Next Tuesday, HarperCollins will publish a book “Nightmare Scenario”. Written by two Washington Post journalists, Damien Paletta and Yasmeen Abutaleb, the book documents the behind-the-scenes panic over Trump’s covid-19 illness. Some excerpts and reviews of the book are out.
*****
On 1 October, Alex Azar, the health secretary,
received a call from the White House requesting help with an experimental treatment
“monoclonal antibody”. The drug was in clinical trials, not yet available to
the public. Azar was not told who the drug was meant for. He speculated it was
Trump’s advisor, Hope Hicks, who had tested positive.
A little later, Stephen Hahn, the FDA commissioner
received a call. Could he please immediately sign off a “compassionate use authorization”?
In life-threatening emergencies American doctors can apply to the FDA for unapproved
medicines. But nobody directly calls the FDA commissioner. Hahn, just like Azar,
did not know who the patient was.
*****
On the previous Saturday, 26 September, Trump had held
a mask-less, distance-less party in the White House garden to announce Amy
Barett as the Supreme Court Justice. The party had moved indoors. No mask was the
unofficial policy. If the head of the house never wore a mask, how could others?
Trump actually asked aides to take them off. In news conferences, he didn’t
want any masked people behind him in the same frame.
On 27 September, Trump hosted military families at the
White House. He complained to his security guards later. Why were they letting
people get so close to him? “If these guys had covid, I’m going to get it,
because they were all over me.” He said.
On 29 September, in the first debate with Biden, Trump
was more incoherent than his usual self. By the following evening, he was
terribly ill. His fever shot up, his oxygen level started falling, at one point
dipping into the 80s. He was immediately given oxygen.
*****
Trump initially refused to go to the hospital. His
aides gave him the two possible options: either he went that day while he could
still walk on his own, or wait and let the TV cameras capture him in a
wheelchair or stretcher. There is no easy way for the president to hide his
condition.
Few people in the White House knew the severity of
Trump’s condition. Pence and his team were never informed the vice president
may have to take up Trump’s job at short notice. By now, realizing who the
exceptional patient was, Alex Azar and Stephen Hahn had authorized the
unapproved drugs for compassionate use.
Trump was 74, never exercised, ate junk food, drank Coca-Cola
and was medically obese. Ideal prey for the coronavirus.
After FDA’s sign-off, Trump was given an eight gram
dose of two monoclonal antibodies through an intravenous tube. He was also
given through IV the antiviral drug Remdesivir. (But not hydroxychloroquine,
his pet). Remdesivir was in such short supply that ordinary Americans had no
access to it.
On 3 October, on becoming worse, Trump was given
dexamethasone. This is given when someone is extremely ill. Every hour, doctors
consulted Fauci, Hahn and others whom Trump had openly hated, opposed and
insulted.
The cocktail of medicines, available only to a single
person on the planet, helped. Monoclonal antibodies proved to be a miracle.
*****
Fauci, Birx, Redfield and other health experts felt the
illness was a blessing. The near-death experience would make the president
change the course of his message. Now he would tell his millions of followers
how dangerous the virus was. He could perhaps announce a mask mandate.
On his return, Trump faced the cameras from the
balcony, and triumphantly pulled the mask off his face. He was heavily made up
that morning, with additional orange colour added to his face. He made a
military salute, and still contagious, entered his house without a mask.
*****
While reading the excerpts, I felt sorry the
extraordinary, rare and expensive treatment which saved this undeserving man was
not available to the 3 million+ victims of covid-19.
On the other hand, I am happy Trump didn’t die that
week. America and the world needed his defeat and not death.
Ravi
मूर्ख शिरोमणी
ReplyDeleteAnother dreadful story about a really terrible man
ReplyDeleteYour article ends on an epic note.
ReplyDeleteLobh...