J.D. Vance Bizarrely Claims Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones Is ‘a Far More Reputable Source of Information’ Than Rachel Maddow

Ken MeyerSep 5th, 2021, 4:11 pm
 

Hillbilly Elegy author and Republican Senate candidate JD Vance decided to make the claim that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones “is a far more reputable source of information than Rachel Maddow.”

It all started on Thursday when Maddow promoted a news story on Twitter that reported “Patients overdosing on ivermectin backing up rural Oklahoma hospitals.” Ivermectin is the horse de-worming medicine that has been promoted by right-wing commentators lately as a treatment for the coronavirus, even though public health officials say there’s no little data suggesting its viability as an anti-Covid drug.

Maddow has been running coverage on dubious promotions of ivermectin for some time now, but as it turns out, the story she promoted from NBC affiliate KFOR has come under question.

The station recently conducted an interview with Jason McElyea, a doctor in Oklahoma who claimed that rural hospitals and ambulance services are backed up dealing with ivermectin overdose cases. This, in turn, creates a strain on resources that makes it harder to provide treatment for patients with Covid or other health problems.

McElyea said he was observing this phenomena around eastern and southeastern Oklahoma hospitals, and his story drew traction in the media over the last few days. Over the weekend, however, the Northeastern Health System – Sequoyah released a statement over the weekend that raises questions about McElyea’s reliability as a source. They say that McElyea hasn’t worked at their Sallisaw location “in over 2 months,” that the NHS Sequoyah is not one of the hospitals treating people for ivermectin overdoses, and that they haven’t been forced to turn people away from emergency treatment.

The messiness surrounding the story prompted Glenn Greenwald (who recently apologized after dunking on Chelsea Manning’s attempted suicide) to complain why Maddow’s tweet hasn’t been flagged for “disinformation.” This was noticed by Vance, who had this to add:

“Alex Jones is a far more reputable source of information than Rachel Maddow. One of them is censored by the regime. The other promoted by it.”

Little reminder: Jones built his entire public career out of spearheading groundless claims and ludicrous conspiracy theories. Jones has advanced claims that 9/11 was an inside job, pushed the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, and he infamously tormented the families of Newton massacre victims by fueling claims that the whole event was a staged hoax. Most recently, Jones held a show on Infowars where he supposedly ingested ivermectin while calling Dr. Anthony Fauci a “murderer.”

Watch above to see KFOR’s story with McElyea.

Tags: