Trump's COVID-19 herd immunity petition is full of names like 'Dr. Johnny Bananas' and 'I.P. Freely'

In August, Trump brought in a new quack doctor to advise him on COVID-19 and how to make it seem like Donald Trump was doing anything about it. Neuroradiologist Scott Atlas was brought in to push the well-debunked theory of letting everyone just get sick until we, as a national community, have achieved "herd immunity." As Daily Kos's Mark Sumner explains, this idea has "always been an immoral and impossible idea."

Of course, "immoral and impossible" is the Trump family motto (maybe along with grotesque and sociopathic). On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that Trump's White House had "embraced a declaration by a group of scientists arguing that authorities should allow the coronavirus to spread among young healthy people while protecting the elderly and the vulnerable—an approach that would rely on arriving at 'herd immunity' through infections rather than a vaccine."

Sky News looked into the letter signed by these "scientists" and found that it was filled with … not scientists. In fact, there seems to be a lot of names on the list of people that probably aren't even real people.

In fact, the news outlet reports that it found "dozens of fake names on the list of medical signatories," on the list. Names like "Dr. I.P. Freely, Dr. Person Fakename and Dr. Johnny Bananas, who listed himself as a "Dr. of Hard Sums." Now, I know what you're thinking: Sure Dr. Person Fakename would sign this letter, he's a hack! But Dr. Johnny Bananas?

Other strange signatories include Harold Shipman, a doctor who died in 2004, but was also arrested in 1998 for being a serial killer of more than 200 patients. Also on the list were dozens of homeopaths, "massage therapists, hypnotherapists, psychotherapists and one Mongolian Khöömie singer who describes himself as a "therapeutic sound practitioner."

It is important to note here that this is not a joke story. This is a real thing. The President of the United States of America and his advisers in the White House are promoting a scientific public health theory, using a letter signed by joke names and serial killers as his support. It makes sense that Trump and his crew of cons would find a scientific con to promote their policy con