The stunning differences between Trump’s public COVID recommendations and the treatment he received

"When his life was on the line, hydroxychloroquine was apparently not part of the picture."

Published December 17, 2021 3:34PM (EST)

Donald Trump | A phial of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine  (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)
Donald Trump | A phial of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

This article originally appeared on AlterNet.

A new analysis is highlighting the disturbing distance between former President Donald Trump's public COVID-19 recommendations and the treatment he actually received to fight the virus. Washington Post correspondent Philip Bump recalled the pandemic timeline, along with the drugs Trump touted compared to what he was actually given when his own life was on the line.

In his new book, titled "Chief of Chiefs," former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows discussed Trump's stay at Walter Reed, explaining he was treated with Regeneron's FDA-approved monoclonal antibody treatment.

"For months, Trump tried to insist that hydroxychloroquine was an effective treatment against COVID-19," Bump notes in his Post analysis. "Meadows describes that effort — but then reveals that the drug was not part of Trump's treatment regimen. For all of Trump's bluster on the subject, when his life was on the line, hydroxychloroquine was apparently not part of the picture."

At the onset of the pandemic, Trump was vocal about his support of drugs like hydroxychloroquine despite having no evidence of its effectiveness for treating COVID-19. Many of the former president's daily COVID-19 briefings featured him touting the unproven drug even after he faced stark criticism from medical experts, lawmakers and other members of the scientific community.

However, the drug was not included in his treatment when he was actually hospitalized for COVID. Bump makes it clear that this revelation further discredits Trump's touting of hydroxychloroquine and its effectiveness in treating COVID-19.


By Meaghan Ellis

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