It’s even worse for Donald Trump if he’s lying about this one

| 6:56 pm EDT May 18, 2020
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

When Donald Trump publicly announced today that he’s been taking hydroxychloroquine for the past week and a half as a preventative measure against the White House coronavirus outbreak, the words “He’s lying” quickly began trending on social media, in a reminder that this guy has no credibility at all. Here’s the thing, though.

If Trump really is misguidedly taking hydroxychloroquine, a potentially fatal drug that’s been proven to have no effectiveness against coronavirus, that’s bad enough. It suggests that he’s so senile, or impressionable, or hallucinatory, that he’s actually talked himself into falling for his own scam. The whole thing would come down to his failing mind.

But if Trump is only pretending he’s taking a deadly drug, it would only be because he’s still trying to con the public into taking the drug, because he’s still trying to carry out whatever financial scam he’s running that involves this drug. In such case, by pretending to take it, he’s committing a crime that could get people killed.

Given Donald Trump’s track record, he’s probably lying. But either way this is a completely disqualifying scandal for him. Moreover, we’re not sure how he’s even going to try to worm his way out of this one, because there’s video footage of him saying it, and it would be awfully difficult to go back and claim he misspoke or he was being sarcastic.

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.