This is awful and Trump's default is awful.

But I gotta be base rate guy here: How many comparable pharmaceutical companies would these statements *NOT* apply to? https://twitter.com/OrinKerr/status/1247360582606450689

Of course the fact that the whole pharmaceutical industry is one giant corrupt orgy is not good.

But if you could write this article for any of a number of different possible treatments, then none of this is explaining "why chloroquine?"

At 41:00 of Sam Harris's 3/11 podcast with Dr. Amesh Adalja of Johns Hopkins:

AA: There's actually a malaria drug...that happens to have activity against this virus...

SH: Is that chloroquine?

AA: Chloroquine, yes...it seems to exhibit an anti-viral effect against the virus.

Because the chloroquine issue got so politicized, everyone decided it's the equivalent of Trump promoting some magic elixir like something Alex Jones would sell on his website.

It's not. It's one of the leading *potential* treatments, and has been before Trump heard of it.

Trump is way out over his skis as usual in touting chloroquine's efficacy before the proper testing has been completed. From that same podcast, Dr. Adalja talks about how it hasn't been tested on humans. But it's not a random shot in the dark based solely on financial ties.

I can't evaluate the likelihood, but it's clearly plausible that chloroquine proves to be an effective treatment for at least some people with COVID-19, and if that happens, Trump will be in the best position to spin a narrative that he was somehow ahead of this than ever before.