The celebrity doctor and host of The Dr. Oz Show made the announcement Tuesday and has been quickly embraced by several high-profile Republicans, including Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. Top GOP strategists have already joined his campaign, which appears to be gaining traction with President Donald Trump, as well.
A decade ago, Oz emerged as a critical, early backer of the transgender movement, running a special about “transgender children” during his show’s first season on the air in 2010. The hour-long program promoted a fifteen-year-old girl who had undergone a double mastectomy at age fourteen and an eight-year-old boy being raised as a girl named “Josie.”
…Oz has also endorsed mediums and lent credence to Brazilian occultist and spiritist João Teixeira de Faria (João de Deus/John of God) who “incorporates spirits into his body to perform spiritual and physical healings,” according to his website. Faria was sentenced to 63 years in prison between 2019 and 2020 for raping numerous women and has faced hundreds of abuse allegations.
A Muslim, Oz has said that he identifies with a form of Islamic mysticism known as Sufism. His wife, Lisa, is a Reiki master and an adherent of the Protestant cult Swedenborgianism. Read more…