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Heads Explode on Command: POTUS Takes HCQ
Well, the week certainly started off with a bang. President Trump held two televised meetings, one with the new White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council and the other with restaurant industry leaders. In the second forum, he took “questions” from the usual suspects, who naturally asked about everything except restaurant workers and all the workers in the supply chains that are harmed by governments ordering restaurants to go out of business or go far deeper in debt. The honking gaggle gave President Trump a chance to reveal something I had suspected ever since Vice President Pence visited a hospital, on camera, without wearing a mask. President Trump, and likely Vice President Pence, are taking hydroxychloroquine as preventive medicine.*
This matters for several reasons. First, it matters that President Trump, and likely Vice President Pence, are doing all they can to keep healthy during the pandemic. They come in contact with an extraordinary number of people, who themselves have had contact with an unknown number of people. No screening test is perfect. Second, it matters that President Trump is opposing Dr. Fauci’s pet positions with the positions of many other real medical doctors. This should help push the FDA to stop the #resistance on this drug that their associates in universities and industry cannot turn to money or career profit. It should provide a stronger signal to patients and doctors who wish to use it to prevent or treat early stage COVID-19. Finally, it annoyed all the right people, including at Faux News, so that was a joy bonus to start the week.
But wait! There’s more! Later Monday evening, President Trump tweeted out a copy of the letter he sent to the World Health Organization, which Dr. Fauci had to work with throughout his career, and reflexively defended even as the COVID-19 disaster unfolded. Now we have a letter from the president of the United States challenging the medical authority of the WHO, while news resurfaced that the Department of Justice, working with states attorneys general, was drafting an antitrust lawsuit against Google, which takes down any YouTube content that dares question the WHO.
This is the letter sent to Dr. Tedros of the World Health Organization. It is self-explanatory! pic.twitter.com/pF2kzPUpDv
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2020
* Here is the relevant exchange during a roundtable with restaurant executives and industry leaders:
Published in GeneralQ Sir, you tweeted recently that this whole whistleblower racket needs to be looked at very closely —
THE PRESIDENT: Sure.
Q — and it is causing a great injustice —
THE PRESIDENT: Sure. I had a fake whistleblower.
Q — and harm.
THE PRESIDENT: Sure.
Q Who should look —
THE PRESIDENT: I had a fake whistleblower originally. He was a faker. Because when he looked at my — he wrote down a conversation that was totally different from the conversation I actually had with the President of Ukraine. It was a fake whistleblower. And, by the way, everybody knows who he is. He’s a political operative. You know that. Jon knows who he is. You know him better than anybody, Jon. Right? He’s a faker, and he was a fake whistleblower, and it was a phony, disgraceful period of time. And we came out well. You know why we came out well? Because everyone recognized it for what it was: just a political witch hunt.
But he was a fake whistleblower. He wrote a story that bore no resemblance to the conversation that I had with the President of Uk- — Ukraine. Nothing whatsoever. And by the way, the inspector general, he went by the whistleblower. He didn’t want to see the conversation that I had. When he saw the conversation that I had, he said, “Well, that bears no resemblance to what the whistleblower said.” Why didn’t he look first before he ran to Congress? He ran to Congress like he couldn’t get there fast enough with a whistleblower report
[. . .]
So, you know, that’s the way it goes. So you had a phony whistleblower. And this other guy with the hydroxychloroquine — okay? — well, he — he went out and he’s the one that approved the hydroxychloroquine. He’s the one that signed the application. He also happens to be — if you look — see whether or not — I won’t put it on me; I’ll put it on you. See whether or not he was a big contributor to the Democrats. See whether or not he wanted the Democrats to win. No, there’s a lot of bad things coming out about him, but you people don’t want to write the — the news.
You know, but — if you look — but he’s the one that signed the application. The very important form, he signed it. Now, if he doesn’t believe in it, why would he sign it? And a lot of good things have come out about the hydroxy. A lot of good things have come out. You’d be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the frontline workers — before you catch it.
The frontline workers — many, many are taking it. I happen to be taking it. I happen to be taking it.
Q You’re taking hydroxychloroquine?
THE PRESIDENT: I’m taking it — hydroxychloroquine.
Q Right now?
Q When —
THE PRESIDENT: Right now. Yeah. A couple of weeks ago, I started taking it.
Q Why, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Because I think it’s good. I’ve heard a lot of good stories. And if it’s not good, I’ll tell you right — you know, I’m not going to get hurt by it. It’s been around for 40 years for malaria, for lupus, for other things.
I take it. Frontline workers take it. A lot of doctors take it.
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me. A lot of doctors take it. I take it. Now, I hope to not be able to take it soon because, you know, I hope they come up with some answer, but I think people should be allowed to.
I got a letter from a doctor the other day from Westchester, New York — around the area. He didn’t want anything. He just said, “Sir, I have hundreds of patients and I give them hydroxychloroquine; I give them the Z-Pak, which is azithromycin; and I give them zinc. And out of the hundreds of patients — many hundreds, over 300 patients — I haven’t lost one.” He said, “Please keep pressing that, sir.”
And if you look at that phony report that was put in, that report on the hydroxyl — was given to people that were in extraordinarily bad condition — extraordinarily bad, people that were dying. No, I — I think, for whatever it’s worth, I take it. I was — I — I would’ve told you that three, four days ago, but we never had a chance because you never asked me the question.
Q Did the White House doctor recommend that you take that? Is that why you’re taking it?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. A White House doctor — didn’t recommend — no, I asked him, “What do you think?” He said, “Well, if you’d like it.” I said, “Yeah, I’d like it. I’d like to take it.”
A lot of people are taking it. A lot of frontline workers are taking hydroxychloroquine. A lot of front- — I don’t take it because — hey, people said, “Oh, maybe he owns the company.” No, I don’t own the company. You know what? I want the people of this nation to feel good. I don’t want them being sick. And there’s a very good chance that this has an impact, especially early on.
But you look at frontline workers. You look at doctors and nurses. A lot of them are taking it as a preventative, and they’re taking — totally unrelated, but they take the Z-Pak or the azithromycin for possible infection.
Now, I haven’t taken that, other than an original dose because the ori- — all you need. You don’t have to take it simultaneously, but the zinc you do take. So I’m taking the two: the zinc and the hydroxy. And all I can tell you is, so far, I seem to be okay.
Q Can you explain, sir, though, why you started taking it? Have you been exposed?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, because — no. No, not at all. I just said that — I’ve had so many letters from people, like the one I told you about. I got it last week. I’ll give you — would you like a copy of it? I’d love to give you — if you ask Molly, she’ll give you a copy of it.
But this is a doctor — he doesn’t want anything. I don’t know him, never heard of him, but he treats people that are — that we’re talking about. And he said, out of hundreds of people that he’s treated, he hasn’t lost one. And he just wanted me to know about it. That’s all. It wasn’t — he wasn’t saying, “Gee, could I have dinner with you, Mr. President? I’d like to come to the White House.”
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: But I’ve received many such letters. I’ve received a lot of positive letters and it seems to have an impact. And maybe it does; maybe it doesn’t. But if it doesn’t, you’re not going to get sick or die. This is a — a pill that’s been used for a long time — for 30, 40 years on the malaria and on lupus too, and even on arthritis, I guess, from what I understand.
So it’s been heavily tested, in terms of — I was just waiting to see your eyes light up when I said this, but — you know, when I announced this. But, yeah, I have taken it for about a week and a half now, and I’m still here. I’m still here.
Q Can you explain, sir, though, you — what is the evidence that it has a preventative effect?
THE PRESIDENT: Here we go. Are you ready? Here’s my evidence. I get a lot of positive calls about it. The only negative I’ve heard was the study where they gave it — was it the VA? With, you know, people that aren’t big Trump fans gave it — and we’ve done the greatest job maybe of anything in the VA, because I got VA Choice and VA Accountability both approved. Accountability, Tilman, is where you can fire bad people that work in the VA that you couldn’t fire them.
We had thousands of people that were sadists, that were stealing, that were robbers, that were horrible people. They’d beat up our veterans. They couldn’t do it in primetime, but they did it when they were sick.
And we got Accountability. Nobody thought you could get it because of the unions and civil service. I got it passed so that now you fire bad people in the VA. We got rid of tremendously bad people that should have never been there. But I also got — probably, even more importantly, if you can say that; maybe not — VA Choice.
So if you have to wait on line for a doctor, you go outside, you have a private doctor, we pay the bill. We work out deals with doctors. We have pricing. So you go out, you pay the bill. And it was a great thing that we did, so we’ve done a great job with the VA.
But they had a report come out and the results of the report — it was a very unscientific report, by the way. But I get a lot of tremendously positive news on the hydroxy. And I say, “Hey.” You know the expression I’ve used, Jon? “What do you have to lose?” Okay? “What do you have to lose?”
Q Is that a reason to take medicine?
Q So are you taking this every day?
THE PRESIDENT: I have been taking for about a week —
Q For a week and a half?
THE PRESIDENT: — for about a week and a half.
Q Every day?
THE PRESIDENT: At some point — every day. I take a pill every day. At some point, I’ll stop. What I’d like to do is I’d like to have the cure and/or the vaccine, and that’ll happen, I think, very soon.
Q So you’ve had no symptoms, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Zero symptoms. No, I haven’t had any symp- — no, I tested — we — I test — every couple of days, they want to test me, you know, for obvious reasons. I mean, I am the President, alright? So they want to test me. I don’t want to be tested, but they want to test me. So every couple of days I get tested, and I’ve been — I’ve shown always negative. Right? Negative. Is that the term you use for this? Right? Negative. Totally negative. No symptoms. No nothing.
But, no, I take it because I think — I hear very good things. Again, you have to go to frontline workers. Many frontline workers take it and they seem to be doing very well.
Q Sir, have any other members of your administration, Vice President Pence, or your family members taken this?
THE PRESIDENT: No, but I wouldn’t be surprised. I — I don’t want to ask them because that’s a personal decision as to whether or not you want to say. I just want to be open with the American public because, you know, I happen to think it’s good.
I do want the letter given because this letter made — not in terms of my taking it, but I thought it was a very well-crafted letter by a man who’s a respected doctor up in Westchester, maybe a little beyond Westchester — a little up higher and — in New York. And he just — he didn’t want anything. He just wanted me to know the results of what he’s doing as a doctor. And he was so happy with the fact that I — I fight for this stuff.
And then we have this crazy whistleblower, this fake whistleblower get out and try and, you know, knock it, who is — who signed the application. He — he did all the — he did the signing. He was a believer at one point, I assume. Otherwise, he shouldn’t have signed it. No matter who told him to, he shouldn’t have signed it.
Okay. One more question. That’s it? Thank you all very much.
END
I roared when I reread this. Good for Trump! In one short exchange he completely disrupts months of slander about this medicine.
I would like to see a census of front line doctors and nurses in New York to see how many are taking HQC.
I bet the results would be shocking. 😉
I’m honestly curious on the benefits of HCQ in a preventative context, as opposed to once symptoms have manifest. HCQ does have notable side effects 0ver long term use – I know people who had to stop taking it for that reason.
WHO has been a disgrace to the public health profession and a likely Chinese puppet.
The usual suspects weigh in.
I don’t know anything about this medicine, but if it can help that would be a good thing, right? Or would we rather see people get sick then say Trump was right about something?
That’s the current equation that occupies the minds of the Nevers/Dems/Media/Deep State axis of evil.
Pelosi on CNN: He’s our president, and I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and in his, shall we say, weight group – morbidly obese.
So is she accusing Trump’s doctor of malpractice? Because I’m assuming he’s not taking it without a prescription from the doctor – same as every other person who’s taking it for whatever reason they’re taking it. It’s not an over-the-counter drug is it?
It is not.
Does anyone sincerely believe Pelosi is worried about the health of Donald Trump.
The (D) has been working furiously to destroy and oust Trump from the Oval Office, and now Nancy wants The Donald to stop taking hydroxychloroquine because she believes it is endangering Trump’s health, and then she implicitly encourages Trump to lose some weight so he can remain in his position as President for the next 5 years????
That’s a long way to go to work in a Trump is Fat Joke.
Pretty sure Trump. didn’t come up with this on his own.
That’s why you have to go to the pet store . . .
OMG! Doesn’t Trump know that all the right people like CNN, ABC, NBC, the New York Times and WaPo pronounced HCQ “dangerous” after the our ever so trustedNIH sponsored an HCQ study at the VA that showed 27% had died after using HCQ?
Just because the study only studied medical records of COVID-19 patients who were given HCQ in unspecified doses for unspecified times after they were severely ill with the virus , a condition where HCQ was never thought to be effective in the first place, is no reason to doubt the veracity our trusted Mainstream Media. They would never lie to us. And just because the NIH has decided apparently to test HCQ only in cases where it is used on severely ill patients is no reason to distrust the veracity of the NIH and our sainted Dr. Fauci either.
Just move along will ya. Nothing to see here except for Trump’s apparent stupidity of using such a dangerous drug. Just because HCQ when used consistently in the early stages of the virus has cut the mortality rate from the virus to less than one seventh of our’s in countries like South Korea, Israel, Costa Rica and Brazil is no reason to question the competence or intent of our famed National Institute of Health. They are the experts and we must follow their orders to the letter!
I’m agnostic about the drug, but one would think the press would be interested in whether or not “many front-line workers” are actually taking it as a prophylactic and, if so, why. (I’ve read that, in fact, they are.)
I don’t expect the press to query medical people as aggressively as they do the President. Because they respect medical people, and there are no points to be scored by going after them.
“I wash it down with the tears of the White House Press Corps”
Slander? You mean scientific studies that fail to show it has any positive effects on treating the virus? Hopefully they are just feeding him placebos. For his sake. But, then again I guess I wouldn’t care if he died. So…whatever.
I hope this comment is supposed to be a comedic play on he OP title, Heads Explode on Command: POTUS Takes HCQ
… or did your head just actually explode on command?
Not actually true.
The take I’ve gotten from reading media reports of such studies says it’s not much use late in the course of the disease, but seems to be helpful prophylactically, or when administered very early after symptoms appear.
Have you seen something that says otherwise?
My local hospital prescribed it prophyllactically to all staff back in March.
I’m going to guess that what he (or she?) meant by “slander” wasn’t criticism based on an absence of clinical data to support its efficacy, but rather knee-jerk criticism that is specifically in response to the President’s endorsement of the drug — criticism that started immediately after the President first mentioned it and long before any clinical data was available.
I appreciate the value of objective clinical data. I also recognize when members of the press take a position — generally in lock-step uniformity — based on opposition to a president they despise rather than on objective evidence, and then run with that position as long as possible. We all kind of suspect that, had a more favorable political personage made a similar claim — Greta Thunberg, for example, or Governor Cuomo — it would not have been met with such skepticism, and certainly not with such hostility.
He. And yeah, that’s it.
You are correct. Indeed, President Trump showed his work in his answers. He described his interaction with the doctor whose whole job is the health of the President.
That’s what I thought. So everyone who’s freaking out over people taking the medicine for COVID purposes are basically accusing the doctors who are prescribing it for that reason of stupidity and medical malpractice.
Or in other words, doctors are to be trusted (Everyone stay home because we think the healthcare system will probably be overrun if you don’t) until they aren’t. (Anecdotally, I’ve heard that this medicine can head off the worst of this disease. Let’s give it a try.) Got it. (rolling my eyes and sighing)
To the Progressive mindset (and Ms. Pelosi espouses the full Progressive mindset) people may do only that which has been specifically approved by the government. Trying something for yourself (with or without guidance from your own expert advisor) before the government-directed “experts” have fully vetted that something is not allowed. Although the drug has been used for decades for other reasons, the government-directed “experts” have not proved beyond all doubt that the drug benefits people against the Covid-19 Wuhan virus. Therefore the drug cannot be used for an unapproved purpose. It’s not enough that the drug has been used for other purposes for decades, and that everybody knows the side effects. It is the thinking that leads to, “That which is permitted is required; and that which is not specifically permitted is prohibited.”
The Progressive mindset requires that people give up all thinking for themselves, and all ability to decide their own risk tolerance and risk / reward balance.
Reportedly, at least some of the reports of medical personal taking HCQ prophylactically are due to an ongoing study to determine if it works-which makes sense b/c healthcare providers are likely to be exposed and can be closely followed. Hopefully we will get some meaningful data, so far the HCQ studies are, at best, conflicting.
Hopefully so. I understand this is part of the large double blind random study that South Dakota and neighbor states agreed to host, naturally opposed by the usual suspects. “SCIENCE!” over science.
When a Leftist uses the words “science” or “scientists” that is a tell that they are pushing a scam.
What are the studies that show its profilactic capabilities? Cause the VA and New York City Hospital trials looking at outcomes of patients both given and not given HCQ show no better or worse outcomes. Plenty of snake oil salesmen doctors on FoxNews were pushing anecdotes about its miraculous nature a while back, but those aren’t studies. I know there were some in vitro studies showing an effect of viral infection of cell culture but that is not proof of efficacy for real humans.
Henry: “I’m going to guess that what he (or she?) meant by “slander” wasn’t criticism based on an absence of clinical data to support its efficacy,”
Henry, you need to review the VA HCQ study the NIH released. It was a total criminal fraud. HCQ works best when used early, before the viral load becomes too great. Anyone familiar with the worldwide HCQ studies that show it’s efficacy knows this fact. That said, the VA study was then used by the media to discredit the efficacy of HCQ, and by extension President Trump, used HCQ only way after the viral load was severe on only high risk patients many of which who were likely to die to show that it supposedly was not effective and allegedly ‘dangerous” because of the many people who died in the study.
Please note: every proposed study now being done by the NIH,FDA and CDC according to those who looked into it are not studying the effects of using the drug when it is meant to used; early in the infection. That is to say all the studies now being done are designed to fail, as was the VA study. Given this fact one cannot expect to get fair and unbiased results from the alleged “clinical trials” now being done by our Federal agencies. There will be no approval in the immediate future of HCQ even though it has been proven to be effective worldwide, because these agencies do not want it to happen. Many Americans will die as a result.
Also please note, per Carol Joy’s chart of several days ago, six major countries including South Korea, Israel, Costa Rica and Brazil have had tremendous success using HCQ early and consistently with mortality rates less than one seventh of ours. Applying that experience to America, if only Dr Fauci and his gang of criminals at NIH/FDA had followed their example, likely more than 50,000 Americans would be alive today who have died recently from COVID-19.
It is very hard to say that these duplicitous actions by Dr. Fauci and his minions at the NIH/FDA are simple incompetence; this discrediting of HCQ therapies appear to be very purposeful, because the NIH had to know of the work done around the world and had to know how effective it was in other countries. Knowledge that has never been shared with the American People by Dr. Fauci and his underlings. As a result, Dr Fauci and his minions, due to this willful negligence of the ill should be tried and convicted of at least manslaughter many times over.
Hydroxychloroquine is cheap and reasonably safe.
My understanding about its use in COVID-19 is that it has an immunosuppresive effect and is beneficial in severe COVID-19 because it reduces the autoimmune reaction that can develop in the lungs, the “cytokine storm”. If it has a preventive effect I don’t know what this is based on.
Experience with hydroxychloroquine that has been accumulating indicates that there is little benefit in treatment of COVID-19, though. Yet another drug that showed promise from anecdotal reports that fails when examined more systematically. This is common.
Other things for which there is evidence of benefit: Smoking reduces the chance of infection by 50% in a Chinese study. Possibly this is the effect of nicotine on the expression of Angiotensin II receptors in the lungs. Vitamin D Deficiency is correlated with risk of infection and the risk of serious infection. Vitamin D is important in immune system regulation. Zinc is said to help, especially when paired with hydroxychloroquine, but evidence for this is lacking. Remdesivir is being distributed for treatment of COVID-19 now, There is evidence that it reduces recovery time in COVID-19. Infusions of immune serum are being used in clinical trials. This is a time honored treatment that usually works. And there are various trials going on for other agents.