Whew. I can relax.
A few days ago I read that Trump was vowing to act more presidential now that the election is less than 100 days away. Since I desperately want him to lose, I was worried that Trump was going to at least sound as if he valued the advice of public health experts when it comes to combatting the COVID crisis, even if he continued to act otherwise.
I should have known that Trump was incapable of pretending to be a science-loving leader of our nation, since that goes against his compulsion to attempt to lie his way out of every problem, including a pandemic that has taken 150,000 American lives.
(Remember when Trump said that at most, COVID would cause 60,000 deaths, and he hoped the final toll would be lower. I sure do.)
Today Trump doubled down on his support of a group that, among other bizarre ideas, is pushing the discredited claim that hydroxychloroquine is a valid way of preventing or treating a COVID-19 infection. Here's an excerpt from a New York Times story.
In a video posted Monday online, a group of people calling themselves “America’s Frontline Doctors” and wearing white medical coats spoke against the backdrop of the Supreme Court in Washington, sharing misleading claims about the virus, including that hydroxychloroquine was an effective coronavirus treatment and that masks did not slow the spread of the virus.
The video did not appear to be anything special. But within six hours, President Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. had tweeted versions of it, and the right-wing news site Breitbart had shared it.
It went viral, shared largely through Facebook groups dedicated to anti-vaccination movements and conspiracy theories such as QAnon, racking up tens of millions of views. Multiple versions of the video were uploaded to YouTube, and links were shared through Twitter.
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter worked feverishly to remove it, but by the time they had, the video had already become the latest example of misinformation about the virus that has spread widely.
Today Trump had only good things to say about the woman shown speaking in the photo above, Dr. Stella Immanuel. A Daily Beast story says about her:
But she has refused to provide proof of her claim that she’s cured hundreds of COVID-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine.
That didn’t chasten Trump, however, who praised Immanuel and her fellow Frontline Doctors at a Tuesday afternoon press conference. “I can tell you this, she was on air along with many other doctors,” he said.
“They were big fans of hydroxychloroquine and I thought she was very impressive in the sense that from where she came, I don't know which country she comes from, but she said that she's had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients, and I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her.”
Well, the president of the United States, who hopefully soon will be Joe Biden, had better do their homework before standing in front of cameras and telling people that a doctor "was an important voice" about dealing with the COVID crisis.
Here's some of the crazy stuff Stella Immanuel believes, according to David Von Drehle's Washington Post opinion piece, "Americans are suffering. Trump offers them a doctor who warns of sex with demons."
I've got no interest in sharing a video of Stella Immanuel, but I'm pleased to present a video of CNN's Anderson Cooper debunking Immanuel's and Trump's weird COVID notions.
Well, you are a good little soldier going along with the dishonest media distortion of events. I'd hate to be led around by the nose by what the mainstream media feeds us.
All of the doctors were legit. The fact that one of them believes in demons (taken out of context in relation to her actual medical credentials) does not discredit the science and facts she and her colleagues believe in regard to the safety of children going to school, hydroxychloroquine, etc. A drug that has been used safely for 60 years.
Here is a good look at what is behind the numbers the media feeds us about the virus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbIBPJ3OTeg
Posted by: Merv Trenton | July 31, 2020 at 12:27 PM