Trump claims he recently started taking hydroxychloroquine; Laura Ingraham never stopped promoting it
Written by John Whitehouse
Published
On Monday afternoon, when asked about whistleblower Dr. Rick Bright during a meeting in the White House with restaurateurs, President Donald Trump suddenly claimed that he has been taking hydroxychloroquine for about 10 days.
Media Matters has extensively documented how Fox News has pushed the antimalarial drug for use to treat COVID-19, even as mounting evidence shows it to be completely ineffectual and in fact dangerous for many. In early April, Trump invited Fox News host Laura Ingraham to the White House to advise him on the matter.
While many personalities on Fox, such as Dr. Mehmet Oz, backed away from hydroxychloroquine in mid- to late April, Ingraham has continued to tout the drug in recent weeks. As part of her misleading overall coverage of the coronavirus, Ingraham has discussed hydroxychloroquine in at least 51 segments on her show from March 23 to May 6, according to Media Matters’ internal database. Since May 6, Ingraham has discussed it in four additional segments. (Right-wing Sinclair Broadcast Group also pushed a national segment about hydroxychloroquine this past Sunday.)
Here’s how Ingraham has talked about hydroxychloroquine in May 2020:
May 4: Ingraham said that “there is more than ample evidence that hydroxychloroquine saves lives. … Sometimes we have to take yes for an answer.”
Citation From the May 4, 2020, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
LAURA INGRAHAM (HOST): And as the public wants answers, well, some of the experts are hailing the results of new expensive drug therapies with middling evidence of success but warning us away from cheap generic drugs that have already saved lines both here and abroad. And the FDA -- I hate to say it -- but they got this one wrong big time. While of course every drug has potential side effects and prescription drug interactions, there is more than ample evidence that hydroxychloroquine saves lives, speeds up recovery time, and cuts down on hospitalizations. It's also one of the safer drugs out there just by virtue of the fact that it's been around for -- what, 65 years? And as I’ve mentioned before, France’s esteemed epidemiologist professor Didier Raoult and his team of colleagues released the results of hydroxychloroquine in 1,061 COVD patients. Good clinical outcome and virological cure were obtained in 973 patients within 10 days. No cardiac toxicity. It showed 91% effectiveness and eight deaths.
So why has the FDA not so much as noted the work of this premier epidemiologist in all of Europe? And by the way, Chinese researchers released their own retrospective study on Friday and they found equally impressive results using hydroxychloroquine in patients who were seriously ill -- 568 patients critically ill with COVID all received basic therapy, but additionally, 48 of them received hydroxychloroquine for seven to 10 days, 200 milligrams, twice per day. “Hydroxychloroquine treatment is significantly associated with decreased mortality in critically ill patients with COVID-19 through attenuation of inflammatory cytokine storm. Therefore hydroxychloroquine should be prescribed for treatment of critically ill COVID-19 patients to save lives.” OK, well, we can say consider the source -- this is from China and it’s not yet peer-reviewed. But in a pandemic, as professor Raoult said, with lives on the line and still no established therapy or vaccine, not everything can be peer-reviewed. Experts are not always right. None of us are. Can't be -- no one’s infallible. But in times like these, sometimes we have to take yes for an answer.
May 4: Ingraham interviewed nursing home medical director Dr. Robin Armstrong about hydroxychloroquine; the two downplayed risks of cardiac events.
Citation From the May 4, 2020, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
May 5: Ingraham asked Dr. Scott Jensen and Dr. Ramin Oskoui about alleged hydroxychloroquine side effects.
Citation From the May 5, 2020, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
May 6: Ingraham called for Trump to “pull back” a Food and Drug Administration warning about hydroxychloroquine.
Citation From the May 6, 2020 edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
LAURA INGRAHAM (HOST): Thus, we now have multiple studies across the globe, and reports from treating physicians, regarding the safety and efficacy of hydroxychloroquine. Along with hundreds of thousands of lupus and rheumatoid arthritis patients who've been taking the drug for decades without complications. Time for the FDA, the president himself, to pull back on the misguided and unnecessary warning that was issued a few weeks ago.
May 12: Ingraham asked Dr. Stephen Smith of the Smith Center for Infectious Disease to comment on a group of nurses in Boston who could not get hydroxychloroquine.
Citation From the May 12, 2020, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
May 14: Ingraham attacked Department of Health and Human Services whistleblower Dr. Rick Bright for casting doubt on hydroxychloroquine; when joined by HHS spokesperson Michael Caputo, Ingraham continued attacking Bright for pulling his support for the drug as he learned about its ineffectiveness.
Citation From the May 14, 2020, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
May 14: Ingraham spoke with Dr. Ivette Lozano of Texas about why she was having issues prescribing hydroxychloroquine for her patients.
Citation From the May 14, 2020, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
May 18: Ingraham talked to Lozano and Oskoui about Trump’s declaration that he’s taking hydroxychloroquine; Ingraham said hydroxychloroquine is “very safe” and “perhaps” could benefit people.
Citation From the May 18, 2020, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle