President Donald Trump showcased his new serious tone toward the coronavirus crisis on Monday night, sharing a viral video of fringe doctors promoting the controversial malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as “a cure for COVID.”
The video, which also featured doctors who rejected wearing masks, was eventually removed by Facebook for “sharing false information” about the virus, after racking up millions of visits in a matter of hours. However, various right-wing media and personalities continued to promote the clip of the doctors’ press conference on Twitter, eventually reaching the President’s timeline.
In addition to retweeting the clip multiple times, Trump, who recently said his retweets tend to “get him in trouble,” shared several posts promoting hydroxychloroquine, which the FDA has rescinded for emergency use for the virus.
Numerous studies and clinical trials have found that the drug has shown no real benefit in treating patients with coronavirus. Experts have also warned about life-threatening side effects.
Trump then shared a tweet directly from Dr. Stella Immanuel, one of the doctors who participated in the press conference. Immanuel is also a preacher who once wrote a book claiming there is a satanic plot to take over the world and recently challenged CNN presenters and leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci to provide him with urine samples. (The video tweeted by Immanuel, along with several others shared by the president, were later removed.)
She also didn’t like that Facebook removed the video of her saying that the masks don’t work and that hydroxychloroquine is a magic cure for the virus.
“Hello, Facebook re-uploaded my profile page and my videos or your computers started to crash until you do,” he wrote on Twitter Monday night. “You are not greater than God. I promise. If my page is not backwards, the face book will be down in the name of Jesus. “
The president also shared tweets attacking Fauci on Monday night, despite recently insisting that he had a “very good relationship” with the doctor after White House officials publicly criticized him.
At least one of the accounts the president retweeted Monday night was from a follower of QAnon, the conspiracy theory alleging that a “deep state” pedophile clique is conspiring against Trump.
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