Rachel Maddow aired a devastating mashup of Fox News hosts and Donald Trump sounding like late night TV hucksters promoting hydroxychloroquine as a miracle drug for COVID-19, right up until they had an unexplained change of heart.
“Most likely you never heard of this drug until last month when the prime time Fox News hosts and then the president started incessantly promoting it on a daily, sometimes hourly basis,” Maddow said. They promoted it as if to say the coronavirus is no big deal, there’s a cure already, she pointed out, “despite zero clinical trials and next to no evidence of its effectiveness. But boy were they insistent.”
She then played more than two minutes of soundbites of Fox Trumpers and Dear Leader, himself, singing the praises of the drug with endorsements such as “in a lot of ways, hydroxychloroquine is the ideal medicine,” from Tucker Carlson and “After all I’ve read, I would” take it, from Sean Hannity.
Starting in the middle of March, hydroxychloroquine was mentioned “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times on the Fox News Channel, particularly by its prime time hosts, and by the president, from the White House podium,” Maddow noted.
Fox and Trump suddenly went radio silent on the subject about a week ago. This week, a not-so-promising study came out. It found the drug was found to have no benefit and there were more deaths among those who took it than among those given standard care.
“The authors of the study write quote, these findings highlight the importance of awaiting the results of ongoing prospective, randomized, controlled studies, before widespread adoption of these drugs,” Maddow read. She added sarcastically, “Yeah, you think?”
Meanwhile, Dr. Rick Bright, who had been in charge of developing a coronavirus vaccine for the Department of Health and Human Services has been demoted after questioning the advocacy of hydroxychloroquine and limiting its “broad use.”
Maddow summed up this despicable perversion of science:
I think we should all agree that there perhaps should be a more concerted effort to stop the spread of misinformation about this disease, particularly if it is potentially deadly misinformation. If somebody is repeatedly misinforming the American public, about important things having to do with this disease, don't broadcast that. Don't listen to people who are lying to you about this disease. Don't broadcast their comments, certainly don't keep doing it day after day, when they've proven themselves to be lying day after day. And honestly, it doesn't matter who it is, show some responsibility, honestly.
Unfortunately, there is no sign that is about to happen any time soon.
