October 9, 2020

Trump to Be Evaluated by Fox Doctor Who Said COVID Isn’t Worse Than the Flu

The band of coronavirus-deniers is getting back together.

Chris Kleponis/Zuma

The coronavirus is a rapidly developing news story, so some of the content in this article might be out of date. Check out our most recent coverage of the coronavirus crisis, and subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.

President Trump’s first on-air interview since testing positive for the coronavirus will include a televised “medical evaluation” performed by a Fox News contributor who has repeatedly spread misinformation about COVID-19. The stunt, which will be aired on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Friday, follows Trump’s insistence that he’s safe to resume public events despite having been admitted to Walter Reed Medical Center, where he received a serious treatment for the coronavirus, one a week ago.

But as experts warn that it’s nearly impossible to know if Trump is still contagious with the deadly disease so soon after contracting it, the president is now apparently relying on Dr. Marc Siegel, the author of the forthcoming COVID: the Politics of Fear and the Power of Science, to impart a false show of medical professionalism in order to back his demands to get back on the campaign trail. As I wrote in March, Siegel was one of three supposed experts that appeared alongside the president for a misinformation-filled Fox News town hall on the coronavirus. (Talk show doctor Mehmet Oz and Dr. Nicole Saphier, also frequent guests on the network, were included.) Since the start of the pandemic, all three have pushed medical advice contradicting public health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“They are a bunch of alarmists, they are saber rattlers,” Siegel had said during a Fox News appearance on March 6. “There’s no reason to believe it’s actually more problematic or deadly than influenza.” In between promoting hydroxychloroquine, praising the president’s abysmal response to the virus, and downplaying Trump’s diagnosis, Siegel also interviewed Trump in July when the president bragged about performing well on his cognitive assessment. “You go, ‘person, woman, man, camera, TV,'” Trump told Siegel in a moment that was widely ridiculed. “They say, ‘That’s amazing. How did you do that?'”

The on-air evaluation on Friday will come amid overwhelming skepticism over Trump’s condition, after his doctor, Dr. Sean Conley, admitted to lying about the president’s condition in order to publicly reflect an upbeat attitude. Conley on Thursday declared Trump safe to return to public engagements starting Saturday, the same day Trump wants to hold a rally in Florida. 

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate