John Oliver calls Trump 'shockingly reckless' for retweeting false coronavirus information

Stephen Proctor
·3 min read

On Last Week Tonight With John Oliver on Sunday, Oliver continued his criticism of President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Two weeks ago, Oliver slammed Trump for pushing conspiracy theories about the coronavirus. On Sunday, he called out Trump’s “reckless” behavior for retweeting a video in which a doctor claims masks aren’t necessary in the fight against the coronavirus, and touts hydroxychloroquine as an effective cure, despite multiple studies showing otherwise.

“Recklessness is abounding right now, heightening the need for strong leadership,” Oliver said. “But unfortunately, we’re getting the exact opposite of that. Just a week after Trump was given credit for shifting his rhetoric by urging Americans to wear masks, he did something that, even for him, was shockingly reckless.”

The doctor in the video Trump retweeted, Dr. Stella Immanuel, has made outrageous claims in the past that are not widely accepted in the medical community. Among other things, she has said that alien DNA is currently being used in medical treatments, scientists are making a vaccine to keep people from being religious and the government is being run in part by reptilians and other aliens. Even when confronted with some of Dr. Immanuel’s claims at a press conference, Trump doubled down on his support for her.

“She said that she’s had tremendous success treating hundreds of different patients,” Trump said, “and I thought her voice was an important voice. But I know nothing about her.” “Wow,” Oliver responded. “He thinks her voice is important but admits to knowing nothing else about her. That is not the philosophy you want when vetting medical experts.”

And as the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus now sits over 150,000, Oliver called out Trump and others for their reckless behavior.

“This reckless indifference, whether it’s coming from these idiots (crowd at a recent concert), this idiot (a DJ), that idiot (Dr. Immanuel), this especially idiotic idiot (Rep. Louie Gohmert) or the most powerful idiot of all (Trump) is costing people their lives,” Oliver said. “And it is past time that we start protecting each other and taking this seriously.”

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver airs weeknights at 11 p.m. on HBO.

Watch Anderson Cooper call Trump a ‘snake oil salesman’ for touting a doctor who believes in ‘demon sperm’:

For the latest coronavirus news and updates, follow along at https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus. According to experts, people over 60 and those who are immunocompromised continue to be the most at risk. If you have questions, please reference the CDC’s and WHO’s resource guides.

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