Joseph Wyatt: The president and Dr. Immanuel (Opinion)

Now that President Donald Trump has endorsed a doctor who believes our medical problems are caused by copulating with ghost-like spirits, our worries about paying rent may be put aside, because, surely, this is a sign that the apocalypse looms.

In his frantic search for evidence to support hydroxychloroquine for treatment of COVID-19, Mr. Trump has retweeted the anti-science absurdities of Dr. Stella Immanuel. Not only does the Houston doctor praise the drug as a treatment for the pandemic disease, which it is not — as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention points out — she says masks are not needed, although they are. After sharing a video of Dr. Immanuel, the president said recently, “I thought she was very impressive,” and was, “spectacular in her statements,” and that she is “a great doctor.”

In contrast, the closer one looks, the more suspect the doctor’s cogitations become. She claims that “there is a cure for COVID-19,” when, clearly, such a cure does not exist.

Although she isn’t a credible physician, for entertainment value, Houston’s Dr. Immanuel is indeed “spectacular.” The “great doctor” apparently cannot decide whether she is practicing medicine or religion. According to The Washington Post, the Daily Beast and other media outlets, one of her quotes includes, “They are trying to create a vaccine to make you immune from religion.” If that doesn’t kick your critical-thinking gene into high gear, she also claims that “astral sex” causes endometriosis, cysts, infertility and some potentially embarrassing bedroom problems.

The doctor, who has been practicing medicine in Texas for less than a year and, according to the Houston Chronicle, is the target of a wrongful-death lawsuit in Louisiana, defines astral sex as copulation with “spirit husbands” and “spirit wives.”

When, during his July 29 news conference, the president’s attention was drawn to the doctor’s belief that supernatural sex is causing everything from painful female conditions to erectile dysfunction, Mr. Trump refused to denounce her crazy talk. Instead, he responded that he didn’t know Dr. Immanuel, then immediately retreated, exiting stage right.

The president’s thoughtless endorsement of the confused ramblings of a reality-averse doctor must be taken for what they are — symptoms of a president who isn’t up to the job, yet who considers himself, and is considered by his more enthusiastic supporters, to be of superior abilities.

As his niece, Dr. Mary Trump, describes in her recent book, the president is, at best, possessed of mediocre talent, yet thinks that he is a superman. Ms. Trump writes, “Nonetheless, Donald’s displays of confidence, his belief that society’s rules didn’t apply to him and his exaggerated display of self-worth drew some people to him. A large minority of people still confuse his arrogance for strength, his false bravado for accomplishment and his superficial interest in them for charisma.”

And therein we find a challenge that cannot be avoided. In November, shall we stick with a man whose character and discernment are so weak that he stubbornly refuses to denounce the strange beliefs of a physician/witchdoctor or will we conclude that he, by his personality, style and abilities, is simply unable to serve effectively as president?

Will we act in ways that scripture terms “stiff-necked,” by refusing to reexamine our devotion to a president who does not deserve our esteem?

The decision shouldn’t be difficult. Yet, sometimes our calcified refusals to admit our mistakes can haunt us like nests of yellow jackets and thickets of thorns that, until faced and overcome, stubbornly block the path to better times.

Joseph Wyatt is a Gazette-Mail

contributing columnist and emeritus professor at Marshall University.

Reach him at Wyatt@Marshall.edu.