SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Dr. Stella Immanuel, of "America's Frontline Doctors," spreads misinformation about the coronavirus in a now-deleted Twitter video from right-wing website Breitbart. (Image: Breitbart/screenshot)
'Wow, Just Wow': Jaws Drop Over Trump Endorsement of Doctor Who Believes Masks Don't Work, a Covid-19 Cure Exists, and Some Interesting Things About Alien DNA
"Forgive me for repeating myself but it's important," said Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. "Donald Trump and the Republican party are a threat to your life. They are a threat to your life right now."
Jul 29, 2020
President Donald Trump at a White House press conference on Tuesday repeatedly praised a Houston doctor whose claims of proven success in treating Covid-19 with hydroxychloroquine--a medication that has become a political flashpoint--are part of a pattern of lies, misinformation, and outlandish conspiracy theories.
The president said Dr. Stella Immanuel, who in a Breitbart viral video retweeted by Trump Monday before its removal by Twitter for misinformation claimed hydroxychloroquine is a valid treatment for the coronavirus and that masks are not necessary to stop the spread of the disease, was an "important voice."
Immanuel is a member of a group called "America's Frontline Doctors," a coalition of doctors and other professionals who are spreading misinformation about the coronavirus.
According to Gizmodo:
"America's Frontline Doctors" want American medical professionals to use hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 patients, something that they insist will save lives. In reality, the drug has seen only mixed success and some studies show that it can actually harm people with the disease. Remdesivir has shown more positive results as a therapeutic drug but it's not being touted by President Donald Trump in the same way for some unknown reason. Trump even told reporters in May he took the drug as a preventative measure. As the FDA has established, the drug does not cure Covid-19.
The "America's Frontline Doctors" video was removed by Twitter, as well as Facebook and YouTube, because the statements from Immanuel and others featured in it contained gross misinformation about Covid-19, which continues to infect people across the U.S. and has killed over 150,000 Americans.
As the Daily Beast reported, Immanuel has a history of making provocative and misleading claims:
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.
National Institutes for Health director Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday pushed back on the claims from Immanuel.
"The overwhelming prevailing clinical trials that have looked at the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine have indicated that it is not effective in coronavirus disease," said Fauci.
But Trump at the press briefing said that "many doctors think it is extremely successful, the hydroxychloroquine," and bragged that he had taken it for 14 days and was fine.
CNN reporter Kaitlin Collins pushed back on the president's praise for Immanuel Tuesday, noting the Houston area doctor's other outlandish statements. Trump distanced himself from those comments, said Immanuel "had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients," then quickly left the podium as Collins tried to ask a follow-up question.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
President Donald Trump at a White House press conference on Tuesday repeatedly praised a Houston doctor whose claims of proven success in treating Covid-19 with hydroxychloroquine--a medication that has become a political flashpoint--are part of a pattern of lies, misinformation, and outlandish conspiracy theories.
The president said Dr. Stella Immanuel, who in a Breitbart viral video retweeted by Trump Monday before its removal by Twitter for misinformation claimed hydroxychloroquine is a valid treatment for the coronavirus and that masks are not necessary to stop the spread of the disease, was an "important voice."
Immanuel is a member of a group called "America's Frontline Doctors," a coalition of doctors and other professionals who are spreading misinformation about the coronavirus.
According to Gizmodo:
"America's Frontline Doctors" want American medical professionals to use hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 patients, something that they insist will save lives. In reality, the drug has seen only mixed success and some studies show that it can actually harm people with the disease. Remdesivir has shown more positive results as a therapeutic drug but it's not being touted by President Donald Trump in the same way for some unknown reason. Trump even told reporters in May he took the drug as a preventative measure. As the FDA has established, the drug does not cure Covid-19.
The "America's Frontline Doctors" video was removed by Twitter, as well as Facebook and YouTube, because the statements from Immanuel and others featured in it contained gross misinformation about Covid-19, which continues to infect people across the U.S. and has killed over 150,000 Americans.
As the Daily Beast reported, Immanuel has a history of making provocative and misleading claims:
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.
National Institutes for Health director Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday pushed back on the claims from Immanuel.
"The overwhelming prevailing clinical trials that have looked at the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine have indicated that it is not effective in coronavirus disease," said Fauci.
But Trump at the press briefing said that "many doctors think it is extremely successful, the hydroxychloroquine," and bragged that he had taken it for 14 days and was fine.
CNN reporter Kaitlin Collins pushed back on the president's praise for Immanuel Tuesday, noting the Houston area doctor's other outlandish statements. Trump distanced himself from those comments, said Immanuel "had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients," then quickly left the podium as Collins tried to ask a follow-up question.
President Donald Trump at a White House press conference on Tuesday repeatedly praised a Houston doctor whose claims of proven success in treating Covid-19 with hydroxychloroquine--a medication that has become a political flashpoint--are part of a pattern of lies, misinformation, and outlandish conspiracy theories.
The president said Dr. Stella Immanuel, who in a Breitbart viral video retweeted by Trump Monday before its removal by Twitter for misinformation claimed hydroxychloroquine is a valid treatment for the coronavirus and that masks are not necessary to stop the spread of the disease, was an "important voice."
Immanuel is a member of a group called "America's Frontline Doctors," a coalition of doctors and other professionals who are spreading misinformation about the coronavirus.
According to Gizmodo:
"America's Frontline Doctors" want American medical professionals to use hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 patients, something that they insist will save lives. In reality, the drug has seen only mixed success and some studies show that it can actually harm people with the disease. Remdesivir has shown more positive results as a therapeutic drug but it's not being touted by President Donald Trump in the same way for some unknown reason. Trump even told reporters in May he took the drug as a preventative measure. As the FDA has established, the drug does not cure Covid-19.
The "America's Frontline Doctors" video was removed by Twitter, as well as Facebook and YouTube, because the statements from Immanuel and others featured in it contained gross misinformation about Covid-19, which continues to infect people across the U.S. and has killed over 150,000 Americans.
As the Daily Beast reported, Immanuel has a history of making provocative and misleading claims:
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.
National Institutes for Health director Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday pushed back on the claims from Immanuel.
"The overwhelming prevailing clinical trials that have looked at the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine have indicated that it is not effective in coronavirus disease," said Fauci.
But Trump at the press briefing said that "many doctors think it is extremely successful, the hydroxychloroquine," and bragged that he had taken it for 14 days and was fine.
CNN reporter Kaitlin Collins pushed back on the president's praise for Immanuel Tuesday, noting the Houston area doctor's other outlandish statements. Trump distanced himself from those comments, said Immanuel "had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients," then quickly left the podium as Collins tried to ask a follow-up question.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.