Barack Obama says Trump’s baffling autism claims are an ‘attack on truth’

Barack Obama has said Donald Trump’s unfounded claims that paracetamol causes autism are an ‘attack on truth’.

The US president said on Monday, citing no evidence, that Tylenol, the American brand name of paracetamol, is ‘no good’.

He added that pregnant people should ‘fight like hell’ to only take it in cases of extreme fever, despite it being basic medical advice to do so.

Speaking tonight at the O2 in London, Obama said: ‘My successor is pushing certain theories about drugs and autism that have been continuously disproven and undermine public health.

‘The degree to which that can harm women who are pregnant, and the degree to which that creates anxiety for parents who do have children who are autistic – itself is subject to a spectrum – and a lot of what is being trumpeted as massive increases actually has to do with a broadening of the criteria for the spectrum so that people can actually get services and help.

‘All of that is violence against the truth.’

When first walking into the arena packed with cheering people, which included the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Obama said: ‘No need to remind you that it’s one of the greatest cities in the world.’

The former president told broadcaster David Olusoga that the US is at a ‘fork in the road’ following the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Within seconds of speaking, however, Obama’s mic cut off.

Once plugged back in, he said: ‘In the United States right now, what’s ascendant, and my successor has not been particularly shy about it, is the desire to go back to a very particular way of thinking about America, where “we, the people” means just some people, not all people.

‘Where there are some pretty clear hierarchies in terms of status and who ranks.’

Describing it as a view that the Russian president Vladimir Putin ‘very much believes’, Obama said that the US is straying far from the ‘equality’ it was founded on.

He added: ‘The challenge we face is not just to fight against these creeping authoritarian tendencies, but it’s also to be reflective about, “how is it that we lost support for that earlier vision, that better story?”‘

Values that the nation was founded on – democracy, the rule of law and free speech – are being eroded, Obama said.

‘The fact that we not only do not promote them, but we actively oppose those values now, in many cases… it’s fair to say I find it appalling. I don’t feel good about it.’

One reason that the world has become increasingly divided is social media, Obama added, something that many a politician, campaigner, and researcher has said before.

‘What gets attention and clicks is controversy, spectacle, anger, agreement, getting people riled up, feeling aggrieved, tapping into fears,’ he said.

‘What’s most powerful about it is the fact that it is tailored to you. As a consequence, it reinforces whatever biases and blind spots you have. It says, “You are absolutely right. We’re not going to contradict you.”‘

He also described himself as a ‘lab rat for deepfake’, referring to the video technology that can create near-perfect digital replicas of people.

After all, Obama added, he became the nation’s first ‘digital president’ when he entered the White House in 2016.

‘I may have been the most photographed, filmed, and recorded documented human in history, which is kind of strange,’ he said.

On Friday, Obama will be interviewed by Irish journalist and author Fintan O’Toole at Dublin’s 3Arena.

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