Four moms of autistic children wrote an editorial that appeared in the New York Times, claiming that they “weren’t surprised” that President Trump “suggested” disinfectant injections as a cure for COVID-19. Because as moms of autistic kids they know things and — most importantly — OrangeManBad.

The New York Times described the four moms as “mothers of autistic children who have been working to prevent medical misinformation.” Well, that’s fine, because there’s a lot of misinformation out there. For example, there are people who promote giving bleach to autistic children to “cure” them. Other alleged cures include chelation therapies which are supposed to remove toxic chemicals from the body; clay baths; drinking raw camel milk; and the ever-popular essential oils. Some of these are dangerous, some are not. However, none will eliminate autism. So good on the moms for being watchdogs for that sort of stuff.

But then they had to beat that drum about President Trump promoting injection of disinfectants to cure COVID-19. Because OrangeManBad.

Now to be sure, Trump made some head-shaking comments last week when he mused about somehow using sunlight or disinfectants as COVID cures. But he never endorsed that anyone go out and literally drink or inject bleach, as his detractors claim.

Here’s what he said:

“Then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that.”

Dr. Deborah Birx also seemed perplexed about those comments, as you can see from this video:

Yeah, I wondered about those comments too, but I chalked it off as the usual Trumpian word salad, where he wonders about stuff out loud and damn the consequences. The man’s filter is askew, and I’ve learned to expect that. He sort of reminds me of my husband, who during a conversation will sometimes make a “what if” comment that comes out of left field. It’s a feature, not a bug, just as it is with Trump. So I would swear on a stack of Bibles that Trump didn’t mean for people to go out and guzzle some Lysol.

Credit: IN2UT/flickr/public domain.

But the autism moms know some bad, bad things concerning people who supposedly influence the president. For example, the leader of a pro-bleach cure group wrote a suspicious letter to Trump just before the Clorox Press Conference. Mark Grenon, the “archbishop” of the Florida group Genesis II, said in a letter to Trump that chlorine dioxide, the “miracle mineral solution,” is “a wonderful detox that can kill 99% of the pathogens in the body” and “can rid the body of Covid-19”. Later, Grenon posted on his Facebook page that MMS had been sent to the White House, adding “Trump has got the MMS and all the info!!! Things are happening folks! Lord help others to see the Truth!”

We don’t know whether or not this quack sent his product to the White House. Even if he did, it probably didn’t even make it through security screening. But the moms wrote that “there has been speculation that he was influenced” by Grenon. Gee, for a bunch that promotes truth, they certainly didn’t check that out before making their assertion, did they?

But then the moms went full anti-Trump by slamming his supporters as no-nothing anti-science knuckle-draggers which everyone at the New York Times accepts as true:

“It is a siege mentality, rooted in the ideology of the anti-vaccine movement, based on anecdotes, conspiracy theories and a fear-mongering distrust of so-called Big Government.”

Now I’m sure these moms don’t like it when people stereotype their autistic children. However, that’s just what they’re doing to people who support the President, amirite?

So what do the four Karens moms say is the best way to squelch the stuff they deem to be misinformation? By fighting it with more speech? By pointing out the fallacies and dangers of quack medicine? Or by being warriors for their noble cause?

Nope, the four moms want . . . you guessed it. . . government regulation!

“. . . .we need a more responsible approach to content management from big tech companies such as Facebook and our regulating authorities.”

There it is: regulating authorities. 

Haven’t we had enough of regulating authorities who have created a mass of confusion during this pandemic crisis? Who have arrested people for playing in parks, or jogging alone on beaches? Or who try to break up park-and-pray church services?

Perhaps those four moms should worry less about something that President Trump did not endorse, and worry about other mothers who have lost their jobs during the shutdown. Or perhaps they should care more about those autistic kids who have been regressing during their schools’ shutdown. Those are the people who are really suffering. I’m pretty sure these Karens are not, because if they can speculate then I can too.

Featured image: Joe Loong/flickr/cropped/CC BY-SA 2.0.