Trump and Truthers

Emily Atkin writes at ThinkProgress:

On Thursday, the anti-vaccine website Natural News published an article cheering Trump for being “the only mainstream presidential candidate who’s spoken out about vaccine-autism dangers.” To be clear, the website is referring to the scientifically unsubstantiated belief that the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) shot can cause autism.

“There’s only one presidential hopeful currently in the running who has been brave enough to speak out about the link between vaccines and autism, and that candidate is none other than business tycoon Donald Trump,” the article reads.

On the internet, Natural News is the central hub for vaccine truthers. In comments to ThinkProgress, one science editor described it as a “a one-stop shop … of virtually every quackery known to humankind, all slathered with a heaping helping of unrelenting hostility to science-based medicine and science in general.” It’s the project of conspiracy theorist Mike Adams, and hosts more than 2 million unique visitors every month. The site boasts more than 1.5 million “likes” on Facebook.

The site also seems to really like Donald Trump. It specifically lauded a “no-nonsense” 2012 interview the real estate tycoon gave on Fox News, theorizing that the increase in American autism rates was caused by vaccination.