Trump takes hydroxychloroquine:“It’s good.” (Except for those it kills)

May 18: On This Day In 2020

For more than a month, Trump had been touting the supposed benefits of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine for treating people who had contracted Covid. OTDI 2020, he announced that not only was he pushing it, he was taking it himself. Not because he had Covid, mind you, that would come later. “I’m taking it — hydroxychloroquine. … Right now. Yeah. A couple of weeks ago, I started taking it. … Because I think it’s good. I’ve heard a lot of good stories.”

The best (and even the non-best) scientific and medical minds disagreed. They had concluded early on that hydroxychloroquine, at least when it came to Covid treatment, was just snake oil. In fact, there was some evidence it could cause heart rhythm problems. But Dr. Trump, PhD, in looking out for America’s well-being, called those analyses “fake news.”

Believing Donald Trump can have dire consequences. An unfortunate victim in Arizona died after he and his wife ingested a form of chloroquine used to clean fish tanks in an apparent attempt to inoculate themselves.

As BBC summarized: His wife, who fell dangerously sick herself, said she had seen a televised briefing in which Mr Trump discussed the potential benefits of chloroquine as a treatment Covid-19. "We saw his press conference. It was on a lot, actually," she said. "Trump kept saying it was basically pretty much a cure." "We were afraid of getting sick.”.

But it wasn't just that poor guy: A French study looked at six countries, and estimated 16,990 people there died because they took hydroxy. (They didn’t estimate the death total in the other 187 nations).

Dive Deeper 

• FactCheck.org has the story on Trump taking hydroxychloroquine himself

• ABC News has the timeline on Trump and hydroxy

• CNN reports on the death of the Arizona man who followed the advice

• BBC does too

• The Hill has the hydroxy death counts

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Summary: Trump takes hydroxy; thousands die from doing the same