Tucker Carlson, host of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” poses for photos in a Fox News Channel studio, in New York, Thursday, March 2, 2107. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

During White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefings over the last couple of weeks, President Trump has been touting the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a possible treatment for those suffering from the Wuhan coronavirus.

As he’s done so, the mainstream media have furiously worked in concert to downplay the potential benefits of the drug, accusing him of giving people as sense of “false hope” over what the media frequently describes as an “unproven drug.” They’ve even bizarrely blamed Trump for the death of a man who swallowed fish tank cleaner after Trump promoted hydroxychloroquine at press briefings.

They have done this even as the drug has shown promise overseas in countries like France, and right here in the United States – so much so that NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo has requested a larger supply for Wuhan coronavirus patients in his state, which has become the epicenter for the virus.

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson did a segment on Monday night blasting the establishment media’s efforts to shut down hope about hydroxychloroquine, and took particular aim at MSNBC “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, who insinuated during their program on Monday morning that the only reason Trump is touting the drug is not because he wants to help people, but because of an alleged “financial tie”:

TUCKER CARLSON: For the media and our political establishment, shutting the entire country down for months and destroying tens of millions of jobs to fight this virus seems like a perfectly reasonable risk to take. But what risk isn’t worth taking, what’s too dangerous, what’s crazy, what’s voodoo snake oil [to the media]? Using a decades-old drug off-label without going through the FDA approval process. A drug, by the way, many of us who traveled abroad have already taken with no major side effects. A few weeks ago, the president expressed hope the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine might be used effectively to treat coronavirus and the media have been attacking him and the drug ever since. [shows CNN news clips of Wolf Blizter and Brian Stelter downplaying the drug and bashing Trump] CARLSON: MSNBC went even further than [other media outlets], and if you’ve heard of more reckless claim during a pandemic, call us because we haven’t, we would like to know what it is. They claim the president must have some kind of financial stake in this drug. […] CARLSON: That’s paranoid, and crazy, and stupid. In the middle of a national crisis to say something like that on your stupid television show just is totally wrong. And by the way, chloroquine has been off patent for an awfully long time. The drug was first discovered in like 1935 [meaning it is generic, can be and is produced by many, is very cheap, and offers very small profit possibilities.]

Watch:

Right on cue, The Usual Suspects including Joe and Mika rushed to condemn a wildly sensationalized report today from the New York Times about how Trump and his alleged business associates allegedly have “financial interests” in the name-brand version of the drug.

But as is often the case with “blockbuster” reports from the New York Times, the devil was in the details. The reporting was such garbage that even noted Trump basher George Conway essentially agreed it was much ado about nothing after former Kamala Harris presidential campaign press secretary Ian Sams tweeted out the story (which received 18,000 RTs as of this writing):

He owns some mutual funds that hold Sanofi. And the med is off-patent. The suggestion that this is significant is a huge stretch. — George Conway (@gtconway3d) April 7, 2020

Yep. And can’t imagine Sanofi could make that much on a drug that’s not patented. https://t.co/6EYEnQdveC — George Conway (@gtconway3d) April 7, 2020

In any event, if you read between the lines of Carlson’s reporting, it’s pretty clear he’s with a lot of us in the belief that the media are downplaying the possible benefits of hydroxychloroquine because of their hatred of President Trump.

Even knowing the national media and how they constantly operate from an Orange Man Bad premise, it’s still a shocking thing to say. But it really does simply boil down to that.