Stephen Strang, CEO of the Pentecostal-oriented Charisma media operation and author of multiple pro-Trump books, charged in a blog post Friday that “liberals want to block effective treatments for COVID-19.” The blog post drew from his most recent book, “God, Trump, and COVID-19: How the Pandemic Is Affecting Christians, the World, and America's 2020 Election,” and linked to the July 31 edition of his “God, Trump, and the 2020 Election” podcast, which focuses on “why Donald Trump must win and what’s at stake for Christians.”
According to Strang, the explanation for some Democratic officials’ resistance to President Donald Trump’s promotion of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus was, “They just don’t want to give the president a win.” In fact, the FDA itself, after initially granting emergency approval for use of the anti-malaria drug for treatment of COVID-19, revoked that approval in June in the face of evidence that it was ineffective and potentially harmful.
In the podcast, Strang said “there seems to be a political agenda” to “somehow keep this pandemic going.” He quoted himself as having said, “kind of facetiously,” that if Trump came up with a cure for cancer, “they would accuse Donald Trump of putting doctors out of work.”
On last Friday’s podcast, Strang said that things in Florida, where he lives, “have pretty much gotten back to normal.” Last week, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel urged Gov. Ron DeSantis to issue a statewide mask mandate, saying, “We’re dying here.” The state has the second highest number of cases in the country.
Strang said that his company practices social distancing and that he wears a mask when he goes to church.
“We’re going to have a podcast every day or at least every work day leading up to the election,” Strang said. “We have to get Donald Trump elected.”
