Explainer: Trump on autism | Tylenol is bad, m’kay? And so are vaccines

Donald Trump, possibly the least-qualified person on the planet to make medical recommendations – “disinfectant,” anyone? – is now taking on Tylenol, which he said Monday is the cause of autism.

I wish I was making this up.

“Effective immediately, the FDA will be notifying physicians of the use of a-ceeta, well, let’s see, how do we say that, a-seena- enophin, acetaminophen, is that OK, which is basically commonly known as Tylenol, during pregnancy can be associated with a very increased risk of autism. Taking Tylenol is not good. It’s not good. For this reason, they are strongly recommending women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy,” Trump said at a White House event on Monday.

The people on the dais with Trump at the event: Dr. Oz – not making that up, either; Dr. Oz runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – along with two COVID-denier docs, Marty Makary (FDA) and Jay Bhattacharya (National Institutes of Health), and of course, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who strengthens his immune system by swimming in sewage.

In addition to the edict from the murderer’s row on Tylenol, Trump announced Monday that his FDA has approved a chemotherapy drug, leucovorin, as a treatment to alleviate symptoms of autism.

Leucovorin has shown in clinical trials that it can help some children with autism improve their speech, but studies of the effectiveness on a wider scale are still very, very early.

How early: the data in favor of treatment with leucovorin is “from four small randomized controlled trials, all using different doses and different outcomes, and in one case, reliant on a specific genetic variant,” according to the Autism Science Foundation.

It would be fair to assume that the pharmaceutical companies who make leucovorin are on Team Trump.

And, that the makers of Tylenol are not.

Kenvue, the spinoff of the pharma giant Johnson & Johnson that owns the Tylenol brand, issued a statement on the Trump announcement making the claim that “rigorous research, endorsed by leading medical professionals and global health regulators, confirms there is no credible evidence linking acetaminophen to autism.”

“We believe independent, sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism. We strongly disagree with any suggestion otherwise and are deeply concerned with the health risk this poses for expecting mothers,” the company said.

But why believe Kenvue when you have Trump spouting off the top of his head?

There’s no good answer there, but you knew that already.

As you can guess, with RFK Jr. on the scene, vaccines also came up. Kennedy insisted that he’s “never seen a case of full-blown autism in a 70-year-old man. You’re only seeing it in the kids. It’s an epidemic,” against fact-checks on that claim, which he makes repeatedly, telling us that more than 90 percent of autistic people over the age of 50 are just undiagnosed.

The more you know

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You know your MAGA mother-in-law is going to bring this up at Thanksgiving.

To get you ready, here’s a sampling of actual quotes from Trump at today’s presser, beginning with the dangers of Tylenol:

• “I think you shouldn’t take it. You shouldn’t take it during the entire pregnancy. They may tell you, toward the end of the pregnancy. You shouldn’t take it during the entire.”
• “For instance, in cases of extremely high fever that you feel you can’t tough it out, you can’t do it, I guess there is that. It’s a small number of cases, I think. But if you can’t tough it out, if you can’t do it, that’s what you’re gonna have to do. You’ll take a Tylenol, but it will be very sparingly. It can be something that’s very dangerous to the woman’s health. In other words, a fever that’s very, very dangerous, and ideally a doctor’s decision.”
• “I just recommend strongly that you don’t use Tylenol. I just want to say it like it is. Don’t take Tylenol. Don’t take it! Fight like hell not to take it.”
• “Taking Tylenol is, uh, not good. I’ll say it. It’s not good.”

Here were a couple of reporter questions and Trump answers on Tylenol:

• Q: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists put out a statement saying ‘acetaminophen remains a safe option for pain relief during pregnancy.’ That’s at odds with you.
  TRUMP: That’s the establishment. They’re funded by lots of different groups. And you know what? Maybe they’re right.
• Q: Why do you think we haven’t heard more previously about the tie to autism and acetaminophen?
  TRUMP: Nobody knows. I don’t know. When you say it, you get attacked.

And finally, Trump on vaccines and autism:

• “It doesn’t exist with the Amish community, and they don’t take all this junk. It doesn’t exist.”
• “For some reason, they insist that you put it all into the body, and maybe that’s the drug companies make more money that way. Maybe it’s the doctors because they get more money. Who the hell knows what it is. Don’t do it.”
• “It’s too much liquid. Too many different things are going into that baby at too big a number. The size of this thing, when you look at it, it’s, like, 80 different vaccines, and beyond vaccines.”
• “They’re pumping, it looks like they’re pumping into a horse. You have a little child, a little fragile child, and you get a vat of 80 different vaccines, I guess, 80 different blends, and they pump it in.”
• “It’s so important to me, to see the doctor four times or five times for a vaccine. Don’t let them pump your baby up with the largest pile of stuff you’ve ever seen in your life, going into the delicate little body of a baby.”
• “We want no mercury in the vaccine. We want no aluminum in the vaccine. The MMR I think should be taken separately. This is based on what I feel. The mumps, measles, the … all three should be taken separately. It seems to be that when you mix them, there could be a problem.”
• “Hepatitis B again, that’s sexually transmitted, and I think you should wait until 12, you know. I’m making these statements from me. I’m not making them from these doctors … I talk about a lot of common sense.”