TYLENOL-GATE
At a White House press conference on Monday, Trump and R.F.K. Jr. declared that pregnant women shouldn’t take acetaminophen—the active ingredient in Tylenol—because it increases the risk of autism. One of them spoke from experience. Trump admitted that his mother, Mary Anne, would pop a pill or two while pregnant with him to nurse her hangovers. “So, taking Tylenol is not good, all right? I’ll say it. It’s not good,” he said, eyes watering, short orange fingers trembling. (The latter, perhaps, another birth defect courtesy of Mom’s vices.) R.F.K. Jr. backed him up, pointing to F.D.A. studies that suggest a “potential association.” Never mind the 25-year study of 2.5 million children proving the opposite. In the spirit of canceling Colbert and coming for Kimmel, Trump tweeted post-conference: “Aspirin and Ibuprofen, you’re next!!!”
MORE VACCINE-MANIA
Also during the announcement, which Trump is calling the “Big Beautiful Announcement” and experts are calling “the saddest display of a lack of evidence, rumors, recycling of old myths, outright lies, and dangerous advice ever witnessed by anyone in authority in the world claiming to know anything about science,” Trump claimed that the vaccine that prevents measles, mumps, and rubella is linked to autism in children, and that babies shouldn’t receive the hepatitis-B vaccine as the virus is transmitted sexually. (False: babies can be infected from their mother during delivery or through contact with trace amounts of blood or bodily fluids.) He punctuated his remarks with asides sure to instill confidence in parents everywhere, such as “This is based on what I feel” and “I’m not a doctor, but I’m giving my opinion.”
