Dr. Mehmet Oz’s embrace of a guy who spouts racist tropes, has dubious law-enforcement expertise and packs heat despite a supposed “trigger finger” disability does not reflect well on the judgment of the Republican candidate for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat.
February 17, 2022

If you’re a Dr. Oz fan, chances are you've seen him hosting “Wild” Bill Stanton as a security expert on The Dr. Oz Show. He has also appeared on Fox News and CNN. But you have to wonder how much vetting anyone did on this guy.

Now that Dr. Oz is running as a Pennsylvania candidate for the U.S. Senate, his embrace of Stanton deserves scrutiny.

First of all, Stanton is an obvious bigot. He has all but flaunted his bigotry and racism in his social media postings and in media appearances. His tweets are now protected (unusual for a public figure with a blue checkmark, especially for one who seems to love the limelight) but a source was able to grab some:

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stanton_racist_police_brutality

stanton_anti-knee

He's anti immigrant, too, including a bigoted attack on Parkland shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez:

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stanton_anti-immigrant

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Here's an anti-Semitic trope tossed at attorney Lisa Bloom, who's Jewish:

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Although Stanton bills himself as a “retired cop,” he only spent three years on the force before an on-the-job injury that reportedly severed the tendon and some nerves in his right hand ended his cop career, in 1987. In a 2001 New York Magazine profile that recounts Stanton’s subsequent rise from bouncer to security celeb, author Craig Horowitz writes, “Surely no one has ever done more with less time in the police department than Stanton.”

Horowitz reported that despite several surgeries on his injured hand, Stanton was “still unable to produce the sixteen pounds of pressure required to pull the double-action trigger on a .38, the NYPD’s standard-issue weapon back then.” He retired from the force at that point.

In a video posted to YouTube on December 3, 2015, Stanton says that he severed the tendons in his “trigger finger.” He held up his right hand. But a March 22, 2016 CNBC article states that “last holiday season” Stanton went to Radio City Music Hall with “a loaded semi-automatic pistol — which he is licensed to carry — strapped to an ankle holster. The ex-New York cop also had an extra magazine for the gun, containing additional rounds of ammunition, on his belt.”

The 2001 Horowitz article also mentions an armed Stanton, saying that he “carries his weapon cocked and locked in a custom-made, non-thumb-break leather holster designed for speed. On the other side of his waist are two Wilson magazines, each holding six bullets; and there are two more in the pocket of his cargo pants.” There is no explanation as to how Stanton is able to load and shoot quickly nor how he got a license to carry.

Stanton’s P.I. bona fides and procedures have come under scrutiny, especially during the 2011 “Baby Lisa” investigation, but somehow, he keeps making his way back to the TV cameras, especially Dr. Oz’s.

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