Dr. Oz Finds Cringey New Way to Suck Up to Trump
The secondhand embarrassment is strong.
Dr. Oz, former TV doctor and now Trump-appointed administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, invented a new method of cozying up to the president in a Friday afternoon press conference.
At the Oval Office event, where Trump announced his plan to reduce drug prices with a direct-to-consumer pharmacy in the form of TrumpRX.gov, Oz went out of his way to praise the president—who is reportedly still steaming from not winning the Nobel Peace Prize—for not only bringing peace to the world but bringing peace “into the hearts of Americans.”
“The world is watching as President Trump tries to make peace in every place he can go, but at the same time, President Trump is bringing peace into the hearts of Americans and bringing peace of mind to them, especially Americans who cannot afford their medications,” Oz fawned.
A day after nodding approvingly while Trump told pregnant women not to take Tylenol, Dr. Mehmet Oz was backpedaling the president’s medical advice.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Oz then went on to praise Trump for “turning the art of the deal into the art of the heal,” a reference to the famous 1987 book ostensibly written by Trump. Tony Schwartz, the journalist who ghostwrote the book, would later describe the gig as his “greatest regret in life, without question” and clarify that Trump had no hand in writing the book.
Prior to being named as administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Oz staged a failed Senate run in Pennsylvania, ultimately losing to Democrat John Fetterman. He also previously served in the first Trump administration, having been appointed to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.
Dr. Oz said that people on Medicaid spend 6.1 hours per day watching TV and doing leisure activities.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Oz, who trained as a surgeon and worked in the medical field before embarking on a television career, has largely let the Trump administration’s most egregious claims about health go unchallenged, offering only the most tepid of clarifications when pressed directly.
When asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper last month about Trump’s claims that there is a link between the use of Tylenol during pregnancy and autism, Oz conceded, “It will take us at least five more years to figure out for sure if there‘s a causal relationship between Tylenol and autism,” adding, “we may never know it for sure.”
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