On Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump posted a video to Twitter on his official account.
He began by saying:
"Hi, perhaps you recognize me. It's your favorite President."
The POTUS went on to make claims about his health and wellness.
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT! pic.twitter.com/uhLIcknAjT
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2020
After saying he spent four days at Walter Reed Medical Center, Trump added:
"I didn't have to. I could have stayed at the White House, but doctors said because you're President, let's do it."
The White House does have a state of the art medical suite.
Trump then began to extoll the virtues of the drug treatment Regeneron—a cocktail of experimental monoclonal antibodies.
Trump said:
"I went in and I wasn't feeling so hot, and within a very short period of time they gave me Regeneron. It's called Regeneron."
"And other things too, but I think this was the key. They gave me Regeneron. And it was like, unbelievable."
After name-dropping a number of pharmaceutical companies—claiming each one had either a cure or was days away from developing an effective vaccine, Trump then made claims about the FDA never working as fast, then took credit for their work.
Trump added:
"So I think this was a blessing from God that I caught it. This was a blessing in disguise."
COVID isn't a big deal. If you get it, follow these steps:
1. See doctors in your in-home medical center 🏥
2. If needed, board the helicopter out back 🚁
3. Fly to the best hospital in the country 👨⚕️ 👩⚕️
4. Take the best therapeutics $750 in federal taxes can buy 💵
— Parry Headrick ⚡️ (@pheadrick) October 7, 2020
Trump claimed he heard about Regeneron and it was his suggestion he take it. He finished off by telling his listeners to remember it was all China's fault.
But there's a problem with the Godly blessing of President Trump being infected to discover Regeneron as a possible effective treatment. Regeneron was developed using scientific research involving human fetal tissue—specifically human embryonic stem cells.
The Trump administration has worked for four years to ban the science that created Regeneron.
Touting himself in 2016 as the pro-life choice, his administration continues to appeal to his Evangelical Christian base by blocking anything that might directly or indirectly rely on tissue taken from an abortion.
Regeneron didn't directly use human fetal cells in the monoclonal antibody treatment given to Trump. But it did use cells derived from an abortion in the Netherlands in 1972 to make the targets for its antibodies.
People were quick to point out the hypocrisy.
You mean the "cure" derived from aborted fetal kidney cells? pic.twitter.com/wTapQIdm67
— MizFrizz 🇺🇲🌊 (@MizFrizz) October 8, 2020
Special antibodies developed through the use of human embryos grown in a test tube. Will the pro-life fanatics have anything to say about the souls trapped in test-tubes & this #Trump man's hypocrisy? #ProLife #Regeneron https://t.co/4EBOoEOwcB
— Christian Wijnberg (@Wijnberg1) October 3, 2020
Regeneron uses stem cells from fetal tissue. How do you reconcile that with Bill Barr and Amy Coney Barrett, for starters, or THIS, for that matter? @TheJusticeDept #AmyConeyBarrett https://t.co/AlQUqhNj7o
— Muriel McCormack (@MurielMccormack) October 8, 2020
Regeneron is prepared From tissues of aborted fetus! Hypocrisy to the power of 10! https://t.co/uuUJcEgDBe
— Photon (@atomelectron13) October 8, 2020
The amazing “cure" Trump keeps talking about is Regeneron's monoclonal antibody cocktail that was made possible by human embryonic stem cell and fetal tissue research that the pro-life Republicans are so adamantly against. The irony and hypocrisy here is astounding.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) October 8, 2020
You say these new therapeutics are a “blessing from God" and especially praise Regeneron's monoclonal antibody cocktail for helping you heal from COVID-19. How interesting since the antibody cocktail wouldn't even exist without human embryonic stem cell and fetal tissue research.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) October 7, 2020
Your best friend Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee sent two armed US Marshals to my home in Nashville to subpoena me to Congress for doing the very stem cell and fetal tissue research that led to technologies like Regeneron's antibody cocktail. You should stop the hypocrisy.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) October 7, 2020
Does he have any clue what Regeneron costs or that it was developed with, and is tested on, fertilized human eggs? What the anti-choice folks call "babies".#ProLife hypocrisy.
Paragraph 3: https://t.co/4kNvsEENEq pic.twitter.com/p3iU6fmoD8
— 🌊SHRED🌊 (@Hobie_SHRED) October 8, 2020
It's a new drug. Its only been tested on 300 patients thus far. It's made from embryonic stem cells. It's not on the market & is not FDA approved. Trump only got it because of who he is.
— Sarah K (@Sarahkirk40) October 7, 2020
If there was an instance of hypocrisy so glaring from Biden/Harris as the president nominating Barrett then using Regeneron, it's certain reporters would talk about it endlessly for days and demand answers.
Reporters enable so much Republican BS by letting things slide. #Media
— Alt Sauron (@darklordtweetz) October 8, 2020
The President nor the GOP has addressed his endorsement of a treatment developed with science their "pro-life" party platform vehemently opposes.