The next day, at a press conference, President Trump said he had ordered the FDA to fast-track approval of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. “It’s been around for a long time, so we know that if it—if things don’t go as planned, it’s not going to kill anybody.” It was Trump’s first mention of the drugs, which would become an obsession for him. Echoing Ingraham, Trump labeled them “a game changer.” Fox News drove the story relentlessly. During the two weeks between March 23 and April 6, Fox hosts and their guests promoted hydroxychloroquine nearly three hundred times.
