Facebook and Twitter took down problematic doctors' viral video, but Mike Pence met with them

Mike Pence did not meet with the alien-DNA-and-demon-sperm doctor who soared to prominence Monday for her denunciation of mask-wearing and promotion of hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment. But Pence did meet with several of the doctors who appeared with Stella Immanuel in that video, which was removed from Facebook and Twitter after millions of views and the fervent embrace of Donald Trump and Don Jr.

“We have just met with Vice President Mike Pence to request the administration's assistance in empowering doctors to prescribe hydroxychloroquine without political obstruction,” the leader of America’s Frontline Doctors tweeted. “We also discussed the recent censorship of doctors on social media platforms.” (Translation: the removal of false and dangerous information from social media platforms.)

How do doctors promoting a treatment that has been discredited by study after study score a meeting with the vice president? By having big names and big money in their corner. The Pence meeting was also attended by Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin. Tea Party Patriots hosted and funded the Monday press conference, which was livestreamed by Breitbart News.

As Melissa Ryan, an expert in right-wing extremism and author of the invaluable Ctrl Alt Right Delete newsletter, tweeted: “If you've been following the Tea Party from the start this makes total sense. The Tea Party was a movement where right-wing donors used money and infrastructure to activate and encourage the base of racists and conspiracy believers in the GOP. This was inevitable.”

America’s Frontline Doctors is not the first effort by Tea Party Patriots to undermine public health around the coronavirus, either. This is an ongoing project, and one that’s literally killing people. But it gives Trump what he wants, so he described Immanuel as “very impressive,” and the other doctors got a meeting with Pence. What’s impressive—in a truly disturbing way—is that the Republican Party embraces these groups and continues to be treated as a serious and responsible political party. 

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