President Trump said he takes hydroxychloroquine as a preventative for COVID-19. “I take it,” Trump told reporters, noting that he asked his doctor, “I’d like it. I’d like to take it,” and said Dr. Rick Bright opposed the drug.
“Hydroxychloroquine. Try it. If you like,” urged a chipper Donald Trump from the White House podium in early April, in one of his surreal press briefings. The president’s apparent enthusiasm for a then-unproven treatment for coronavirus was so gushing that when asked by reporters, he said he might personally try it out: “I think people should — if it were me — in fact, I might do it anyway. I may take it. Okay? I may take it. And I’ll have to ask my doctors about that, but I may take it.”
As the weeks went by, this promise seemed to fall by the wayside. And for good reason; as more evidence has come in, using hydroxychloroquine has gone from silly to insanely dangerous. Studies have found the drug generally ineffective and potentially dangerous, and may lead to an elevated risk of serious heart problems.
Today, Trump claimed that he is actually doing it. “I take it. I would’ve told you that three or four days ago, but we never had a chance because you never asked me the question,” Trump told reporters, noting that he asked his doctor and said, “I’d like it. I’d like to take it,” and the physician dutifully replied, “Well, if you’d like it.”
President Trump: « I happen to be taking it. I’m taking it, hydroxychloroquine.
