Letter to the editor: Trump's hydroxychloroquine

As the late President Ronald Reagan might have said, “There you go again, Mr. Trump!”

The president began touting the benefits he believes would ensue to fight the coronavirus from the widespread use of hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria. We have since learned from doctors, including the esteemed Trump Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci, that it has no proven effect against the virus, and has brought about cardiac maladies and death in many. The president now tells us that he has been taking it daily as a preventive measure.

When the president speaks, even a president who so often utters nonsense, people listen. That is why hundreds of individuals inquired of poison centers as to whether Trump’s suggestion that disinfectant might be injected into the body could help defeat the virus. There will probably now be a run on hydroxychloroquine.

Is a president who lies about matters big and small to be believed when he says he is taking hydroxychloroquine? Is his statement simply a diversionary tactic from all of the bad news: a crumbling economy, record unemployment, firing four inspectors general since the beginning of April? Does he have a financial interest in promoting its use?

We have had presidents who have appropriately used the power of “the bully pulpit” to encourage us to boost our health by being fit, eating well, and quitting smoking and drinking. Never have we had a president who promotes quack cures for a serious disease. Trump should let professionals who know what they are talking about handle the practice of medicine.

Oren Spiegler

Peters