Trump’s Fake Science: How Acetaminophen Lies Reveal His Authoritarian Playbook
From autism myths to Truth Social, Trump uses fear, disinformation, and “common sense” to replace experts with himself.
Article voiceover by me, up top. Extra video for paid at the bottom!
Donald Trump is not a doctor. He hasn’t even played one on TV. Nevertheless, he pretended to be one last week, warning pregnant women against using acetaminophen, claiming it could cause their child to be born with autism. In the same press conference, he criticized parents who vaccinate their children — “It’s a disgrace,” he said — and warned Americans not to give the fever-reducing drug to babies.
As Trump spoke, you could sense what was coming: unnecessary confusion, fear, and guilt sweeping across the country. And they did. Pediatricians were swamped with calls from worried parents, all because when the President of the United States speaks, people listen — even if he’s lying.
“I’m not so careful with what I say,” Trump admitted, after exaggerating data, distorting facts, and spreading paranoia about doctors supposedly profiting from vaccinating children. “They make more money,” he said, “…maybe it’s the doctors, they get maybe more money.”
While he was wrong about doctors and vaccines — and while science has not shown that acetaminophen causes autism — Trump was right about one thing: he is not careful with his words. The bigger picture, however, reveals that he’s not interested in accuracy at all. He’s interested in discrediting experts and making himself, and his administration, the ultimate source of news and information.
That pursuit of control is a hallmark of dictators who view independent voices as threats to their authority. They present themselves as superior intellects, dispensing “truth” with confidence, so their followers don’t have to think critically. Many of Trump’s supporters even call him “Daddy,” a creepy symbol of his carefully cultivated authority.
This tactic works because scientists — whether on autism, climate change, or public health — always leave room for doubt. That’s how science stays honest. But Trump seizes on that sliver of uncertainty and exploits it. In the case of acetaminophen, he was enabled by his Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long amplified error-filled, discredited “studies” to peddle simplistic answers to one of the most complex medical questions of our time.
In truth, rigorous science shows otherwise. A Swedish study that followed 2.5 million children from before birth concluded just last year that acetaminophen is not linked to autism. On the other hand, maternal fevers are known to affect fetal development — including the developing child’s organs. Doctors stress that untreated fever poses real risks, directly contradicting Trump’s advice that mothers should “tough it out.”
Trump and Kennedy share a common playbook. First, they smear experts and mainstream media as corrupt: greedy doctors and vaccine makers don’t care about children, and journalists are just their pawns. Next, they create an “us versus them” dynamic, casting themselves as heroic truth-tellers. (“Nobody knows better than me,” Trump often says.) Finally, they build their own media echo chambers to cement loyalty. For Trump, that means Truth Social and his new online TV platform, Truth+.
In authoritarian regimes of the past, such control required vast resources — the Soviets had Pravda (“Truth”) and Vremya (“Time”), while censoring or banning all others. Trump can’t outright ban competing voices, though he’s tried to silence them through lawsuits. Instead, he has built his own parallel ecosystem, using the word “truth” the same way the Soviets once did — as propaganda.
This is the danger: Trump is not just reckless with words. He is systematically undermining trust in experts, replacing science with his “gut,” and attempting to control not only policy, but the very way Americans think.
Video with some more thoughts, do they even care if they believe truth anymore?:
