Mad Money host Jim Cramer is aghast that “so many smart people” could have fallen for Elizabeth Holmes’ bullsh*t blood-testing devices. On Tuesday morning, just hours after Holmes was found guilty on four federal counts of defrauding investors, the shouty CNBC personality took to Twitter to express his utter amazement that anyone with half a brain could be taken in by the crazy-eyed Theranos co-founder.
Theranos– how could so many smart people be faked out on that board?
— Jim Cramer (@jimcramer) January 4, 2022
What Cramer neglected to mention, or perhaps remember, was the time he interviewed Holmes and openly gushed over how dang brilliant she was. It didn’t take long for Twitter to remind him.
Jim Cramer on Elizabeth Holmes 2015…
“To me, it’s reasonable to compare you to Steve Jobs and what he did for computing”
“I regard you as a visionary, next-generation person”@JimCramer @EHolmes2003 @Theranos April 2015
BOOYAH! @CNBC pic.twitter.com/0YOclU4VVb
— GuruLeaks (@Guruleaks1) January 4, 2022
In a video clip that has now been widely retweeted (mostly at Cramer), he’s practically drooling as he tells Holmes, “I usually don’t do this,” then proceeds to compare her to “Steve Jobs and what he did for computing.” As if the fawning nature of his intended compliment wasn’t obvious, Cramer went on, telling Holmes that “I regard you as a visionary, next-generation person.”
Cramer, of course, was not alone in his effusive awe of Holmes and what Theranos was creating… probably because she had dared to do the impossible, which turned out to actually be impossible. Holmes (knowingly falsely) claimed to have built a blood-testing device that could detect a variety of diseases and conditions with just a small needle prick.
There is definitely at least one prick in that lost interview from 2015, and it appears to be Cramer.
But Cramer was far from the smartest person Holmes ended up scamming. Her supposed creation was so revolutionary, for both technology and medicine, that at one point Theranos’ “all-star” board of directors included such heavy-hitting names as former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry, former U.S. Senator and heart-transplant surgeon Bill Frist, and USMC general James Mattis.
Good thing Cramer didn’t fall for it and publicly marvel at how Holmes was “disrupting the world” or congratulating her on “all the success you’ve had” or admitting that “I sure hope you win”… oh, wait…
You can watch the sycophantic clip above.