Of course, Trump’s predilection for making false assertions is well documented. This announcement follows a predictable pattern for Trump of escalating a rhetorical point. Trump wants to disparage Bright, so he claims that hydroxychloroquine is safe and effective. To bolster that point, Trump points to unnamed doctors who he asserts have been prescribing the medication. Then, he escalates the point again: In fact, he himself is taking it, and he’s doing just fine. How can you argue with that? Trump is healthy and covid-free, so how can anyone suggest that the drug is dangerous or ineffective? Sure, the argument is of the anti-tiger-rock variety, but you work with what you’ve got.
In the moment, it’s an expedient example to cite, and, who knows, perhaps an honest one. But one effect of the claim is almost certain: Trump supporters will view the drug as a harmless way to potentially prevent a dangerous illness. Many, presumably, might then seek it out and take it — hopefully without negative side effects. The case of the couple in Arizona who took a fish-tank cleaning substance that was tangentially related to hydroxychloroquine may, in fact, have been a complicated murder plot. But if the president insists he’s taking a potentially lifesaving medication without any problems, why wouldn’t others try to do the same?
More broadly, this reinforces a central gap in Trump’s approach to the pandemic. While formally embracing the suggestions of medical experts, he has consistently undermined their advice, from pushing for a rapid scaleback of efforts to contain the virus to ignoring the need to wear a mask in public. This is another example of Trump knowing better than the “experts,” a message that resonated with many of his supporters in 2016 but which is far riskier in the present conditions.
In other words, the best-case scenario to Trump’s admission Monday is that he is, in fact, taking a risky medication with his doctor’s consent for which he’s not seeing repercussions and which his supporters will not see as a green light for seeking it out themselves. The worst-case? Trump claimed to be taking the medication to make a point, inadvertently triggering a new embrace of the medication among those who take his words at face value — putting lives at risk.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/18/trumps-stunning-claim-that-hes-taking-hydroxychloroquine-could-trigger-cascade-negative-effects/
The anti-tiger rock:
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