Shot: This weekend, Trump bullied a normally independent regulatory agency into propping up his political image by announcing an emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma – despite the protests of experts who said it was not the breakthrough the Administration claimed.
“The decision to issue an emergency use authorization, which President Trump’s press secretary heralded ahead of time as a ‘major therapeutic breakthrough,’ likely falls far short of that description — and could generate intense controversy inside the administration and the broader scientific community.” [STAT, 8/23/20]
Chaser: Less than two days later, the FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn was forced to walk back his claim that the experimental therapy resulted in dramatic benefits for COVID patients after receiving widespread criticism.
[Twitter, @SteveFDA, 8/24/20]
“The administration’s misrepresentation of the data may raise fears about how Hahn and the rest of the administration will treat data on a vaccine for the virus.” [Bloomberg, 8/24/20]
BACKGROUND: Trump Has a Long History of Politicizing Agencies and Pushing Junk Science and Miracle Cures Without Evidence of Their Effectiveness:
- Trump has repeatedly pushed for using hydroxychloroquine to treat covid patients despite warnings from experts that it is ineffective and at times deadly.
- On July 28, Trump shared a video from and later praised a doctor who has made bizarre claims about alien DNA, sex with demons and vaccinations that cause people not to be religious.
- In mid-July, Trump and his allies conducted a smear campaign against infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.
- On July 15, the Trump administration ordered hospitals to no longer send data to the C.D.C., a move that has alarmed health experts who fear the data will be politicized or withheld from the public.
- In April, Trump suggested that injecting disinfectants could be a treatment for covid.
- As cases rose in June, Trump “dramatically scaled back” the number of coronavirus meetings on his schedule, instead holding long meetings on polling and endorsements.
- In May, the White House’s Coronavirus Task Force meetings were scaled back to once a week and the task force became mostly idle.