Overview

Trump Admits to Taking Hydroxychloroquine refers to President Donald Trump saying that he has been taking hydroxychloroquine, a prescription medication used to treat malaria and lupus, to ward off the coronavirus. The medication has not been approved as a safe coronavirus treatment by the FDA, though it was used as an experimental treatment in the early stages of the outbreak for people with mild COVD-19 symptoms. Trump's admission prompted warnings from health officials to the general public that hydroxychloroquine was still an unproven medication for the coronavirus and could cause heart problems for COVID-19 patients.

Background

In the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak, President Trump touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential "game-changer" treatment for COVID-19. On March 21st, 2020 he tweeted, "HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine."^[1]

This led to a surge in Americans seeking hydroxychloroquine prescriptions, though the drug was still an unproven treatment for the disease. Right-wing pundits also touted the drug as an effective treatment. However, the fervor for the drug had cooled as studies showed using hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 led to an increased risk of death^[2] in patients.

On May 18th, Trump admitted that he had begun taking hydroxychloroquine a week and a half prior, and he had seen no adverse effects.^[3] "I'm taking it for about a week and a half now and I'm still here, I'm still here," he said. "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've heard a lot of good stories [about hydroxychloroquine] and if it's not good, I'll tell you right I'm not going to get hurt by it." Trump also said that he requested to go on the drug and was not recommended to take it by a physician.

According to the President's physician, Dr. Sean Conley, "After numerous discussions he and I had regarding the evidence for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks."

Developments

Trump's admission led to a wave of discussion about hydroxychloroquine, including warnings from medical professionals about the drug. CNN pundit Ana Navarro^[4] sarcastically tweeted, "Trump says he’s taking Hydroxychloroquine. It’s a leading story today. He often acts like a toddler, but he’s an adult. If he wants to take a drug w/serious side effects, including causing heart and kidney issues, let him! If he wants to wash it down with Lysol, that’s fine too," referencing Trump's musing that injecting disinfectant could be a potential coronavirus cure (shown below, left). Piers Morgan^[5] wrote that the admission was dangerously irresponsible (shown below, right).

Others defended the President and the drug. User @LoKeys910^[6] tweeted, "My father who served honorably in the United States Army and retired E8 told me last night he took Hydroxychloroquine almost the entire time he was in the Military. My question is if this drug is so deadly why isn't the US Military dying off in droves?"

Pelosi "Morbidly Obese" Quip

The evening after Trump's admission, Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appeared on Anderson Cooper and said she was concerned about Trump taking the drug because he was "morbidly obese."

This led some on Twitter to joke about the President's weight, while others felt Pelosi's comment was an unnecessary snipe at Trump. Ben Shapiro complained that the comment dominated the Twitter news cycle^[7] (shown below, left). #PresidentPlump^[8] trended on May 19th, where people joked about the president's weight. User @AmericnApplePie^[9] tweeted, "#PresidentPlump Is trending and I’m giggling. Karma is bitch. All those years of fat shaming women..well anybody. Including his own daughter. As he would say this is a tremendous and beautiful thing. At the standpoint of irony," gaining over 480 retweets and 1,700 likes (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References