Kayleigh McEnany had a difficult job even before her boss started retweeting conspiracy theories from a fringe doctor who blames demonic sperm and alien DNA for America’s health problems.
CBS this morning Co-host Anthony Mason wasted no time getting to that particular story when he invited the White House press secretary to his show Wednesday morning.
“Why is the president pushing hydroxychloroquine again when his own health experts say it is not effective in treating the virus?” I ask.
McEnany began by explaining that, despite the opposite of science, Trump has a “positive outlook” on the drug’s potential as “early stage prophylaxis.” The famous president told the press that he was taking hydroxychloroquine two months after the pandemic because he had “heard many good stories” about it.
“He wants to save lives, that is his goal here,” he added. “That is why you are promoting this medication as prophylaxis, but only in consultation with your doctor.”
After noting that Dr. Anthony Fauci has contradicted the President’s “positive outlook” on the drug by citing medical evidence, Mason zeroed in on the video Trump retweeted of Dr. Stella Immanuel in which he not only promoted hydroxychloroquine as a miracle cure “For COVID-19, but also stated that people” don’t need to wear masks “and that closures are” unnecessary “.
“This only comes a week after the president said the masks are ‘patriotic,'” the host continued. “Here is a change in tone and what appear to be very mixed messages. Why?”
McEnany’s defense? “That was a three-second comment on a video of more than five minutes,” he said, arguing that Trump was simply using Dr. Immanuel’s video to drive the untested drug he likes. When he began to praise Trump for finally wearing a mask in the public months of the crisis, Mason rejected.
“But there is a message there that says it’s not necessary and it comes from the president who has 80 million followers!” answered. “Didn’t you watch the entire video?”
“The president watched the entire video,” said McEnany, perhaps without helping his case. “And the general message of the video, more than five minutes from this doctor, was about hydroxychloroquine.”
Trump himself seemed to predict this controversy during an interview last week when he said: “Do you know what I find? It’s not the tweets, it’s the retweets that put you in trouble. ” Later, the president admitted that when he “sees something that looks good” on Twitter, he doesn’t always “research” it before hitting the retweet button.
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