For Trump, taking the virus seriously was apparently little more than a short-lived experiment, given the president’s retweet of a video in which a doctor claims that the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine is the cure for the coronavirus. The video was later deleted by Twitter:
Twitter has pulled a video of doctors making false claims about the novel coronavirus after it was shared by President Trump. Late Monday night, the president stumbled across the viral video that showed fringe doctors touting the controversial anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as “a cure for COVID” and doubting the effectiveness of wearing masks. The claims made in the video directly contradicted the advice of Trump’s own public-health experts—but, despite that, he slammed the retweet button. Now, Trump’s page shows a disclaimer where the retweet once was, reading: “This Tweet is no longer available.” A Twitter spokesperson told CNN: “We’re taking action in line with our COVID misinfo policy.” Facebook and YouTube have also confirmed they removed the misleading video. Despite what Trump appears to believe, clinical trials have found that hydroxycholroquine has shown no real benefit in treating coronavirus patients, and has potentially deadly side effects.
Just this past weekend, Trump expressed some regret over his tweets, especially his retweets. I’m guessing hoping that he might be experiencing some of that regret this morning.
These are reportedly some of the views held by a Houston doctor who was part of the controversial viral video that Trump retweeted:
Immanuel, a pediatrician and a religious minister, has a history of making bizarre claims about medical topics and other issues. She has often claimed that gynecological problems like cysts and endometriosis are in fact caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons and witches.
She alleges alien DNA is currently used in medical treatments, and that scientists are cooking up a vaccine to prevent people from being religious. And, despite appearing in Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress on Monday, she has said that the government is run in part not by humans but by “reptilians” and other aliens.
More on Trump’s retweets concerning the coronavirus:
Trump also retweeted tweets defending the use of the drug hydroxychloroquine, including one that accused Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, of misleading the public by dismissing the drug.
“I have not been misleading the public under any circumstances,” Fauci responded on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday morning when asked for his reaction to Trump’s retweets.
Fauci reiterated that the “overwhelming prevailing clinical trials” that have looked at the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine have indicated that it’s “not effective” in treating the coronavirus.
In spite of plummeting poll numbers, surveys showing that the majority of Americans disapprove of the way he is handling the pandemic, and the concerted efforts of his advisers, handlers, and his own Coronavirus Task Force, the self-consumed toddler-in-chief is simply unable to grasp the severity of the pandemic and the state of the nation. In other words, Trump is just being Trump.
UPDATE: President Trump addressed questions about Dr. Immanuel (in the video) at today’s press conference:
Pres. Trump abruptly ended his coronavirus briefing following a question by CNN’s @kaitlancollins. The President defended tweets he shared that supported the use of hydroxychloroquine and called a doctor who was spreading conspiracy theories on Covid-19 “very impressive.” pic.twitter.com/NAI697Jjh3
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) July 28, 2020
2ND UPDATE: Just OMG:
The woman whose “important voice” he was amplifying the other day was demanding that Dr. Fauci, Chris Cuomo and the rest of us at CNN turn over our urine to her so she could test it for hydroxychloroquine which she insists we are all secretly taking. Totally normal. https://t.co/k1ajOkK9hC
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 28, 2020
3RD UPDATE: Watch press secretary Kayleigh McEnany try to defend Trump’s messaging.
The perfect summary of his presidency. pic.twitter.com/5lceKbdhoG
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 28, 2020