They’re all burying the lede in their attempt to make Trump the bad guy.
News organizations are deliberately leaving out some very important information in their headlines — that the substance that this couple took was not the medication that the President is hopeful will be a treatment for Coronavirus.
An Arizona man died and his wife is in critical condition after self-medicating to prevent contracting coronavirus. They were convinced that chloroquine was “pretty much a cure” after listening to one of the President’s press conferences on coronavirus.
Unfortunately, they completely misunderstood the information that was presented and it was a deadly mistake.
They didn’t take the anti-malarial drug, chloroquine — they took an aquarium cleaner, chloroquine phosphate.
At least, that’s what you would learn if you read the article and not just the headline.
The toxic ingredient they consumed was not the medication form of chloroquine, used to treat malaria in humans. Instead, it was an ingredient listed on a parasite treatment for fish.
According to Business Insider, the woman said, “We saw Trump on TV — every channel — and all of his buddies and that this was safe. Trump kept saying it was basically pretty much a cure.” After being asked what her message was to the American public she said, “Oh my God, don’t take anything. Don’t believe anything that the president says and his people … call your doctor.”
Normally I would be a little more compassionate towards someone who has lost a loved one so senselessly, but these are unusual times, and well, it’s best to just be blunt here.
Dear Darwin Award finalist, President Trump didn’t say to guzzle down aquarium cleaner, genius!
The woman says that she remembered the name from something she had used to treat her koi and they decided to mix it with some liquid and ingest it.
The name “chloroquine” resonated with the man’s wife, who asked that her name not be used to protect the family’s privacy. She’d used it previously to treat her koi fish.
“I saw it sitting on the back shelf and thought, ‘Hey, isn’t that the stuff they’re talking about on TV?'”
The couple — both in their 60s and potentially at higher risk for complications of the virus — decided to mix a small amount of the substance with a liquid and drink it as a way to prevent the coronavirus.
“We were afraid of getting sick,” she said.
Source: NBC News
They both became extremely ill, feeling “hot and dizzy” within 20 minutes of ingesting the mixture. The woman said that she started vomiting and her husband started having respiratory problems. She called 911, and she had difficulty telling emergency responders what she had consumed. Her husband died in the hospital and she is in critical care.
News outlets are getting this story completely wrong.
BREAKING: A Phoenix-area man has died and his wife was hospitalized after they ingested a COVID-19 home remedy. The substance, chloroquine phosphate, was recently touted by President Donald Trump as a possible coronavirus treatment. https://t.co/CT5Z2EBIfD
— KTAR News 92.3 (@KTAR923) March 23, 2020
The Hill was particularly egregious in their tweet:
Man dies after taking malaria medication touted by Trump as possible cure for coronavirus https://t.co/vyVEjqKihg pic.twitter.com/Gv8v5GZS1B
— The Hill (@thehill) March 24, 2020
NBC News is the article cited at the beginning of this article, but the headline implies that the man ingested some sort of human medication.
An Arizona man died after consuming chloroquine phosphate to try to prevent #COVID19. Chloroquine is the drug touted by President Trump last week. It has not been approved for treatment of the Coronavirus. https://t.co/TSUnOW41nT
— Michael Del Moro (@MikeDelMoro) March 23, 2020
NBC News wants you to be careful about hearing things Trump did not actually say about a drug and then take a completely different drug (actually a fish tank cleaner) and without asking any medical advice from a doctor, or even doing a google search first, drink the cleaner.
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) March 24, 2020
Here is a producer for MSNBC’s Morning Joe spreading the B.S.
CNN contributor Keith Boykin is fearmongering citing the same story.
A man in Arizona has died and his wife is under critical care after they took chloroquine phosphate to self-medicate for coronavirus.
Meanwhile, three people in Nigeria overdosed on the drug after Trump recommended it.https://t.co/e03oJUoJZh
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) March 24, 2020
Forbes is using the same photo for their story… and the same narrative.
After hearing Trump promote #chloroquine for #coronavirus during his televised press conference, a woman and her husband took a household version to prevent infection. He died; she’s in critical condition. "This is a heartache I'll never get over." https://t.co/0FwnpoyUqV
— Tara Haelle (@tarahaelle) March 24, 2020
And of course, you can count on Buzzfeed who published the debunked Steele Dossier to push the same story to “own Trump.”
"A man died and his wife needed critical care after they both took a drug meant for aquariums that contains chloroquine” https://t.co/Yj8xee1jrm
— Matt Berman (@Mr_Berman) March 23, 2020
Also using the same image. Weird.
How is it that they’re all burying the lede here?
The President always says “Fake News is the enemy of the people” and he’s absolutely right.
These articles are being shared by Verified Twitter users as fact by people who are clearly just reading the headlines and seem to be oblivious to the whole aquarium cleaner part of the story.
A Canadian University professor’s stupid tweet shows absolutely irresponsible disinformation. President Trump never said that chloroquine phosphate was the drug that was being used.
The wife of an Arizona man who died after ingesting chloroquine phosphate – which Trump touted as a "very powerful" treatment – to protect against #coronavirus warned the public not to "believe anything that the president says" and rely on doctors instead. https://t.co/pPHNAEwRo1
— Amarnath Amarasingam (@AmarAmarasingam) March 24, 2020
But that’s what happens when you just read headlines.
Dr. Dena Grayson who unsuccessfully ran for Congress as a Democrat in 2016 tweeted out the story with a big warning light:
?As I warned, these anti-malarial drugs are associated with potentially FATAL side effects and should only be taken under close supervision of a doctor.#coronavirus #COVID19 #chloroquine #hydroxychloroquine https://t.co/kJpG3ZFupT
— Dr. Dena Grayson (@DrDenaGrayson) March 23, 2020
Is someone going to tell Dr. Grayson that she’s bitching about anti-malarial prescription drugs?
Do you know what else is apparently fatal, Dr. Grayson? Aquarium cleaner.
Maybe that’s why they have big warnings on it when you find it on the internet.
***UPDATE***
On Tuesday morning, I saw that CNN’s “Media Watchdog” Brian Stelter has retweeted this story that was related in a Twitter thread with no correction to the claim made that the couple ingested “chloroquine” and not a fish tank cleaner.
I am beginning to think that Trump Derangement Syndrome is just as dangerous to the United States as coronavirus.
