(ThyBlackMan.com) The famous 19th-century Scottish physician, missionary and explorer, Dr. David Livingstone, making a trip to Africa in 1866, was believed to have died when nothing more was heard from him. Welsh journalist and explorer Henry Stanley led a team into Africa to determine Livingstone’s fate. On Nov. 10, 1871, arriving in the small village of Ujiji, located on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in south-central Africa, Stanley saw a single white male standing out among the throngs of black villagers greeting him. Approaching the white man with outstretched hand, Stanley uttered his now famous greeting, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
While Dr. Livingstone was a well-respected physician and humanitarian, Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., wishing to sound like both, recently blurting out a politically incorrect comment about President Donald Trump, demonstrated she is neither. Perhaps she feels her position as speaker of the House authorizes her to irresponsibly spew out medical knowledge she lacks to comment about a president she disdains. By doing so, not only does she disrespect his office and cast aspersions upon those of us carrying a few extra pounds, but she also does nothing to allay Americans’ fears on how best to protect ourselves from the coronavirus.
Trump shared this week he was taking, prophylactically, the anti-malarial medication hydroxychloroquine. He has long promoted it as a virus treatment. While not officially sanctioned as such and some health officials warning of adverse consequences, nonetheless, the medication is gaining support. A U.S. doctor uses it with great success on his COVID-19 patients. A poll revealed 65% of doctors treating U.S. patients also prescribe it. A French doctor using it reports an amazing success rate.
Obviously, Democrats put more credibility into Christopher Steele’s zero-credibility fake news dossier on Trump than they put into a medication Trump promotes. Undoubtedly, they suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).
Trump’s declaration about hydroxychloroquine caused Pelosi to dig deep into her bag of medical knowledge to suggest it was not a good idea for “morbidly obese” Trump to take hydroxychloroquine. For anyone confused concerning her intent, Pelosi was not concerned about how the medication might impact the president’s health – it was just another of her tireless efforts to fire off a personal barb at him. By this attack, however, Pelosi – always presenting herself as a social justice warrior – apparently had no compunction about resorting to “fat shaming.”
Once Pelosi had set the tone, “Dr.” Chuck Schumer – also known as the Democratic senator from New York – took her lead, as he often does, to criticize Trump too. He stated, “What the president did with hydroxychloroquine was reckless, simply reckless.” Not content to leave it at that, Schumer, seeking to cover all bases, (falsely) added, “The experts say, every expert that looked at it says it doesn’t help you against COVID. So he is giving people false hope. … For him to say this is reckless [and] shows no regard for the public. Then you have to ask yourself, why did he say it? Does he have a friend or member of the family that might be benefiting? Trying to divert attention from his failure at COVID? … One thing you don’t know, maybe he is really not taking it, he lies about things characteristically.”
Fearing the criticize-Trump-for-taking hydroxychloroquine bandwagon might leave without him, the pride of the Democratic Party, medical doctor extraordinaire and sole presidential candidate Joe Biden, jumped onboard. When the media queried him on the issue, apparently believing it more important to pursue this rather than the rape allegations against him, Biden responded, “It’s like saying maybe if you inject Clorox into your blood it may cure you. C’mon, man! What is he doing? What in God’s name is he doing?”
What Trump is doing is exercising leadership by example – a characteristic with which the Democratic Party’s best and brightest are unfamiliar. He is “walking the walk,” not just “talking the talk,” demonstrating his confidence in a drug known to be saving lives. Such leadership has now resulted in the U.K. ordering millions of doses of hydroxychloroquine for its own citizens.
Despite the anti-Trump onslaught by Democratic Party elitists, a Dallas, Texas, family medicine specialist and general surgeon, Dr. Ivette Lozano, said the last thing they wanted to hear. She stated, “I think the people of the United States need to know they have a brilliant president of the United States and that he wants to keep himself safe and healthy so that he can guide us through this pandemic. He’s done an incredible job. He is saving thousands and thousands of lives. And I commend him for coming out publicly and sharing with his people that he is taking this drug, that it is completely safe, and that doctors need to start prescribing it immediately.”
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has confirmed Trump takes the medication. She added, “The president has said pretty widely that this is a drug that he had looked at with optimism, but nevertheless he said that this is a decision that must be made with the doctor.” Trump pointed out many front-line workers also take it.
Asked Tuesday to comment on Pelosi’s barb, Trump said, “Oh, I don’t respond to her, I think she’s a waste of time.”
Trump has not hesitated to exchange salvos with Pelosi who made clear her anti-Trump mindset early on. Her dislike for Trump flowed from the fallacy he had stolen the election from Hillary Clinton with Russia’s help. Three years later, despite no supporting evidence, Pelosi steadfastly remains vindictive.
As their personal attacks continue, Trump should follow the approach of a man whose bust sits in his office – Winston Churchill. As Britain’s prime minister, Churchill also endured a female political protagonist, Lady Astor. He often got the best of her for launching personal attacks against him, simply by exercising a sharp wit. In one exchange, a frustrated Astor lamented to Churchill, “If you were my husband, I’d poison your tea.” Unperturbed, Churchill responded, “If I were your husband, I’d drink it.”
Both Lady Astor and Nancy Pelosi overcame male-dominated legislative bodies to achieve firsts. Astor was the first female member of Parliament; Pelosi the first female speaker of the House. But there the similarities end – for the mark Astor left behind was a positive one.
Written by Lt. Col. James Zumwalt
