Earlier this month, America missed a goal that should have been easily achieved: President Joe Biden wanted 70% of the nation to have at least one vaccination shot. Republicans, however, think that’s just great — just as reports show that the vast majority of COVID-19 infections and related deaths are happening in places that voted Trump last November. It’s tragic but it’s not surprising. After all, a recent Newsmax segment is only slightly more dangerous than many others beamed across conservative media.
As per The Daily Beast, on Friday, Rob Schmitt, an anchor on the Trump-friendly network, hosted a segment in which he didn’t just call into question the efficacy of vaccines that have been saving lives everywhere they’ve been widely adopted. He also thinks they’re a middle finger to Mother Nature. Or something.
Newsmax host suggests vaccines are “against nature,” and some diseases are “supposed to wipe out a certain amount of people”https://t.co/g1sIdQ949b pic.twitter.com/TgQNFLKAav
— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) July 12, 2021
“Obviously, I’m not a doctor,” Schmitt told one Dr. Peter McCullough, a Fox News regular who in the past has spread vaccine misinformation. He then went on to prove what was already clear. On the subject of vaccines, Schmitt said, “I always think about just nature, and the way everything works, and I feel like a vaccination in a weird way is just generally kind of going against nature.”
He then went further. “Like, I mean, if there is some disease out there—maybe there’s just an ebb and flow to life where something’s supposed to wipe out a certain amount of people, and that’s just kind of the way evolution goes,” Schmitt said. “Vaccines kind of stand in the way of that.”
His guest spouted only slightly more rational things, claiming vaccines should only be used by “highest-risk individuals,” not a “young person” like Schmitt, who’s pushing 40.
Schmitt seemed to agree with that. “Again, it’s like if you’ve got this big risk, I think it might be worth whatever it is,” he said. “But if you don’t have a risk, I just, I can’t comprehend why you would take something—they start learning about the heart inflammation and stuff like that. I just don’t understand why it’s being pushed so hard on people that are very young.”
Upon learning of Schmitt’s next-level attempts at demonizing a public health measure, people on social media were horrified. Some took issue with his policework.
My fact check on Newsmax segment:
1. Natural immunity is not superior to vaccine immunity
2. Young people are being hospitalized and suffering long haul COVID19 leading to grey matter brain degeneration
3. Vaccines are not against nature, diseases wipe out the unvaccinated https://t.co/bu76cmuniu— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) July 12, 2021
Some pointed out that it’s odd to decry vaccinations when the disease it targets is currently targeting Newsmax viewers by a wide margin.
Seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy for Newsmax’s viewers https://t.co/T7qLH7TB0Y
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) July 12, 2021
Newsmax is killing it’s viewers.
— Mayo (@MayoIsSpicyy) July 12, 2021
Some even thought it sounded a bit too close to comfort like eugenics.
I’m sure this @Newsmax host doesn’t think of himself as spouting classic Nazi #eugenics propaganda – the rhetoric that led to the gassing of disabled folks under Hitler. I bet his colleagues don’t interrupt him to say, “Rob, that’s Nazi stuff!” But it is. https://t.co/cwmZNMUW4W
— Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) July 12, 2021
Fox News: Liberals are the real racists and believe in eugenics.
Newsmax: Vaccines only allow the weak to survive!
pic.twitter.com/U1YvJ34js6— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) July 12, 2021
And some accused the pro-Trump network of taking “own the libs” to a deadly extreme.
‘Surprising amount of death’ will soon occur in these US regions from increased Covid-19 cases, expert says- people are choosing death to own the libs. Because Fox, Newsmax talk against vaccines. https://t.co/ap6ofkameJ
— Barbara Malmet (@B52Malmet) July 12, 2021
Just so we’re all clear of this: Please get vaccinated. There’s no reason to put your life at risk, or those who might contract COVID from you, just because a guy on a channel where they compare a failed blogger to Batman told you so.
(Via The Daily Beast)