Tylenol, vaccines, and autism: the medical mayhem of the MAGA methodologists

Abstract

Are the MAGA methodologists out of control? The chief methodologists of the Make America Great Again cult are Donald Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jr—and, as with everything that Trump reigns over, the willing and unwilling complicity of professionals, institutions, and the MAGA media is a given. This is problematic enough when evidence tells us that depriving people of their liberties and eroding democracy will harm health and wellbeing (doi:10.1136/bmj.m4040 doi:10.1136/bmj.m4088).12 Yet the MAGA methodologists are unchecked: their hubris extends to believing that they know best about science and medicine. The credo of MAGA methodologists is to create a health crisis based on data that are unavailable and may not exist; misleading appraisals of the science; single studies that are preliminary, misinterpreted, or half remembered; and general amplification of misinformation. They are overlords of social media, giving them global reach to complement their …