Trump Retweeted a Doctor Who Believes in Alien DNA, Demon Sperm, and Hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 Treatment

Will Sommer, writing for The Daily Beast:

A Houston doctor who praises hydroxychloroquine and says that face masks aren’t necessary to stop transmission of the highly contagious coronavirus has become a star on the right-wing internet, garnering tens of millions of views on Facebook on Monday alone. Donald Trump Jr. declared the video of Stella Immanuel a “must watch,” while Donald Trump himself retweeted the video. […]

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. She alleges alien DNA is currently used in medical treatments, and that scientists are cooking up a vaccine to prevent people from being religious. 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.

She’s an absolute kook, as nutty as a squirrel turd. And the president of the United States is promoting her “medical” advice for the worst pandemic in a century. Which means he is a mentally deranged kook. Yes, that’s terrifying, but it’s obviously true.

Tom Nichols:

If Obama or Clinton or Biden were up late tweeting out crackpot theories from a “sex with demons” doctor, the Republicans would be calling on the military to surround the White House and enforce the 25th amendment with nuclear weapons.

Two updates:

  • Just in case you think The Daily Beast took Stella Immanuel’s positions out of context, she tweeted to thank them for their summary. Spend a few minutes reading her own tweets — if anything, The Daily Beast underplayed just how bonkers she is. She should be getting medical help, not giving it.

  • When asked about Immanuel’s clearly insane positions at a press conference today, President Trump, rather than walk back his retweet, doubled down on it, saying “I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her.” And then walked out of room. Watch for yourself. Either he’s OK with her nuttiness and therefore is himself unhinged from objective reality, or he knows she’s nuts but promoted and continues to stand by her hydroxychloroquine quackery anyway, in which case he’s a sociopath. I’d say the answer is both — that Trump has an at-best tenuous grasp on objective reality and he’s a narcissistic sociopath — but clearly at least one is true. This one incident is a small self-contained proof that he’s mentally unfit.

★ Tuesday, 28 July 2020