On 4 March, Senior General Min Aung Hliang, leader of Myanmar's military junta, met with the Russian President Vladimir Putin during a goodwill visit to Russia. The junta leader not only gifted Putin a book of horoscopes and six elephants but also made a bizarre claim about his past life—that he was a rat king who gave a mushroom to the Buddha. From Min Aung Hlaing’s bizarre beliefs to Donald Trump’s supernatural mandate, absurd claims are shaping public policies—and putting humanity at risk.