Deepak Chopra Blames Donald Trump For Making the Guru Call the Billionaire "Retarded"
Whether he's right about the GOP presidential nominee, Chopra has a lot of explaining to do about why his brand of medicine gets taxpayer support.
Well, it's come to this.
Everybody's favorite feel-good fakir, Deepak Chopra, has called presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, "emotionally retarded" and "maybe…mentally retarded too." The slagging took place on Alan Colmes' radio show and was transcribed by The Daily Beast's Andrew Kirell.
Not only did the author of The Path To Love (among other books) insult Trump, he then blamed the billionaire developer for making him act so childishly:
"What I said just now [about Trump's 'retardation'], I would never say these things about anybody," the guru confessed. "It's not like me. But he's bringing out the worst in me, because I, too, am fearful of what would happen to the United States of America and the rest of the world if, God forbid, he became president."
After several minutes of scorning himself for giving into such negative "demons," effectively feeding Trump's desire for controversy, Chopra took it a step further: "Maybe I was too kind when I said he was emotionally retarded, maybe he's mentally retarded too."
Listen to Chopra, a spiritual guide to many, many celebrities and a professor at UC-San Diego's Department of Family Medicine, trash talk the Donald here.
Whatever Chopra's attitudes toward Trump, his approach to getting federal funding for so-called alternative medicine is worth understanding in full. Last September, Reason TV's Todd Krainin produced a great documentary about how the sorts of alternative, "complementary," and "integrative" medical practices Chopra promotes ended up getting taxpayer dollars and being included in all sorts of insurance mandates. It's a disturbing story but one that you'll find fascinating. As Krainin shows, retired Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) was a big advocate of bee pollen and other phoney cures for whatever ailed him and in the late 1980s and early '90s, he wanted to bring his New Age snake oil to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As a result, Harkin stacked the relevant panel with medical know-nothings:
"Many things that seem to be effective don't stand up to scientific research but they still cure people," Rep. Berkley Bedell (D-Iowa) told the Journal of the American Medical Association, shortly after his appointment to the advisory council by Harkin in 1992. "If that's the case, then I hate to think we may squelch something by insisting it has to go through scientific investigation."
Others had incentives to validate alternative therapies that were at odds with the OAM's stated mission of impartiality and objectivity. An original member of the advisory council, Deepak Chopra benefited from the imprimatur of the NIH years before Oprah Winfrey catapulted the New Age healer to national stardom. Four members of the council personally selected by Harkin had scant medical training yet were vocal advocates for alternative medicine.
More here. Watch the full video below.