Dr. Trump: The Quack Can See You Now.
Trump, Kennedy and Oz Lie to the American People Putting Pregnant Women and their Babies at Risk.
There’s a particular quality to the silence that follows a truly catastrophic public pronouncement. I remember it vividly from that surreal COVID briefing when Trump floated the idea of injecting bleach into our veins as some sort of pandemic cure. It wasn’t just the hush that fell over that particular room in the White House, it was the collective intake of breath in conference rooms, laboratories, and medical facilities around the world, where actual experts sat frozen in disbelief. I still have the moment documented somewhere in my notes, marking it as the precise instant when some of the most devoted Trumpers finally fell off the turnip truck.
But here we are again, and apparently our national attention span has shrunk to that of a housefly. January 6th, the bleach moment, all of it somehow forgotten in the rush to hand the keys back to Dr. Disaster for another joyride. There really is something to be said about the deadly consistency of stupid people in America, matched only by the consistency of a sociopathic liar playing doctor. Both lead, inevitably, to disaster.
The latest version of the medical Gong Show came courtesy of what can only be described as a confidence-breaking triumvirate: Trump flanked by RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz, announcing with great fanfare that Tylenol—common, garden-variety acetaminophen—is apparently the real culprit behind autism. Kennedy, with the emotional range of a lizard and hide to match, looked positively satiated as Trump validated his pivot from vaccines to acetaminophen. One has to admire the sheer audacity of it all—all those misguided scientists chasing vaccines down the rabbit hole when the real villain was sitting in medicine cabinets across America all along. Damn Tylenol, indeed.
But watching this performance, I couldn’t help wondering whether I was witnessing something even more calculated and cynical than usual. Was this entire spectacle nothing more than Trump’s desperate attempt to defend his catastrophically irresponsible appointment of RFK Jr.? Having handed the keys to America’s health agencies to a man whose relationship with scientific evidence is roughly equivalent to a vampire’s relationship with sunlight, Trump may have found himself in the uncomfortable position of needing to validate Kennedy’s brand of medical lunacy. What better way to game this disastrous decision than to come out loud and proud in support of the very pseudoscience that defines RFK Jr.’s entire public persona?
The alternative explanation is somehow even more disturbing—that Trump has become as genuinely delusional as Kennedy himself, fully convinced that his gut instincts about complex medical issues somehow trump decades of rigorous scientific research. Either possibility should terrify anyone who cares about evidence-based medicine, but the calculated cynicism might actually be worse than the genuine delusion. At least delusion suggests some authentic belief system, however warped. Cynical manipulation suggests a willingness to sacrifice public health on the altar of political expediency.
Dr. Oz, meanwhile, spent the entire event with what I can only describe as Kash Patel eyes—shifty, avoiding contact, the look of a man who knows he’s peddling pure bullshit but has bills to pay. The whole performance reached peak absurdity when Trump, attempting to sound medically authoritative, couldn’t even manage to pronounce “acetaminophen” correctly, mangling the word with the same confident incompetence he brings to every subject he doesn’t understand. Here was a man declaring war on a medication whose name he couldn’t pronounce, explaining its dangers to a nation while butchering basic medical terminology. Between this Tylenol fiasco and his disastrous week with Kimmel, Trump’s medical misinformation tour was hitting new lows, and I won’t even dignify his UN performance with commentary.
But let’s cut through the theater and get to what actually matters. Two words should help anyone understand the profound ignorance on display in Trump’s latest medical pronouncement: polygenic and teratogenic. If you take nothing else from this piece, understand this—what Trump claimed was wrong, unsupported by data, and dangerous.
The concept of polygenic disease causation is fundamental to understanding conditions like autism, yet it’s precisely what Trump’s reductive thinking cannot grasp. Unlike the fairy-tale simplicity of monogenic disorders where a single gene causes a condition like Huntington’s disease or cystic fibrosis, polygenic conditions arise from the complex interplay of multiple genetic variants, the environment and other factors. Each contributing gene typically exerts only a small individual effect, but when these variants cluster together in certain combinations and in the right conditions, they can substantially increase disease risk.
Consider cancer, which exemplifies polygenic complexity. Most cancers involve mutations in multiple genes controlling cell growth, DNA repair, and cell death. Breast cancer, for instance, may involve variants in BRCA1, BRCA2, and dozens of other genes, each contributing to overall risk in ways that would make Trump’s head spin. Autism spectrum disorders follow a similar pattern, with researchers having identified hundreds of genetic variants that may contribute to autism risk. While some rare cases do involve single gene mutations, most autism results from the combined effects of many common genetic variants and possibly the environment in ways we still do not understand.
This polygenic reality creates characteristics that confound simple explanations. These diseases show continuous distribution in populations rather than simple presence or absence, they cluster in families without following clear inheritance patterns, and they demonstrate variable penetrance, meaning that having risk genes doesn’t guarantee developing the condition. Most importantly, they involve environmental interactions where genes create susceptibility, but environmental factors often trigger disease onset.
Scientists now calculate polygenic risk scores by summing up the effects of many genetic variants to estimate individual predisposition to various conditions. It’s sophisticated work that’s revolutionizing personalized medicine, but it requires the kind of nuanced thinking that’s antithetical to Trump’s need for villains and simple solutions.
Which brings us to teratogenicity, the second concept that exposes the poverty of Trump’s medical theater. Teratogenic refers to substances that cause birth defects or developmental abnormalities in developing fetuses, derived from the Greek words for “monster” and “origin.” Real teratogens interfere with normal embryonic and fetal development, potentially causing structural malformations, growth retardation, functional deficits, or fetal death. The severity depends on timing of exposure, dose, duration, and genetic susceptibility, with the first trimester typically being the most critical period when organs are forming.
The roster of actual teratogens reads like a medical horror show. Thalidomide caused devastating limb defects in the 1950s and 60s, leading to the modern drug safety regime. Isotretinoin causes craniofacial and heart defects. Warfarin leads to bleeding disorders and bone abnormalities. Some anticonvulsants like valproic acid cause neural tube defects and cognitive impairment. Infectious agents like rubella virus cause deafness, heart defects, cataracts, and intellectual disability. Environmental chemicals like mercury cause neurological damage, lead causes developmental delays, and alcohol causes fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. High-dose radiation causes growth retardation, intellectual disability, and increased cancer risk.
These are clear, documented causal relationships with obvious mechanisms and devastating effects. The thalidomide tragedy alone led to fundamental changes in how medications are evaluated for pregnancy safety, precisely because the causal relationship was undeniable and the effects were catastrophic.
So where does acetaminophen fit into this? The truth is complicated in ways that don’t suit politics. Tylenol is currently not classified as a teratogen, but the question has become a topic of significant research and debate. Traditional medical guidance has long considered acetaminophen the safest pain reliever during pregnancy, and it remains the only over-the-counter drug approved for treating fevers during pregnancy. However, recent studies have created genuine scientific controversy around its safety profile.
The research landscape presents a perfect example of how science actually works, as opposed to how Trump pretends it works. A 2025 systematic review of 46 studies found evidence of an association between prenatal acetaminophen use and increased risk of autism and ADHD. Multiple large-scale studies have found correlations between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and subsequent diagnosis of these conditions. But then a major 2024 study of 2.4 million children in Sweden found no significant associations between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and children’s risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability. When researchers looked specifically at sibling pairs where mothers took acetaminophen during one pregnancy but not another, the elevated risk disappeared entirely.
Here’s the crucial limitation that exposes the intellectual bankruptcy of Trump’s position. Researchers have been unable to separate the effects of the underlying conditions that acetaminophen treats—fever, infection, pain—from the medication itself. This distinction is absolutely critical because if a pregnant person is hospitalized with an infection, the likelihood that their child will develop autism increases by approximately 30 percent. The infection itself, not the treatment, may be driving the association.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists maintains that “in more than two decades of research on the use of acetaminophen in pregnancy, not a single reputable study has successfully concluded that the use of acetaminophen in any trimester of pregnancy causes neurodevelopmental disorders in children.” The FDA has initiated a process for potential label changes to reflect emerging research, but emphasizes that a causal relationship has not been established.
Unlike classic teratogens that cause clear structural birth defects through obvious mechanisms, acetaminophen’s potential risks remain uncertain and controversial. The current evidence suggests possible associations rather than definitive causal relationships, and the medication remains essential for treating conditions during pregnancy that could themselves harm the developing fetus.
Which brings us to the most damning aspect of Trump’s medical malpractice. Acetaminophen serves two primary functions that can be literally life-saving during pregnancy. As an analgesic, it treats headaches, muscle aches, back pain, arthritis pain, toothaches, menstrual cramps, and minor injuries. As an antipyretic, it reduces fever from infections, which is where Trump’s ignorance becomes genuinely dangerous.
Fever during pregnancy poses several significant, well-documented risks to both developing fetuses and mothers. People who experience fever just before or during early pregnancy are more than twice as likely to have babies with neural tube defects compared to those who don’t have fevers. A comprehensive review found that experiencing fever during the first trimester may increase the chance of babies being born with oral clefts, congenital heart defects, and neural tube defects by 1.5 to 3 times. Duke researchers have found evidence suggesting that fever itself, not its underlying cause, can interfere with heart and jaw development during the critical first three to eight weeks of pregnancy.
The neurodevelopmental risks are equally concerning. Research shows fever during pregnancy can affect fetal brain development, particularly between 13 and 27 weeks gestation, when fever-associated inflammatory markers may directly affect maternal immune cell homeostasis, leading to defects in fetal brain architecture. A 2018 analysis found a link between maternal fevers and autism, particularly when fever occurred during the second trimester, with more frequent fevers further elevating the likelihood.
The timing makes these risks even more acute. Fever during the first trimester, when organ formation is most critical, poses the greatest threat. Temperatures higher than 102 degrees during the first trimester require immediate treatment, and temperatures above 103 degrees may increase autism spectrum disorder risk. Later pregnancy fevers increase the risk of preterm labor.
When fever occurs during pregnancy, 22 percent of cases develop maternal or fetal complications. The causes range from common viral infections and influenza to more serious conditions like pyelonephritis, chorioamnionitis, listeriosis, or toxoplasmosis. Each represents a genuine threat that requires prompt medical attention and appropriate treatment.
Here’s what makes Trump’s anti-Tylenol crusade so unconscionable. Research shows that the chance of autism in fetuses exposed to fever is actually lower when women take anti-fever medication during pregnancy. Most pregnant people can safely take acetaminophen to lower dangerous temperatures. The CDC recommends 400 micrograms of folic acid daily during pregnancy to reduce neural tube defect risk, even in the presence of fever. These findings suggest that promptly treating fever during pregnancy can reduce the risk of birth defects that might otherwise require surgical correction and cause serious lifelong health complications.
The research emphasizes that fever itself, not just underlying infections, can be harmful, making prompt medical attention and appropriate fever reduction crucial for protecting fetal development. When Trump and his medical misfits suggest that pregnant women should avoid Tylenol, they’re potentially condemning fetuses to the very developmental problems they claim to want to prevent. It’s not just scientifically illiterate—it’s dangerous medical advice that could harm real babies and real families.
We’ve seen this movie before. Trump’s particular brand of medical quackery follows a predictable pattern of identifying complex problems that require nuanced solutions, then offering simple explanations that satisfy his base’s need for villains and easy answers. The bleach moment during COVID revealed the same pathological thinking—faced with a pandemic requiring sophisticated public health responses, he reached for household cleaning products. Now, confronted with the genuine complexity of autism’s polygenic origins and the legitimate medical need to treat fever during pregnancy, he’s found his new villain in a medicine cabinet staple.
The consistency is both remarkable and terrifying. Stupid people in America continue to embrace these deadly simplicities, while sociopathic liars continue to exploit their willingness to believe that complex problems have simple solutions. The question isn’t whether Trump will pivot to his next medical conspiracy theory—it’s how much damage will be done to vulnerable pregnant women and their babies before he moves on to his next target.
In the end, Trump’s Tylenol gambit represents something more sinister than mere ignorance. Whether it’s calculated damage control for the RFK Jr. appointment or genuine descent into Kennedy-level delusion, it’s the weaponization of medical misinformation for political gain, regardless of the human cost. Real families will suffer from this advice. Real babies may be harmed by untreated maternal fevers. Real pregnant women may endure unnecessary pain and anxiety because the man they trust as president has decided that validating his health secretary’s pseudoscientific obsessions is more important than protecting public health.
The most chilling aspect of this entire performance may be that we can’t definitively say whether Trump is cynically manipulating scientific discourse to cover for an indefensible appointment, or whether he’s genuinely bought into Kennedy’s anti-science worldview. Both possibilities represent a fundamental betrayal of presidential responsibility, but the cynical calculation might be worse. At least genuine delusion suggests some twisted form of authentic belief. Cynical manipulation suggests a willingness to sacrifice the health of pregnant women and their babies to defend a political decision he knows was wrong.
Write to me if you would like a list of references used in the preparation of this article. josh@thepowellhousepress.com
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