When you woke up this morning to find that “demon sperm” was trending on Twitter, did you call the cops? Or did you log off in disgust, because you remembered that the First Amendment only protects speech from government suppression, not content moderation by private companies?
If you managed not to call 911, congratulations! You are smarter than the president, who spent part of his evening whining that Twitter’s trending topics are “illegal.”
The rest of the evening he spent retweeting a video of a Tea Party-convened coven of quack doctors spewing lies about a supposed miracle “cure” for coronavirus on the steps of the Supreme Court.
Yeah, it’s hydroxychloroquine again. It’s always hydroxychloroquine with these loons.
After multiple studies showing the drug does more harm than good for COVID patients, the FDA pulled its emergency authorization for use to treat coronavirus. Which these esteemed medical professionals interpret as a deliberate plan to kill more Americans and ensure Donald Trump is defeated at the polls in November. It’s so obvious!
The star of the video is a Dr. Stella Immanuel who inveighed against masks and lockdowns, called double-blind efficacy studies of hydroxychloroquine unethical, and claimed that she and her staff all take the drug prophylactically without danger.
Here she is demanding Dr. Fauci et al submit to a pee test to prove they aren’t taking the drug themselves.
The Daily Beast notes that Dr. Immanuel believes a whole lot of bizarro nonsense.
Immanuel, a pediatrician and a religious minister, has a history of making bizarre claims about medical topics and other issues. 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. And, despite appearing in Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress on Monday, she has said that the government is run in part not by humans but by “reptilians” and other aliens.
The video went viral, with clips continuing to circulate even after the original post was removed by Twitter, YouTube, and even the notoriously gun-shy mods at Facebook. Trump’s tweet of the video was removed by the platform, and his son Don Jr wound up in Twitter jail for twelve hours for promoting dangerous misinformation during a pandemic.
Or as Republican strategist Andrew Surabian put it, Twitter is “continuing to engage in open election interference — full stop.”
Will Bill Barr and Josh Hawley call for prosecution of Twitter and Facebook for dastardly First Amendment election violations? Not if a higher power gets to them first.
Better watch your back, Zuck! Apparently the man upstairs is as confused about the First Amendment as the man in the Oval Office.
Trump’s New Favorite COVID Doctor Believes in Alien DNA, Demon Sperm, and Hydroxychloroquine [Daily Beast]
Elizabeth Dye (@5DollarFeminist) lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.