If you wondered where Trump was getting his “data” on hydrocychloroquine, it’s exactly where you might expect. The following is from CNN’s Brian Stelter’s newsletter:
“Try it,” Trump said Saturday, talking about hydroxychloroquine, despite a dearth of evidence that the drug is effective and safe for preventing or treating the virus. The drug has not been approved by the FDA for that use. But Trump is hyping the drug anyway… and sounding a lot like his Fox allies. THR’s Jeremy Barr noted Saturday afternoon: “The three biggest advocates for hydroxychloroquine that I’ve seen in the last few weeks are Dr. Oz, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham.”
“And Fox & Friends,” The Daily Beast’s Justin Baragona added. “Last week, Dr. Oz said he emailed the White House coronavirus task force, asking them to consider a policy recommendation from Brian Kilmeade.”
He is getting his information from snake oil salesman Dr Oz and Trump henchmen on Fox News.
Yesterday Dr. Trump really pushed it hard, saying he might take it himself (despite assuring everyone he doesn’t have it) which means that he is no longer touting it as a miracle cure but rather a miracle vaccine. Imagine that. He’s obviously thinking that it will prevent you from getting the virus.
Meanwhile, the efficacy of the drug even as a treatment is far from proven. But that doesn’t mean that the president’s top advisers aren’t selling it as if it is and he isn’t pushing it hard in his Daily Coronavirus Rally. The question is, why? Why is he so hooked on this one drug?
It’s tempting to assume there’s a financial motive and I wouldn’t be surprised if there is one. But honestly, I think it’s more likely just a reflection of Trump’s magical thinking and grandiose self-regard. He wants more than anything for a miracle cure to “fix” this problem before the election and he heard about this one from his most trusted advisers on Fox News. He jumped on it so that he could take credit for it.
If the studies show that the drug does work, he will sell it as another sign of his very stable genius and his cult will applaud his magnificence. And if it turns out to be useless, he will just fall back on his “well, we had nothing to lose” and move on as if he did nothing wrong. It will be put on the colossal pile of Trump blunders and gaffes and everyone will move along.
But this is actually one of the worst things he’s done, whether it ends up being a good treatment or not. To have the president go on television and pimp miracle cures in the midst of a global pandemic, based on nothing more than political propaganda by his state TV operation, is stunningly irresponsible. The fact that his health advisers have to bow and scrape to his idiocy in front of the country in order to retain any influence on actual policy just makes it all the worse.
By the way, Oz was featured early on all over NBC News as one of its “Coronavirus Crisis Team” where he gave some spectacularly bad advice. Someone must have noticed that they were promoting quackery so he naturally moved to friendlier territory on Fox.