On Friday, all three network morning shows decided to do the Democratic Party’s dirty work as they hyped House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s wild claims that President Trump was in an “altered state” due to coronavirus medication and her push to create a so-called “Commission on Presidential Capacity” to promote the false partisan narrative.
NBC’s Today show co-host Craig Melvin touted the attack line as he spoke to White House correspondent Hallie Jackson: “...the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, she’s also making some headlines this morning, bringing up the 25th Amendment.” Jackson eagerly touted the ridiculous and blatantly political stunt:
She’s set to introduce a bill today to create this what’s called Commission on Presidential Capacity. She’s hinting she’s gonna be talking about that 25th Amendment, you mentioned. That provides procedures to transfer power to the Vice President in case of the President’s death, removal, resignation or incapacitation. The Speaker has been raising questions about the President’s state of mind given the drugs he’s taken for his coronavirus treatment. She said in a interview that the President appears to be in an “altered state.” That is something, Craig, we may hear more about later on today.
Over on CBS This Morning, White House correspondent Ben Tracy – who recently said he “felt safer reporting in North Korea than I currently do reporting at The White House” – proclaimed: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to form a commission today to review President Trump’s fitness for office. She’s concerned about his behavior while taking the powerful steroid dexamethasone.”
Soundbites ran of Pelosi ranting: “The President is, shall we say, in an altered state right now....His dissociation from reality would be funny if it weren’t so deadly.”
“The President’s doctors say he’s been treated with steroids which can cause side effects like mood swings and cognitive deficits,” correspondent Terry Moran sensationalized on ABC’s Good Morning America. He then cited Pelosi’s nasty move: “Democrats now want to establish a new commission to determine whether a president is fit to perform the duties of the office under the 25th Amendment.”
To his credit, as the segment concluded, Moran admitted: “Congress is not even in legislative session right now so any serious discussion or votes on Pelosi's measure are highly unlikely. It’s more of a political stunt than anything...” Though he did argue that “given the age of both candidates in this race, the 25th Amendment could be a live concern going forward.”
Of course if Moran knew that Pelosi was just engaging in a “political stunt,” why help her by elevating the attempt?
Appearing on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports on Thursday, Dr. Anthony Fauci completely rejected the narrative being pushed by Democrats and the leftist media that the coronavirus medication Trump has been taking would somehow affect his mental capacity. Mitchell brought up the subject: “We know you’re not treating the President, but can you give us a sense of how someone on doses of dexamethasone, the steroid, which is a powerful steroid, can impact a patient dealing with the virus?” Fauci replied:
Well, I mean, it has a positive effect. If you have advanced disease, particularly that requires oxygen, and you are in the hospital, the studies show that dexamethasone has a really significant positive impact on diminishing the 28-day mortality....my feeling is, looking at him and how good he looks and the fact that he’s received these therapies, it’s likely that they played a major role in making him get on the road to recovery.
After his optimistic assessment, Mitchell tried to bait him into suggesting dangerous side effects: “Is there any risk to a patient to be making major decisions when they’re on these powerful steroids? In terms of judgment.” Fauci saw right through that and immediately shut it down:
You know, that’s an idea that gets kicked around, Andrea. The only trouble with that is, that would probably get taken out of context. I mean, one of the things, when you’re on steroids, there are a number of side effects. You know, it makes you hyper-energetic, it sometimes interferes with your ability to sleep....I have treated literally hundreds and hundreds of patients with corticosteroids. And that’s one of the things that you look at.
As much as left-wing politicians and media activists claim they believe in science, they’re happy to push wild, fact-free claims about the President’s health if they think it will hurt him in the upcoming election.
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