On Friday night, Fox News viewers were promised an interview by Tucker Carlson with President Donald Trump, followed by a live-on-television medical evaluation of Trump eight days after first notifying the public that he had contracted the coronavirus. What they got was not quite what was expected.
Trump: I have been retested and I haven’t even found out numbers or anything yet but I’ve been retested and I know I’m either at the bottom of the scale or free pic.twitter.com/aM6f3pREKs
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) October 10, 2020
There was an interview. It consisted mostly of Carlson doting on the president and remarking on his rapid recovery from COVID-19 even though he wasn’t in the same room with the president, who appeared virtually from the White House. His proof that Trump is fully recovered comes only from Trump himself.
The Daily Beast writes that:
‘“By any measure, it’s been a remarkable turnaround,” Carlson insisted of Trump’s apparent recovery, before revealing that the White House camera team—and not Fox News—were the ones filming Trump remotely (and therefore presumably had some control over the edit).’
Trump is NOT being examined by a doctor or taking a COVID test, he is being interviewed by a fox TV doctor REMOTELY. And the whole thing was pre-recorded.
Trump said he never had ANY problems breathing at all, "none of that."
And he said he has been "off medication for 8 hours."— Bill Maxwell 😷 ByeDon2020 (@Bill_Maxwell_) October 10, 2020
The medical examination was a joke, at best. Trump spoke to Fox News contributor Dr. Siegel, the same doctor who diagnosed Hillary Clinton with a blood clot in her brain when she had pneumonia in 2016 without ever having examined her. The “examination” consisted of the doctor asking Trump questions and Trump being allowed to say whatever he wished with absolutely no medical proof that he was telling the truth.
‘Siegel, the same doctor who irresponsibly speculated that former Vice President Joe Biden might be on “speed” or “Adderall” ahead of the first presidential debate and later downplayed the severity of Trump’s diagnosis, began his exam by asking, “How are you feeling now?”
‘Trump said he’s feeling “really, really strong,” unlike other people who have contracted the “China virus,” as he likes to call it. He insisted that he had no problems breathing, despite reports that his oxygen levels fell dangerously low at times. The president also admitted to some “congestion” in his lungs detected during a CAT scan, which is more than his personal doctor was willing to reveal to reporters earlier in the week.’
Trump has turned again to Dr. Siegel in a deeply bizarre, made-for-reality TV on-air “medical evaluation” on Tucker Carlson’s show Friday night.
“By any measure, it’s been a remarkable turnaround,” Carlson insisted of Trump’s apparent recovery. https://t.co/ZEfpGk8fRK
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) October 10, 2020
Trump seemed to have absorbed the message that his bragging is insensitive considering the quality of healthcare he has access to when so many others do not, but it didn’t last long. He went right back to throwing out possible reasons that he was able to “recover” so quickly.
‘When the doctor asked the president what “lessons” he’s learned from his experience, Trump exhibited a brief flash of self-awareness. “It’s a lot easier for me than someone who doesn’t have access to a doctor so easily.” But moments later, he was again talking about how he’s too important to simply hide in his basement.
‘“The big secret for me was I got there very early,” Trump added, saying he thinks his condition “would have gotten a lot worse” if he had waited to go to the hospital.’
Trump claims Secret Service agents "had no problem" with his hospital coronavirus drive-by photo op of well-wishers outside Walter Reed, adding, "the people in were protected, heavily protected." (He doesn't say how they were protected.) pic.twitter.com/7P46l0OFUz
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 10, 2020
