President Donald Trump is on the search for a new news outlet after Fox News‘ Neil Cavuto criticized the president for saying he has been taking hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug that Trump has touted as a potential treatment for coronavirus. The drug, however, has been said to be potentially dangerous by some experts, prompting Cavuto to warn others not to follow the president’s example.
Responding to Cavuto in a tweet Monday night, Trump, who has long been a proponent of the network, instead took aim at Fox News and Cavuto, writing that he is “looking for a new outlet.” He added that the network “is no longer the same” now that it is no longer under the leadership of former Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, who died at 77 in 2017 and had been accused by multiple women of sexual harassment.
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.@FoxNews is no longer the same. We miss the great Roger Ailes. You have more anti-Trump people, by far, than ever before. Looking for a new outlet! https://t.co/jXxsF0flUM
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2020
The president also retweeted a number of tweets from his supporters criticizing Fox News and Cavuto. In one such tweet, the poster called Cavuto “foolish & gullible” and praised the president for doing a “good job” and for lighting “the way.” A second retweet slammed Cavuto as “an a–hole,” while a third called Cavuto’s comments “sheer stupidity” and “an utterly false statement.”
The controversial comments in question came during Monday night’s Your World with Neil Cavuto, which aired shortly after the president told reporters that he had been taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventative measure. Calling the president’s announcement “stunning,” according to The Hill, Cavuto pointed to several studies suggesting that taking hydroxychloroquine could be dangerous for some people. Cavuto said that “in a number of studies, those certain vulnerable population has one thing to lose: their lives.” Speaking to those with underlying health conditions who are taking the drug “as a preventative treatment to ward off the virus,” he claimed that “it will kill you.”
After being touted by the president, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency authorization to hospitals to use hydroxychloroquine in limited cases as a last-ditch treatment for COVID-19 patients. Several studies later came out with poor results, with a larger study released in late April suggesting that the drug was ineffective when used on patients with coronavirus. The study also found that hydroxychloroquine was linked to a higher death rate, according to PEOPLE.
