Conservative commentator Mark Levin lashed out at the media after a study found a controversial anti-malarial drug may have helped coronavirus patients recover.
Levin, a staunch ally of President Trump, argued that this was evidence that newsrooms were in the wrong to dedicate critical coverage of the commander in chief for touting hydroxychloroquine.
“The disgusting, lying media fought the president tooth and nail for months telling us this drug was deadly,” Levin tweeted Saturday morning. “Every damn newsroom repeated this crap. Now they tell us it helped. How about apologizing to the American people and the president, you frauds.”
The disgusting, lying media fought the president tooth and nail for months telling us this drug was deadly. Every damn newsroom repeated this crap. Now they tell us it helped. How about apologizing to the American people and the president, you frauds.https://t.co/4EpjLsW1Pg
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) July 3, 2020
Trump frequently heralded hydroxychloroquine as a way to prevent and treat the virus, despite heated debate over the safety and effectiveness of using the drug against COVID-19, and even took it as a preventative measure for two weeks.
The Food and Drug Administration, which had approved an emergency use authorization for the drug for hospitalized coronavirus patients, warned that it can cause serious heart problems.
Amid warnings from health experts, much of the media’s coverage of the drug and Trump’s support for it has been less than flattering.
“I cannot believe that they lied to us about Hydrochloroquine just to prove the President wrong,” said David Samadi, the director of men’s health and urologic oncology at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, New York, and a medical commentator for Fox News and Newsmax TV. “How many lives were lost because of it?”
I cannot believe that they lied to us about Hydrochloroquine just to prove the President wrong.
How many lives were lost because of it?
— Dr. David Samadi (@drdavidsamadi) July 3, 2020
The media’s obsession with harming the President literally resulted in thousands of unnecessary deaths.
Not to mention state governors who banned this drug simply out of disdain for the President.
I don’t think we have ever seen such an egregious misuse of power in our lives.
— Dr. David Samadi (@drdavidsamadi) July 3, 2020
Trump’s conservative allies were also quick to jump on the news of the latest peer-reviewed study showing promise for hydroxychloroquine.
“Spent over an hour yesterday talking to 2 different TX doctors who BOTH told me they are seeing very positive results using hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID19,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted. “Media flipped out bc Trump said good things about it. The ‘study’ they cite was retracted.”
Spent over an hour yesterday talking to 2 different TX doctors who BOTH told me they are seeing very positive results using hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID19.
Media flipped out bc Trump said good things about it.
The “study” they cite was retracted. https://t.co/45nQMRooHQ
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 3, 2020
“It’s not surprising at all that hydroxychloroquine works—and to be clear for you headline-only readers, it cut mortality of Covid-19 patients BY HALF,” Fox News’s Laura Ingraham tweeted.
It’s not surprising at all that hydroxychloroquine works—and to be clear for you headline-only readers, it cut mortality of Covid-19 patients BY HALF. https://t.co/CZDvaZlgJA
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) July 3, 2020
The study, conducted by the Henry Ford Health System in southeast Michigan, found that coronavirus patients who took the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine were more likely to survive while being treated in a hospital.