Because thats how his voided cranial cavity works.

terranoid@lemmy.cafe · 11 pts · 20d (1 reply)

shart of the deal

ickplant@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 20d

Shart of the seal

RunawayFixer@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 19d (1 reply)

The worst so far. Maga republicans have only been leading the USA for about 18 months, it's definitely going to get worse in the next few years. Thoughts and prayers is the best policy for letting things turn to shit, literally in this example.

Treczoks@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 19d

Wait until the US breeds the basics for the next pandemic...

thefluffiest@feddit.nl · 15 pts · 20d

Well at least on this, he leads by example

newton@feddit.online · 12 pts · 20d

Its a hobby of him ,schitting in his pants and on people.

foggy@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 20d

From the algae bloom to diarrhea outbreak, can the gods give us no clearer signs of what's going on?

tacoplease@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 19d

The best president of diarrhea and logorrhea.

grue@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 20d (2 replies)

This makes me want Adam Conover and Obama to make a sequel to The G Word showing how much damage the Federal government has taken in the last couple of years.

CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 19d

Amen to that. The doofs that vote Republican will likely never watch it, but a whole lot of fence-sitters/"centrists" may.

captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 19d

It was such a good show

SethTaylor@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 19d (1 reply)

I always knew the one thing Trump would be remembered for would be the diahreea outbreak of '26. Very fitting

Treczoks@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 19d

I have to admit that this outbreak was not on my bingo card.

quick_snail@feddit.nl · 8 pts · 19d (5 replies)

Kinda sad this article doesn't talk much about the outbreak. How many people have had it?

TidBit@mander.xyz · 7 pts · 19d

In 2025 the U.S. had ~800 cases including those associated with travel but diagnosed domestically. At the moment, while it's not exactly easy to determine while things are still ongoing, there's somewhere between 5,100 and 7,000 active cases.

Sources: https://www.food-safety.com/articles/11627-cdc-reports-up-to-7-000-cyclosporiasis-cases-across-us-identifies-large-midwestern-outbreak-cluster

https://www.cdc.gov/han/php/notices/han00531.html

jve@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 19d (3 replies)

From the article:

Some state health departments are doing what they can. Michigan, notably, has counted 3,762 cases at time of writing, as compared to the CDC’s 1,645, and identified salad greens as a possible—not confirmed!—culprit. But as Katrine Wallace points out at Stat News, most state health departments are not really equipped to collect and compare case information across multiple states.

I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world · -4 pts · 19d (2 replies)

Less than 10000 cases does NOT sound like the "worst outbreak this century".

nickiwest@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 19d (1 reply)

CBS says:

Comprehensive data on cyclospora outbreaks is lacking. But available information shows only a small number of documented outbreaks in the last 20 years have surpassed 1,000 cases. That short list includes a 1997 outbreak tied to Guatemalan raspberries that sickened more than 1,000 in the U.S. and Canada, and a 2019 outbreak linked to Mexican basil that sickened more than 2,400.

Source

So, yeah, this one is the most serious outbreak we've had in a long time by quite a bit.

ryannathans@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 17d

Of this one specific parasite, not diarrhea

crusa187@lemmy.ml · 7 pts · 20d

now THIS is Legacy

4am@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 20d

He opened his mouth?

Pollo_Jack@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 20d

This is just republican policy in action. It isn't simply the dipshits responsibility but every republican and conservative dem that enabled them.

Treczoks@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 19d

That outbreak is basically his brand! He is creating shit everywhere!

sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 20d (2 replies)

So was the previous cilantro outbreak caused by someone pooping in a hole near crops or from contaminated irrigation water (likely from livestock)? It seems like a material difference to me because it changes how you prevent future outbreaks. The article makes it seem like the first, but I suspect the publication has a perspective it is pushing (not a bad one, but perhaps not related to the cilantro outbreak).

RadicalRebel@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 19d (1 reply)

Since you posted your comment, there's been a large produce company tied to the Taco Bell cases (Taylor Farms). As someone in the field of microbiology, this isn't just bacteria that can be controlled with disinfectants and sanitizers. This is a protist with a structured life cycle that spends the majority of its life as an oocyst. This SUCKS as it's resistant to heat and pretty sticky in this stage. So the only options for eradication will involve stopping all manufacturing for weeks and creating an insanely dry environment so the pathogen eventually dies from desiccation. Nonetheless, the more concerning issue is the source of the pathogen, as at this scale, it must have involved a contaminated water supply that was used to grow the crops. So while Taylor Farms will have to destroy a ton of product and shut down production for weeks, there's a chance as soon as they're back at it they unknowingly source more contaminated water, unless we clearly identify and address the issue.

PS: Humans are the only known vector and host for this specific protist species!

quick_snail@feddit.nl · 3 pts · 19d

Just eat nothing raw, and you're good.

I live in a country where over half the population has parasites perennially, and less than 20% of the wastewater is treated.

Almost all of the agriculture uses water that's full of various parasites, so I never eat anything raw anymore.

The main solution is to enforce something like the clean water act on cities and homeowners dumping untreated sewage into the watershed

LodeMike@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 19d

...so far

Hayduke@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 20d

They don’t call him King Mierdas for nothing.

TryingToBeGood@reddthat.com · 4 pts · 19d

just saw a headline that said it was lettuce from Taco Bell. (I saw last week that TB had pulled lettuce and some other vegetable from its stores out of an abundance of caution.)

Gammelfisch@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 19d

MAGA is quite capable of spraying liquid shit everywhere. The shitstains are on their way to create the next pandemic.

Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 20d

Can't wait until Ebola gets here.

altphoto@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 20d

.... maybe this is meant to make us all very thin and sexy again so we can have a ton of babies? Hopefully White blue eyed and not fake blonde ones? But fake blonde is totally cool so long as we all speak just the one language and not others and think just the one religion is correct and not others or none. Hopefully they're all binary babies and not spectrum babies or non binary. This is all in line with proper dementia.

Blibly@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 20d

He opened his mouth

Snapz@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 19d (1 reply)

Hard to trust anything today, but word is that this is potentially linked to Taylor farms lettuce (in part linked to taco bell, likely among other yet to be named places as they are a huge supplier). They attempt to blame farms in Mexico, may be true, but their main facilities are in Salinas, CA.

BE AWARE that Taylor Farms has several sub-brands, including Earthbound Farm (Costco carries) and Eat Smart. Would not be surprised if they also white labeled for places like trader joes.

aceshigh@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 19d

Oh crap Costco. Guess I got lucky.