Donald Trump abruptly left the White House briefing room on Tuesday after CNN’s Kaitlan Collins called him out for defending a quack doctor who falsely claimed masks don’t work and there’s already a cure for the coronavirus.
As the CNN reporter pointed out, Dr. Stella Immanuel – the doctor who Trump retweeted on Monday night and praised during Tuesday’s briefing – has “made videos saying that doctors make medicine using DNA from aliens and that they’re trying to create a vaccine to make you immune from becoming religious.”
Even after knowing that, Trump said the doctor was an “important voice” and called her “very impressive,” before abruptly leaving the news conference when Collins tried to ask a follow-up question.
Video:
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Trump leaves the White House briefing room after CNN reporter @kaitlancollins pushes back on his praise of a quack doctor who said masks don’t work and a COVID-19 vaccine already exists. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/vKMtwhkFse
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) July 28, 2020
The exchange:
COLLINS: The woman that you said was a great doctor in that video you retweeted last night said that masks don’t work and there is a cure for COVID-19, both of which health experts say is not true. She’s also made videos saying that doctors make medicine using DNA from aliens and that they’re trying to create a vaccine to make you immune from becoming religious.Â
TRUMP: I can tell you this. She was on air along with many other doctors. 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.
COLLINS: Last week, you said masks —
TRUMP: Okay. Thank you very much everybody.
Meanwhile, Trump has been sidelining real medical professionals
While Donald Trump embraces quack medical professionals simply because they align with his warped and conspiratorial view of the world, he has spent weeks sidelining Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the most respected voices in the infectious disease community.
That’s likely because Fauci has been providing straight talk about the severity of the coronavirus outbreak, often contradicting the president’s fact-free, politics-driven claims.
With Donald Trump blowing off actual medical experts and instead listening to fellow nonsense talkers, it’s no surprise that the United States is still unable to get a handle on this virus.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
