Trump and Tylenol: A Comedy Of Errors or Much Ado About Nothing
- jim Young
“Whose tongue soe'er speaks false, not truly speaks; who speaks not truly, lies. ”- William Shakespeare, King John
On September 22, with United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at his side, Trump made an announcement condemning the use of Tylenol by pregnant women.
Years of research has shown there is no link between acetaminophen and autism but now Trump and Kennedy do. Tylenol is considered the only safe and effective pain and fever medication for pregnant women that should still only be taken as needed and only after consulting with your doctor.
With no scientific evidence to support him, Trump claims there is a link between acetaminophen and the increase in autism among women who take Tylenol during pregnancy, based on things he’s “heard”, “rumours about” and what he “thinks” all the while admitting, “I’m not so careful about what I say.”
As an alternative, Trump offers only a suggestion for pregnant women to “tough it out” if they can.
“For this reason they are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary. That’s for instance in the cases of extremely high fever that you feel you can’t tough it out, you can’t do it. I guess there’s that. It’s a small number of cases I think, but if you can’t tough it out, if you can’t do it, uh. That’s what you’re gonna have to do. You’ll take a Tylenol, but it will be very sparingly.”
How is what Trump is suggesting here any different than what is already recommended for pregnant women using Tylenol? Trump seems to be approving the use of Tylenol in these circumstances because he “thinks” it’s a “small number of cases”.
Way to conduct your research, Don!
Why is Trump making unfounded claims linking autism and Tylenol anyway? It’s not like he’s recommending a course of action that isn’t already in place. Why doesn’t Trump provide funding for more research to see if any of the “rumours” or “things he’s heard” or “thinks” are true if he’s so concerned about it? Of course Trump’s never been known to put his money where his mouth is.
Could it be that this is really no more than a thinly veiled diversion to distract attention from the Jeffery Epstein case? He’s never done that before.
Trump’s performance was laughable, ironically so, since he seems to have so little tolerance for comedians these days. The difference being, the comedic crackdown that Trump has pursued of late involves comedy based on truth whereas there is little, if any, reality to any of Trump's comedic claims about Tylenol and autism.
But let’s take a moment for some comic relief and look at Trump’s performance that gives even Bill Cosby a run for his money. I compared Trump to Bill Cosby as, besides being comedians, they are both convicted sex offenders, except for Bill Cosby. Cosby’s conviction has been overturned while Trump’s hasn’t.
“And by the way, I think I can say that there are certain groups of people that don’t take vaccines and don’t take any pills that have no autism; that have no autism. Does that tell you something?”
Actually it doesn't, Don. There’s probably a few hundred other things that they’re not taking that likely also have no connection with autism.
And by the way, what’s with “I think I can say”? Aside from being the lead-in to a vastly vague claim, it’s not very reassuring coming from a world leader that is speaking about what should be hard factual evidence.
I know people that have smoked all their lives and don’t have cancer. Does that tell you something? Or how about this one? I know people who are convicted felons that have actually served jail time.
“Is that a correct statement by the way?”
Seriously? The president of the United States is holding a press conference and has to check with his staff to make sure the statement he just made is correct? Way to instill confidence in your supporters, Don!
Kennedy speaking:“There are some studies that suggest that, with the Amish, for example.”
The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services isn’t going to go out on a limb on this one. Not even for his boss. Probably because Kennedy knows it’s not true. More about that later.
Even Trump’s “yes-men” won’t give Trump the simple “yes” he’s looking for.
“The Amish, yeah, virtually. I heard no, I heard none.”
What is a world leader doing making statements about things he’s “heard”? Isn’t that kind of like spreading a rumour? Is that the best the president of the United States has to offer his people? That he’s making decisions on things he’s “heard” that seem to contradict what even his own people are telling him?
Regardless, you heard wrong Don. There absolutely is autism within the Amish community. For a man who has so much access to information… you sure get a lot of things wrong. STAY OFF THE PORN SITES!
“Bobby wants to be very careful with what he says and he should but I’m not so careful with what I say.”
NEWS FLASH, DONNIE! It’s no secret that you’re not careful with what you say. EVERYBODY already knows it. What does THAT tell you about a world leader that is not only not careful about what he says, but he BRAGS about it?
“But you have certain groups. The Amish as an example. They have essentially no autism.”
Trump just said he heard it was “none”? Now, just 11 seconds later it’s changed to "essentially no autism”? What’s next? “basically none”, “hardly any”, “some”, “a few”, “okay lots”? That should only take another 55 seconds to get there.
“Aceto. Well, let’s see how we say that. I aceta aminophen. Acetaminophen. Is that okay?”
I have no comments for this clip. It was just too funny to pass over. Feel free to click on it 2 or 3 times for chuckles whenever you’re feeling gloomy about something.
“Which is basically, commonly known as Tylenol during pregnancy can be associated with a very increased risk of autism.”
“Very increased?” You would think a president who signed an executive order to make English the official language of his country might have a better command of his own official language. Once again Trump struggles with the language. Perhaps Donnie could take lessons from Liberian President Joseph Boakai or maybe even his wife Melania.
Aside from that, the message that Trump was struggling to get across here is wrong anyway. Only in Trump’s wildest imagination is “Tylenol during pregnancy … associated with a very increased risk of autism.”
“So taking Tylenol… is… umm… not good, or I’ll say it. It’s not good.”
Once again Don had to struggle for the correct words to use in English before finally settingly on “not good.” Good choice Donnie. But why did the emphasis suddenly shift from acetaminophen to Tylenol other than the word Tylenol rolls more smoothly off Don’s tongue?
Better not let Donnie know that there are over 600 prescription and over-the-counter medicines that contain acetaminophen or he’ll start “thinking” about what else might be caused by taking things like NyQuil, Excedrin, Alka-Seltzer Plus or Robitussin.
THERE it is. In case you were wondering if Donnie was just acting on things “he’s heard” or things “he thinks”, now Trump confesses that he’s making government policy based on RUMOURS while admitting he doesn’t “know if it’s so or not.” What’s Kennedy Jr.’s job again? He’s already proven he doesn’t even make a good “yes man”. Shouldn’t Bobby be checking these rumours out BEFORE Donnie reaches any conclusions?
“... that Cuba, they don’t have Tylenol because they don’t have the money for Tylenol.”
I won’t even mention the obvious hypocrisy here being that the reason Cuba doesn’t have money for Tylenol is because of the sanctions against Cuba that have been imposed by Trump. Oops. Too late. I said it. Sorry.
“And they have virtually no autism. Ok. Tell me about that one.”
Here we go with the “virtually” again. If Cuba has so little autism why are they wasting the money they don’t have for Tylenol on clinics to treat Cubans with autism?
But you know what else Cuba doesn’t have besides Tylenol? Resources to properly diagnose autism. Just because everyone isn’t tested for autism, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It’s been suggested that one of the reasons for the increase in autism in general today is that more cases that were misdiagnosed in the past are being properly identifed as autism today. How many people have to be diagnosed with autism to raise that magical but non-scientific number from “virtually” to a “few” or to “many”.
“And there are other parts of the world where they don’t have Tylenol where they don’t have autism. That tells you a lot.”
Actually it doesn’t tell anyone much, Don. There’s probably a lot of other things that a country that can’t afford Tylenol doesn’t have. It doesn’t necessarily mean there's a link between them. Once again, countries that can’t afford Tylenol probably don’t have the resources to diagnose autism.
But hey! Using the same logic that Donnie is using here, I could make the claim that countries that have strict gun control laws have virtually no mass shootings. Or to put it in words that Trump might use, "Guns - not good!"
In the meantime, about that Jeffery Epstein case…
“And I want to say it right now. You know the way I look at it? Don’t take it. Don’t take it. There’s no downside in not taking it… You know life is common sense too. And there’s a lot of common sense in this, and I wish things like this were brought up and this group has worked so hard on it, but I’d like to be a little bit more, a little speedier in the process of a recommendation because there’s no harm in going quicker. There’s absolutely no harm. At worst there’s no harm.”
You know what else there’s no downside in doing, Donnie? Do you know what else is common sense? Do you know what else should be a little speedier? And what else there would be no harm in going quicker on?
Releasing the Epstein Files.
Nothing bad can happen if you release the Epstein files.
“There is absolutely no harm. At worst there’s no harm.”
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