We need to make clear up top that there is no express indication that the family discussed below were affiliated with the MAGA movement when they created and sold their miracle cure (bleach), but they had written Trump promoting their “cure” (which when mixed with water was just industrial bleach). And they were encouraged to sell more after Trump mentioned it in the press conference. But they were not specifically tied to any MAGA organization or even a church. Thus, this story is primarily more an “anti-science” story, more of a grifter story, at least before they reached out to Trump, and reached out again for help after their arrest.

We will say that the distrust of science and willingness to grift off the “Want to Believe” is a noted symptom of the far-right and it’s weird that that Trump did note the same thing days later. It was just a coincidence unless there is more to the story of which we don’t know. But almost surely a coincidence.

Regardless, people lost their lives in this grift. According to the Miami Herald:

Court records show that the Grenons made more than $1 million selling MMS. On top of marketing it as a cure for COVID-19, the Grenons allegedly pitched the deadly concoction as a cure-all that could remedy a host of medical conditions, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and HIV…

In April 2020, Grenon claimed he wrote to the president touting MMS as a treatment for COVID-. 19 It was just days before the president made controversial remarks about the possibility of injecting disinfectant into COVID-19 patients. The president later claimed the remarks were sarcastically made to reporters, “just to see what would happen.”

However, the remarks appeared to encourage Grenon, who promoted Trump’s statements as support for MMS…

We seriously doubt that Trump received “the letter.” Trump did receive a briefing in which he was told that bleach killed the virus almost immediately (when wiped on surfaces for god’s sake). Again, seven people died through the use of the “cure,” and through some combination of fraud, conspiracy, and other crimes, these people are set to face life in prison.

The fact that they believed they knew they had a ready population (they made over a million dollars) just reinforces how anti-science this country has become and we’re perfectly comfortable saying that Trump played a major role in developing the attitude.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak