The Lies of the Government on Autism, and Our Response

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Benjamin Paley
October 31, 2025

Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels is quoted as saying that if you repeat a lie enough times, it becomes the truth. And boy did that quote age well.

At a press conference on September 22, 2025, President Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that HHS will now recommend that pregnant women should avoid taking Tylenol, as research reveals that there is an association between taking Tylenol when pregnant and the child having autism.

The problem was that the claims by Trump and Kennedy were not true—they were lies. Scientists have come out in droves to call them both out for spreading lies and misinformation about autism.

Despite the warnings from scientists, however, many Americans listened to their president. (This makes sense given the fact that the president, or its equivalent in another country, is seen as a role model.)

Now, other government leaders are picking up the lie, including the Texas attorney general, who has filed a lawsuit against the maker of Tylenol for omitting information about links between pregnant women taking Tylenol and autism.

As I have written before, people look to the government to make decisions based on the evidence, based on the truth. Truth is defined as “conformity to fact or reality.” A lie is the opposite; it does not conform to fact or reality.

When the government fails to tell the truth, and the people find out the government has lied to them, the people lose faith in their government institutions.

As an adult with autism, Trump and Kennedy’s comments at that press conference, and the many other outlandish claims made by Kennedy about autism, have greatly affected me. I have often felt that there is nothing I can do in the face of very powerful government leaders lying about and misinforming the people of what is happening.

Then, I saw the film Truth & Treason (released by Angel Studios Inc.), which tells the story of sixteen-year-old German Mormon Helmuth Hübener. Helmuth and his two friends, using a typewriter that Helmuth took while he was a city apprentice at the Hamburg Social Authority (a part of the Hamburg city government), type up small pamphlets that list all of the lies told by the Nazi government. They then plaster the leaflets across the city.

Eventually, Helmuth and his friends were arrested, tried, and sentenced. As the ringleader, Helmuth was sentenced to death by beheading. (Helmuth’s two friends were sentenced to terms of imprisonment.) Helmuth was the youngest German resistance fighter to be executed by the Nazis—a death sentence for speaking the truth.

Standing up for the truth is the central theme of Truth & Treason as well as the related concept of the power of a lie.

It is, as can be seen, a very timely film. Lies are taking the place of truth. Elected officials are repeating those lies, and people are believing them.

In the 1930s and 40s, the Nazis were spreading lies across the Third Reich. Today, right-wing leaders have made lying a staple of conservative governments across the world—even in the United States.

According to the Knight First Amendment Institute, “when the government lies, it threatens the ability of the people to perform their basic democratic function: namely, to judge whether their elected representatives are representing their interests satisfactorily.”

In the American system of government, the executive branch is composed of many agencies and departments that are made up of thousands of subject-matter experts. In the case of the HHS, the agency is composed of hundreds of scientists, doctors, and lawyers. All are dedicated to making decisions based on the evidence.

Within the field of public administration, there is a concept called the politics-administration dichotomy. The concept was advanced by the father of public administration, President Wilson. President Wilson argued that there should be a separation between politics and public administration. The subject-matter experts should have broad discretion to figure out how best to implement the laws that Congress passes.

At the end of Truth & Treason, the following quote by Alexei Navalny appears on the screen: “Sometimes the greatest act of rebellion is to simply speak the truth.” In the face of Trump’s and Kennedy’s lies about autism, more people need to be willing to step up, including me.

I take this lesson from Truth & Treason, and I hope that you do too. Lies will continue to spread and misinform people until those with knowledge or relevant experience are willing to speak up.

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Author: Benjamin Paley graduated in 2022 from the Shepard Broad College of Law with a J.D. and in 2018 from Florida Atlantic University with a Master of Public Administration degree. He can be reached at [email protected]. 

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