by Melvin A. Goodman,

Donald Trump’s pandemic of lies are reaching new levels of defamation and even danger. The unconscionable and cruel accusations regarding then – Rep. Joe Scarborough are shocking beyond belief. Trump’s lies and conspiracy theories have barraged us for the past three years, but none of his falsehoods prepared us for the accusations that Scarborough was having an affair with an aide in his congressional office and then murdered her. This is not only sickening but points to a sickness in Trump himself, which I will address at a later date. Many of Trump’s lies are untethered from reality, and perhaps we ultimately have to explore whether Trump himself is similarly untethered.

The Charge of “Obamagate”

The Washington Post referred to the charge of “Obamagate” as “absurd cynicism” in a recent editorial, but it is far worse than that. Not even Trump can explain what he means by “Obamagate”. However, he made a series of false charges aimed at the Obama administration. The Obama administration allegedly linked Trump and his cohorts to the Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election of 2016. There may be no evidence linking the Trump campaign to the Russian scandal, but there is more than sufficient evidence of the Russian efforts to interfere with a democratic election that required an investigation.

The Mueller report is very clear on these issues. Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr are doing their best to undermine the Mueller report and to insinuate that the Obama administration conjured the investigation. Barr’s efforts to drop charges against Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who lied to the FBI and other Trump officials about his discussions with the Russian ambassador, is central to this campaign. Flynn’s lies made him vulnerable to Russian blackmail, which explains the need for a counterintelligence investigation.

Harming the Health of a Nation

But all of these lies pale in significance to Trump’s lies about hydroxychloroquine as a legitimate treatment for Covid-19, which could lead to more unnecessary death in this pandemic. Not to mention shortages of hydroxychloroquine for patients that need it to treat malaria, lupus, and other diseases. Recently, Trump claimed that “thousands and thousands of front-line workers” are taking the drug so that “they don’t catch this horrible disease or whatever you want to call it.” There is no reason to believe that such use is widespread, and the American Medical Association stated that it “does not know of any tracking or surveys examining personal use of hydroxychloroquine among health care workers.” The American Nurses Association, moreover, declared that “research has not shown clear evidence that hydroxychloroquine has a preventive effect for Covid-19.

Trump, however, proclaimed that the only survey that exists was a “bad survey” that covered people who were in “…very bad shape. They were very old, almost dead.” Trump was, in fact, referring to a VA survey that determined hydroxychloroquine was associated with “increased overall mortality.” Studies in France and China support the evidence that the drug is not associated with a lower risk of mortality.

When told that the Food and Drug Administration has warned against using the drug outside of a hospital setting or a research study, Trump said “No, that’s not what I was told. No.” Actually, the F.D.A. emphatically warned that the drug could cause “serious side effects, especially with the heart.” A week ago, Trump announced that he was taking the drug, but it is difficult to know whether to believe the president of the United States.

This pandemic of lies over the past three years will harm the health of our democracy as well as the health of Americans themselves.

The opinions expressed by Mel are wholly his own and do not imply in any way Florida Veterans For Common Sense, Inc. endorsement or agreement.

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