A new message from your friends at People For the American Way.
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Friend,

Welcome to our weekly “Trumptastrophe” email series that serves to remind
us of the destructive policies, decisions, and actions we encountered
during the Trump presidency and the threats that he and others in the MAGA
movement still pose – and to keep those moments clear in our memory as we
fight to defeat Republican extremists during the upcoming elections.

This week’s Trumptastrophe brings into focus the dangerous – and deadly –
misinformation that was spread by Trump and his right-wing allies during
the COVID-19 pandemic:

On April 23, 2020, Trump put on a notorious [ [link removed] ]display at a press
conference about the rapidly spreading COVID-19 virus, musing about using
light and disinfectant as potential treatments. From the New York Times
coverage:

Experts [ [link removed] ]have long warned that ultraviolet lamps can harm humans if
used improperly — when the exposure is outside the body, much less
inside. The link between ultraviolet light and skin cancer is well
established. Bleach and other disinfectants may kill microbes but they
also can kill humans if swallowed or if fumes are too powerful. That is
why bottles of bleach and other disinfectants carry sharp warnings of
ingestion dangers.

Mr. Trump’s comments prompted an explosion of warnings about the dangers
of any improvised remedies. Emergency management officials in Washington
State [ [link removed] ]posted a warning on Twitter. “Please don’t eat tide pods or
inject yourself with any kind of disinfectant,” they wrote, before
urging the public to rely only on official medical advice about
Covid-19. “Just don’t make a bad situation worse.”

Those fears were not unwarranted. A month earlier, an Arizona man [ [link removed] ]died
after eating a fish tank additive that included chloroquine, which Trump
had falsely called a potential “game-changer” in a White House briefing.

As COVID-19 spread in the spring of 2020, Trump’s allies [ [link removed] ]feared that
the pandemic and the economic disruptions it was causing could harm
Trump’s re-election chances. A few weeks after Trump’s speculation about
injecting disinfectant, the secretive right-wing Council for National
Policy had [ [link removed] ]a phone call to strategize about minimizing the threats to
Trump’s political prospects. They schemed to activate “extremely pro-Trump
doctors” to shift the public conversation. More from [ [link removed] ]TIME magazine:

Eight days later, conservative groups publicized a letter signed by more
than 500 doctors calling the lockdowns a “mass casualty event.” The lead
signatory was Dr. Simone Gold, a licensed emergency-room physician and
Stanford-educated lawyer who [ [link removed] ]was working as a part-time, independent
contractor in a hospital in Bakersfield, Calif. Ten weeks after the
letter’s release, Gold was standing on the steps of the Supreme Court as
the founder of [America’s Front Line Doctors] as Rep. Ralph Norman, a
South Carolina Republican, thanked the white-coated physicians for
coming to “tell us the truth.” The event was hosted and funded by the
Tea Party Patriots, a pro-Trump right-wing group.

Trump re-tweeted video of the press conference, and right-wing media
amplified the message by interviewing the doctors. America’s Frontline
Doctors and their founder Simone Gold downplayed the severity of the
epidemic, promoted unproven cures like [ [link removed] ]hydroxychloroquine and
[ [link removed] ]ivermectin, spread anti-vaccine disinformation, and rallied opposition
to vaccine and mask requirements in workplaces.

America’s Frontline Doctors [ [link removed] ]partnered with right-wing activists like
Tea Party Patriots. That July, Gold spread her message even further in an
[ [link removed] ]appearance on TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk’s show. Other Trump-aligned
groups, like the religious-right Liberty Counsel, [ [link removed] ]promoted AFLD
misinformation.

The disinformation spread by America’s Frontline Doctors and its allies
was [ [link removed] ]deadly; the daughter of one man who died after postponing
treatment and self-medicating with ivermectin called it “death by
deception.”

But, like Trump himself, Gold reportedly figured out how to [ [link removed] ]live large
on the donations she raked in from MAGA activists, including private jets
and a mansion purchased with millions in AFLD funds.

Gold spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally in D.C. on the eve of the Jan. 6,
2021 insurrection, and was eventually sentenced to 60 days in jail for
[ [link removed] ]entering the U.S. Capitol that day. When she got out of jail, she
[ [link removed] ]re-joined the never-ending MAGA movement grift parade and [ [link removed] ]fought
for control of AFLD.

Trump’s notorious press conference may in the end have contributed in some
way to his rejection by voters six months later. As former Obama press
secretary Robert Gibbs [ [link removed] ]said later, “This was the moment where we knew
without any doubt that the government was in way over its head, and its
ability to both respond effectively and educate Americans about what to do
was not going to be anywhere close to meeting the moment.”

At the time of Trump’s April 2020 remarks, comedian Sarah Cooper’s
[ [link removed] ]viral send-up brought Americans much-needed laughter at a difficult
time. But Trump’s press conference was evidence of the serious danger
posed by the self-serving disinformation that he and his MAGA movement
spread relentlessly—about everything from science to election fraud—which
threatens Americans’ lives as well as our democracy.

These are just some of the reasons we need YOU in this
fight. So, find your
favorite way to unwind after reading through this week’s recap, and then
make a plan for how you will fight back this week, this month, this
election cycle.

For members who are interested in sharing the weekly Trumptastrophe
series, [ [link removed] ]you can find all previous editions on our website! This post
will be published by Thursday so you can share with your friends and
family and remind them of the importance of ensuring that Trump is
defeated again this November.

[ [link removed] ]If you’d like to opt-out of this series but still continue receiving
our other email content, you can do so here >>

Thanks for all that you do to defeat Republican extremism.

– People For the American Way

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Thanks for your support.

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