Ever on the alert for quick-and-easy fixes to complex problems, President Trump ignores cautions from medical advisers and persistently recommends that coronavirus patients take the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.
So other than a disputed study in France suggesting hydroxychloroquine might help against Covid-19, why does the president think the drug could be a “game-changer”?
The answer: he listens to people like Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity doctor viewed by many medical experts as nothing more than a loudmouth quack.
Oz grabbed Trump’s attention by pushing use of the drug by coronavirus patients during frequent appearances on the president’s favorite TV network, Fox News.
“Oz has appeared on Fox News 21 times since March 24, including a virtual town-hall event where he promoted hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment and got to speak directly to Trump and Vice President Mike Pence,” reports the Daily Beast.
Trump has even told government officials it would be a “good idea” if they spoke with Oz about the drug, the Daily Beast says.
According to Vanity Fair, “the president has latched onto the counsel of a group of individuals” unqualified to address medical issues, like White House economic adviser Peter Navarro.
“Navarro loooooves himself some hydroxychloroquine,” says Vanity Fair.
Others in that group include the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani and the Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs. Another Fox host, Laura Ingraham, has also promoted hydroxychloroquine on her show.
Trump was also influenced “by a widely publicized study in France” where 40 coronavirus patients received hydroxychloroquine and “more than half” experienced improved breathing, reports the Guardian, adding that experts say the small study “lacks sufficient rigor to be classed as evidence of a potential treatment.”
The President of the United States, concludes Vanity Fair, is a “glorified carnival barker immune to facts … who, as a businessman with numerous failures under his belt, is used to simply walking away from the messes he makes.”