Democrat thanks the president for saving her life

FPI / April 8, 2020

A Democratic state lawmaker in Michigan who used hydroxychloroquine to treat her coronavirus is crediting President Donald Trump for saving her life.

Michigan state Rep. Karen Whitsett was diagnosed with the coronavirus late last month and said she started to feel better just two hours after taking the drug that Trump has touted as a "game changer," The Detroit Free Press reported.

Whitsett praised Trump’s advocacy for the drug, and when asked if she thinks the president may have saved her life, she said: “Yes, I do. I do thank him for that.”

“It has a lot to do with the president … bringing it up,” Whitsett said. “He is the only person who has the power to make it a priority.”

Whitsett told the Free Press she was familiar with "the wonders" of hydroxychloroquine from an earlier bout with Lyme disease, but does not believe she would have thought to ask for it, or her doctor would have prescribed it, had Trump not been touting it as a possible coronavirus treatment.

Trump tweeted a link to the Free Press story about Whitsett's experience on Monday and congratulated her, saying "So glad you are getting better!"

Hydroxychloroquine not only has been repeatedly touted by Trump, but a recent survey conducted among thousands of physicians found it to be the “most effective” treatment for the coronavirus thus far.

Meanwhile, Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski on Sunday floated the conspiracy theory that the only reason Trump is touting hydroxychloroquine is because he stands to benefit financially from it.

Brzezinski claimed that the president was gagging his chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

“Dr. Fauci wasn’t allowed to talk about what he feels is important to say about this drug that the president keeps pushing. A lot of people would say, follow the money. There’s got to be some sort of financial tie to someone somewhere that has the president pushing this repeatedly,” Brzezinski said.

Co-host Joe Scarborough agreed, going so far as to say that hydroxychloroquine is ineffective, despite rising anecdotal evidence that it is bringing life-saving relief in the midst of the pandemic.

RedState columnist Bonchie noted: "Does Mika realize that hydroxychloroquine is 55 years old and already has generics? There is no market to corner here because it’s a drug that’s heavily manufactured already and widely available across the globe. Further, Trump can be reckless at times, but he’s certainly not going to hand Democrats the fodder of having been personally invested in selling a treatment for the Wuhan virus. The entire theory is baseless and nonsensical."

Bonchie added: "Joe calling the hydroxychloroquine 'ineffective' is extremely dangerous. Doctors all over the world are currently giving the drug to help save lives. Whether the treatment will be found to meet a high level of effectiveness via trials is still up in the air, but there’s no excuse to mislead people who may benefit via partisan rhetoric. That’s exactly what Joe and Mika are doing here. They are so obsessed with sniping at the orange man that they’ll literally root against people recovering from coronavirus."

Free Press International