During an appearance on the Breakfast Club this morning, former Oprah lackey and psychologist Dr. Phil urged listeners to “turn the television off, turn the radio off.” It was rather sound advice, considering it would relieve such listeners from the suffering inflicted by hearing his own incredibly bad opinions about coronavirus on Fox News.
Last night, while speaking with the head gremlin of the Fox Blondes, Laura Ingraham, Dr. Phil claimed that coronavirus risk is overinflated. “The fact of the matter is we have people dying,” he said. “45,000 people a year die from automobile accidents, 480,000 from cigarettes, 360,000 from swimming pools, but we don’t shut the country for that.” This particular talking point, tallying the high numbers of “ordinary” deaths, has become a favorite of right-wing pundits, who love to assert statistics wildly out of context. Why should we care about those who might die if social distancing isn’t enforced since swimming pools, too, are dangerous?
Of course, as the NY Post reports, McGraw’s estimated 360,000 swimming pool deaths per year is actually about 3,536 per year on average. Perhaps he counts pool toys among the casualties to get the extra 357,000 fatalities?
Later on in his Breakfast Club appearance, he told the hosts we have to “put [our] personal agenda aside, [we’ve] got to zip it” as the pandemic rages on. I hope he starts to take his own advice soon! [NY Post]
According to a new Axios poll of residents of Michigan and Washington, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, and Stacey Abrams are popular potential VP picks for Joe Biden. [Axios]
- Remember Michael Cohen? He’s going to be outta prison soon, unfortunately. [AP]
- The Trump and Romney beef continues! [CNN]
- Virginia’s vote-by-mail options have been greatly streamlined. [The Appeal]
- The stimulus bill continues to be a giant clusterfuck. [NBC]
- Trump is siding with protestors calling for social distancing guidelines be banned in Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia. [Politico]
- A far-right conspiracy concerning a secret lab (in China of course) that unleashed coronavirus has gripped the mass media. [CNN]