On Monday, President Trump was participating in a White House roundtable with restaurant executives and industry leaders when he mentioned in answer to a question from the media that he was taking hydroxychloroquine.
Here’s what he said:
“I happen to be taking it,” Trump said during a roundtable event at the White House. “A lot of good things have come out. You’d be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the front-line workers. Before you catch it. The front-line workers, many, many are taking it.”He added: “I’m taking it, hydroxychloroquine. Right now, yeah. Couple of weeks ago, I started taking it. Cause I think it’s good, I’ve heard a lot of good stories.”Trump also said that he is taking zinc, and that he has taken an initial dose of azithromycin, or Z-Pak.
“After numerous discussions he and I had about regarding the evidence for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks,” Dr. Sean Conley, Trump’s physician, said in a statement Monday night.
Trump has been touting the anti-malarial drug for the last two months as a potential treatment for the Wuhan Coronavirus, much to the dismay of the hydroxychloroquine deniers in the mainstream media and Democratic party.
Predictably, Democrats, the mainstream media, and CNN doctors rushed to condemn Trump for not only taking the drug but also for even mentioning that he was taking it in the first place. The consensus seemed to be that it was “dangerous” and could lead to someone harming themselves with it (even though it’s only available by prescription, which they never mention).
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) certainly generated a lot of attention after a concerned-looking Anderson Cooper asked her about Trump’s remarks. Here’s how their Oprah-like segment on the topic went down on CNN:
Cooper: Madam Speaker, what is your reaction to the President saying that he is now taking hydroxychloroquine? Um, are you concerned?Pelosi: Well, first let me say how happy I am about your new baby, how lovely.Cooper: (grinning broadly) Oh, well thank you.Pelosi: Wyatt, how perfectly named. We all know why that is and congratulations. And as you now are a father, you see how important it is to keep the world safe, for the children, for the children.As far as the President is concerned, 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, they say. So, I think it’s not a good idea.
Watch the bizarre exchange below:
Something not seen in that clip but which is also noteworthy is how Pelosi appeared to be suppressing a grin after she said what she did about Trump’s alleged “morbid obesity.”
She was clearly proud of herself here, even though she’s known on the surface, at least as a notorious stickler for political correctness in Washington, D.C.
Trump reacted by initially stating that he thought responding to her was a “waste of time,” but a few minutes later said, “Pelosi is a sick woman. She’s got a lot of problems, a lot of mental problems.”
Pelosi as much as admitted her jab at Trump’s weight was payback for all the things he’s said about her:
“I didn’t know that he would be so sensitive. He’s always talking about other people’s … weight, their pounds,” Pelosi said during an interview Tuesday with MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace.
To top it all off, Politifact has actually done a fact check on Pelosi’s claim that Trump is “morbidly obese,” and labeled it “false”:
One thing to take from this story is that in going this particular route with Trump, Pelosi – who the media always portrays as the classier person, has, in essence, given the okay for elected officials and other public figures to fat-shame their political opposition over a disagreement.
Some have said it is Trump who has cheapened the political discourse, but that ignores the vile things Democrats said about Republicans in the years before Trump’s election, and that they continue to reply to this day. It doesn’t make everything Trump’s ever said okay, but it’s just a fact that Democrats are not and never have been the standard-bearers for civility.
The biggest thing to take from this story is what Trump has managed to do over time with Pelosi, which is to pull the civility mask off. The result is what we saw in that interview with Cooper.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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