In a recent interview with conservative author and podcast host David J. Harris Jr., legendary rocker Ted Nugent has once again repeated a narrative pushed by conservative media and disputed by health experts that suggests the official death count from the coronavirus is inflated.
“They claim 160,000 people dead from the Chinese communist virus. Bullshit,” he said (see video below). “They claim millions and millions have been tested positive [for the virus]. Bullshit. They claim that the ICU units are overcrowded. Bullshit.
“Here’s what the guitar player wants. I wanna see a list of dead Americans, January, February, March, April, May, June, July of 2017. I wanna see a list of dead Americans, those months, for 2018. Of any deaths — all deaths. ‘Cause that’s what they’re doing. You can get stabbed to death by a paroled murderer, and they’ll claim you died of the communist Chinese virus. We’ve heard it from the doctors. We’ve heard it from health departments who were told, ‘You can’t say he died of a heart attack. You’ve gotta put COVID-19.’
“I wanna the list of dead Americans for the last five years, for the first six months of each year, and compare it to how many are dying this year,” he continued. “And I have one big battle cry that resonates across this country: bullshit. They are lying. The CDC? Liars. The FBI? Liars. USDA? Liars. The Bureau Of Land Management? Liars. The USDA? Liars. You cannot trust any of the government’s alphabet bureaucracies. They are entrenched in that deep state leftover Democrat, lying, scamming gang. And until Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Lois Lerner and Susan Rice and Loretta Lynch and Eric Holder are in jail, America will not trust the United States government. You can write that down. You can transcribe what I just said and call me a radical, and you’d be correct. Because I’m radical for justice, and I’m not seeing it.”
There are theories that medical experts are inflating the number of coronavirus-related deaths to scare residents into complying with various states’ executive orders, such as one that requires residents to wear masks in public places. There have also been claims that the lockdowns weren’t designed for public health, but rather to destroy the Trump economy.
According to Forbes, the number of Americans who believe the death toll is inflated is highest among those who get their news from Fox News (61%) and Republicans (59%), while only 9% of Democrats and 7% of those getting their news from CNN and MSNBC believe the same.
Many health experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading member of the Trump administration’s Coronavirus Task Force and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have rejected claims that coronavirus deaths are being exaggerated.
