Trump repeats Tucker Carlson talking point suggesting white people are being denied Covid treatment
Trump repeated a lie that white people are being denied care for Covid-19
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Former President Donald Trump has suggested liberals are determining “who lives and who dies” by basing Covid-19 treatments on race.
During a rally in Arizona on Saturday, Mr Trump repeated a talking point that had previously featured on Tucker Carlson, suggesting white people are being discriminated against.
“The left is now rationing life-saving therapeutics based on race, discriminating against and denigrating, just denigrating white people to determine who lives and who dies,” Mr Trump told a crowd in Florence.
“If you’re white, you don’t get the vaccine or if you’re white, you don’t get therapeutics. It’s unbelievable to think this. And nobody wants this. Black people don’t want it, white people don’t want it. Nobody wants it.”
The origin of the talking point appears to come from Alex Jones’s conspiracy site InfoWars, when a host named Harrison Smith posted a video with a medical worker in Texas saying he can’t receive monoclonal antibody treatment because he had no underlying health conditions, Insider reported. The same video showed Harrison asking if he was being discriminated because of his race
A truncated version of that clip appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight.
“So you can’t get lifesaving drugs from the government of Texas if you’re the wrong colour,” Mr Carlson said on his Fox News programme. “So this is still happening on a wide scale.”
The talking point was also repeated by Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk in November, but was fact-checked in USA Today and the state has denied any such criteria exists.
In response to right-wing backlash, Minnesota removed race as a preferential factor for providers that are part of Minnesota Resource Allocation Platform, the Minneapolis Star Tribunereported last week.
Groups like the America First Legal Advocacy Group had complained about the scoring criteria.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments