As The New York Times reported, “Dietary supplement sales have surged nationwide as panicked consumers stock up on vitamins, herbs, extracts, and cold and flu remedies. None of these products have been shown to lower the likelihood of contracting the coronavirus or shortening its course, and taking large doses of them can potentially do harm.”
His medical methods have long been dubious; The Houston Press reported in 2005 that Hotze had inflated his credentials; that “leading experts in women's health issues say Hotze's methods are not supported by science and are potentially harmful”; and that “Hotze runs an expensive one-stop shop for thyroid disorder, hormone replacement, yeast infections and allergies, when no medical records show Hotze has training in any of them.”
He has additionally spent years promoting and selling colloidal silver (the silver products in his store are out of stock as of posting). As the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health has stated, “Colloidal silver consists of tiny silver particles in a liquid that is sometimes promoted on the Internet as a dietary supplement. However, evidence supporting health-related claims is lacking. In fact, colloidal silver can be dangerous to your health.”
Despite his dubious background, Hotze’s views have been broadcast to people across the country. He estimated on March 14 that he’s been on 35 radio programs across the country “this week trying to talk some sense into America.”
His most unhinged appearance was likely on the March 13 edition of the conspiracy theory program I Protest with Don Jeffries, where he pushed elements of the violence-linked QAnon conspiracy theory and repeated its slogan. QAnon followers essentially believe that Trump is secretly working behind the scenes to take down the purported “deep state,” a supposed cabal of high-ranking officials who they claim are operating pedophile rings.
Discussing the pandemic, Hotze said: “This whole thing is concocted by the mainstream media, the fake news, to try to bring down Don Trump.” He further stated: “All this comes from the deep state. There’s a battle going on and I believe, ‘Where we go one, we go all.’ And I believe we’re going to win this battle. I believe the patriots are going to win this battle over the deep state, and I think this whole thing is part of that struggle.”
He expanded on that conspiracy theory later during the program, stating that there’s a “war between the patriots and the deep state” and “this could be part of that deeper war going on. Deep state could have been the ones that orchestrated this whole viral problem with the virus. It could be, I’m not saying it happened, but it could be that.” He also referenced a component of the QAnon conspiracy theory -- that there are thousands of sealed indictments ready to take down the supposed deep state -- by saying that while there may be martial law in the country in the future: “Guess what’s going to happen? There’s 154,000 sealed indictments and let’s see what happens with [federal prosecutor John] Durham, when all this comes out and see who gets arrested.”
Hotze has made it a regular practice to promote his vitamins while speaking in the media and his I Protest appearance was no different. He also said that he started created the “immune pak” during the pandemic, stating: "Because I’m such a free enterprise entrepreneur guy with my own vitamin store, I went down there two days ago, I said, ‘Start creating Dr. Hotze’s own 'immune pak.' Let’s start making that.’”
Hotze’s appearances elsewhere featured a fount of dangerous misinformation. For example:
