Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been, at its best, characterized by his attempts to disregard facts and flout the experts. At its worst, it’s been an opportunity to push dangerous pseudoscience as a means of distracting from the rising cost of his extreme incompetence.
For the last two days, President Trump has doubled down on the use of hydroxychloroquine — a malarial drug found to be extremely dangerous for COVID-19 patients — raising up fringe doctors to back a false talking point. As the United States’ death toll passes 150,000, President Trump continues to put American lives at risk – this time providing a platform for junk science while sidelining the experts.
Trump’s New Favorite Medical Expert Dr. Stella Immanuel Has A History Promoting Bizarre And Dangerous Conspiracy Theories About Alien DNA, Demon Sex, Vaccinations And Reptilians Controlling The Government
Dr. Immanuel Claimed That Women Experience Gynecological Problems From Having Sex With Demons In Their Dreams.
- “Immanuel, a pediatrician and a religious minister, has a history of making bizarre claims about medical topics and other issues. She has often claimed that gynecological problems like cysts and endometriosis are in fact caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons and witches.” [Daily Beast, 7/28/20]
- “In her sermon, Immanuel offers a sort of demonology of ‘nephilim,’ the biblical characters she claims exist as demonic spirits and lust after dream sex with humans, causing all matter of real health problems and financial ruin. Immanuel claims real-life ailments such as fibroid tumors and cysts stem from the demonic sperm after demon dream sex, an activity she claims affects ‘many women.’ ‘They turn into a woman and then they sleep with the man and collect his sperm,’ Immanuel said in her sermon. ‘Then they turn into the man and they sleep with a man and deposit the sperm and reproduce more of themselves.’” [Daily Beast, 7/28/20]
Dr. Immanuel Claimed That Alien DNA Is Being Used In Medical Treatments And That A “Witch” Was Using Abortion, Gay Marriage And Children’s Toys To Destroy The World.
- “Immanuel’s bizarre medical ideas don’t stop with demon sex in dreams. In a 2015 sermon that laid out a supposed Illuminati plan hatched by ‘a witch’ to destroy the world using abortion, gay marriage, and children’s toys, among other things, Immanuel claimed that DNA from space aliens is currently being used in medicine. ‘They’re using all kinds of DNA, even alien DNA, to treat people,’ Immanuel said.” [Daily Beast, 7/28/20]
Dr. Immanuel Claimed That Parts Of The Government Were Controlled By Reptilians.
- “And, despite appearing in Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress on Monday, she has said that the government is run in part not by humans but by ‘reptilians’ and other aliens.” [Daily Beast, 7/28/20]
Dr. Immanuel Claimed That Scientists Were Developing A Vaccine That Would Make It Impossible For People To Become Religious.
- “Immanuel’s website offers a prayer to remove a generational curse originally received from an ancestor but transmitted, in Immanuel’s telling, through placenta. Immanuel claimed in another 2015 sermon posted that scientists had plans to install microchips in people, and develop a ‘vaccine’ to make it impossible to become religious. ‘They found the gene in somebody’s mind that makes you religious, so they can vaccinate against it,’ Immanuel said.” [Daily Beast, 7/28/20]
Trump Amplified Dr. Immanuel’s Debunked Claims About Using Hydroxychloroquine To Treat Covid And Tripled Down In Praising Her
Trump Shared A Video Dr. Immanuel Speaking In Support Of Using Hydroxychloroquine To Treat Covid That Was Later Removed From Twitter For Promoting Misinformation.
- “Dr. Stella Immanuel, who appeared in a controversial video promoting an unproven COVID-19 treatment, is a member of a group of pro-Trump medics who have for months been pushing misinformation about the virus. In the video, clips of which were shared this week by President Donald Trump, Immanuel appears at a news conference outside the Supreme Court with other members of the group, America’s Frontline Doctors, and GOP Rep. Ralph Norman. The members promote the drug hydroxychloroquine as a preventive treatment and a cure for COVID-19.” [Business Insider, 7/28/20]
At A July 28 Press Briefing, Trump Called Dr. Immanuel “Very Impressive” And “An Important Voice.”
- “But she has refused to provide proof of her claim that she’s cured hundreds of COVID-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine. That didn’t chasten Trump, however, who praised Immanuel and her fellow Frontline Doctors at a Tuesday afternoon press conference. ‘I can tell you this, she was on air along with many other doctors,’ he said. ‘They were big fans of hydroxychloroquine and I thought she was very impressive in the sense that from where she came, I don’t know which country she comes from, but she said that she’s had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients, and I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her.’” [Daily Beast, 7/28/20]
On July 29, Trump Reiterated His Praise Of Dr. Immanuel, Stating That “She Made Sense” And That He Was “Very Impressed” By Her.
- “President Trump on Wednesday defended his retweet of a video containing false claims about the coronavirus pandemic, saying that he was ‘very impressed’ with one of the doctors in the video due to her statements about hydroxychloroquine. Speaking with reporters outside the White House, the president claimed that he was not evaluating the scientific claims made in the video, including that hydroxychloroquine could cure COVID-19, while continuing to heap praise on Stella Immanuel, a controversial Houston-area doctor featured in the video. ‘I was very impressed with her and other doctors who stood with her,’ Trump said. ‘I think she made sense, but I know nothing about it.’” [The Hill, 7/29/20]
This Isn’t the First Time President Trump Has Pushed Pseudoscience Against the Coronavirus
President Trump Suggested An “Injection Inside” Of Disinfectant , “Almost A Cleaning,” Could Help Coronavirus.
- “‘And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute,’ Mr. Trump said after a presentation from William N. Bryan, an acting under secretary for science at the Department of Homeland Security, detailed the virus’s possible susceptibility to bleach and alcohol. ‘One minute,’ the president said. ‘And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that.’” [New York Times, 4/24/20]
During The Same Briefing, President Trump Promised To Look Into Sunlight As A Cure.
- “’There’s been a rumor that — you know, a very nice rumor — that you go outside in the sun or you have heat and it does have an effect on other viruses,’ Trump said, before asking coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx ‘to speak to the medical doctors to see if there’s any way that you can apply light and heat to cure, you know, if you could.’ Trump then asked Birx if she ‘ever heard of the heat and the light’ having an impact on viruses. She responded, ‘Not as a treatment,’ before Trump asked her again to look into it.” [CNN, 4/24/20]
Throughout The Pandemic, Trump Has Repeatedly Promoted The Use Of And Claimed To Be Himself Taking Hydroxychloroquine, A Drug That Has Been Tied To An Increased Risk Of Death In Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients.
- “The anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, which U.S. President Donald Trump says he has been taking and has urged others to use, was tied to an increased risk of death in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, a large study published on Friday showed. In the study here that looked at more than 96,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, those treated with hydroxychloroquine or the related chloroquine had higher risk of death and heart rhythm problems than patients who were not given the medicines. The study, published in the Lancet medical journal, showed no benefit for coronavirus patients taking the drugs. Demand for the decades-old hydroxychloroquine has surged as Trump repeatedly promoted its use against the coronavirus, urging people to try it. ‘What have you got to lose?’ he asked.” [Reuters, 5/22/20]
And Trump Has Routinely Attacked His Own Experts and Agencies, Using the Bully Pulpit of the Presidency to Undermine Science
On July 27, Trump Retweeted A Series Of Messages Asserting That Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci Was Misleading The Public And Conspiring With Democrats “To Perpetuate Covid Deaths To Hurt Trump.”
- “President Trump revived his support for an antimalaria drug to treat Covid-19 and spread messages attacking the government’s top infectious disease official, in several overnight retweets of statements at odds with his government’s policy that also prompted another run-in with Twitter Inc. Late Monday, the president retweeted a series of messages, including one asserting that Anthony Fauci had misled the public and another alleging, without any evidence, a conspiracy ‘by Fauci & the Democrats to perpetuate Covid deaths to hurt Trump.’ The retweet alleging a Fauci conspiracy also contained a video praising hydroxychloroquine and saying masks aren’t needed.” [Wall Street Journal, 7/28/20]
On July 10, 2020 Trump Said “Dr. Fauci Is A Nice Man, But He’s Made A Lot Of Mistakes.”
- “’Dr. Fauci is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes,’ Trump said. ‘A lot of them said don’t wear a mask, don’t wear a mask,” the president added. ‘Now they are saying wear a mask. A lot of mistakes were made, a lot of mistakes.’” [NBC News, 7/10/20]
Trump Retweeted A Far-Right Media Personality Who Accused Scientists And The CDC Of “Lying” About COVID-19.
- “The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most ,that we are told to trust. I think it’s all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I’m sick of it.” [Twitter, Chuck Woolery, 7/15/20]
Trump Smeared The CDC For Asking Schools To Do “Impractical” Things To Protect Student Safety, Before It Rewrote Guidelines To Encourage Schools To Reopen.
- “I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!” [Twitter, Donald Trump, 7/8/20]