Trump went off the rails at a White House roundtable and admitted that he is taking the dangerous anti-malaria drug Hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19.
Video:
Trump admits that he is taking dangerous malaria drug hydroxychloroquine every day to prevent the coronavirus. Trump also trashed studies from his own administration showing the drug is not safe to take outside of a hospital setting. pic.twitter.com/4WbgNPK2Zm
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) May 18, 2020
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Trump said, “Yeah, the white house doctor. No, he didn’t — I said I’d like to take it, a lot of people are taking it, frontline workers are taking hydroxychloroquine. I don’t take it because — hey, people say maybe he owns the company. I don’t own the company. You know what? I want the people of this nation to feel good. I don’t want them being sick and there’s a very good chance that this has an impact, especially early on, but you look at frontline workers, you look at doctors and nurses, a lot of them are taking it as a preventative. And they’re taking totally unrelated — ”
Trump’s exchange with reporters:
Trump: Yeah, I’ve taken it for about a week and a half now, and I’m still here. I’m still here.
Q: Can you explain, so what is the evidence that it has a preventative effect?
Trump: Hear you go. You ready? Here’s my evidence. I get a lot of positive calls about it. The only negative E heard was the study where they give it, was the VA where people that aren’t big trump fans. I get a lot of tremendously positive news on the hydroxy, and I say, hey, you know the expression I’ve used, John? What do you have to lose? Okay? What do you have to lose? So I have been taking it for about a week and a half.
Q: Every day?
Trump: Every day. I take a pill every day. At some point I’ll stop. What I’d like to do is have the cure and/or the vaccine.
Video of the exchange:
Trump admits that he is taking dangerous malaria drug hydroxychloroquine every day to prevent the coronavirus. Trump also trashed studies from his own administration showing the drug is not safe to take outside of a hospital setting. pic.twitter.com/4WbgNPK2Zm
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) May 18, 2020
Trump needs there to be a miracle cure for the coronavirus, so it doesn’t really matter if it works or not, Trump only needs to convince people that it works, so that he can, at least in his mind, win reelection in November.
Donald Trump has been engaging in magical thinking about the coronavirus since the outbreak started.
He would rather believe Rudy Giuliani than his own FDA, which is consistent behavior for Trump throughout his entire presidency.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
