Man Who Died Ingesting Fish Tank Cleaner Remembered as Intelligent, Levelheaded Engineer
In death, he has become famous as a cautionary tale about the risks of mindlessly following the armchair medical advice President Donald Trump has dispensed from the White House podium.
But friends of 68-year-old Gary Lenius, the Arizona man who passed away last month from drinking a fish tank cleaner that contained an ingredient, chloroquine phosphate, that Trump had touted as a potential coronavirus cure, say they are still struggling to understand what drove an engineer with an extensive science background to do something so wildly out of character.
These people describe Lenius as intelligent and levelheaded, not prone to the sort of reckless and impulsive behavior he reportedly engaged in on the day he died. This account is based on interviews with three people who knew Lenius well and paints a picture of a troubled marriage characterized by Wanda Lenius's explosive anger.
"What bothers me about this is that Gary was a very intelligent man, a retired [mechanical] engineer who designed systems for John Deere in Waterloo, Iowa, and I really can't see the scenario where Gary would say, ‘Yes, please, I would love to drink some of that Koi fish tank cleaner,'" one of his close friends told the Washington Free Beacon. "It just doesn't make any sense."
Lenius passed away on March 22 after he and his wife, Wanda Lenius, drank sodas that she had mixed with a fish tank cleaner not intended for human consumption, Wanda Lenius told the Free Beacon. Trump critics and the news media have held up his death as a warning against following the president's amateur medical advice, with some claiming that Trump is "lethal," has "blood on his hands," and should be tried at the Hague for "crimes against humanity." Full Story - Alana Goodman - Free Beacon
Mysterious case of the people who ate fish tank cleaner
Where is Sherlock When we need Him?
Shortly after President Trump touted chloroquine as a potential cure for COVID-19, the media triumphantly reported that a man died from taking homemade chloroquine due to Trump’s recommendation. It turned out that the man’s wife fed him some fish tank cleaner. She even partook of it with him, except that he died while she didn’t. As a dedicated murder mystery reader, I didn’t blame Trump. My suspicions were focused elsewhere. It turns out my instincts may have been right on the money. Here’s the story the drive-by media didn't tell you:
On March 20, President Trump expressed his hope that chloroquine (also prescribed as hydroxychloroquine) might be an effective way to treat COVID-19, especially when used in conjunction with Azithromycin, an antibiotic. The next day, he reiterated that hope in a tweet. Two days later, Axios reported, “Man dies after self-medicating with chloroquine phosphate.”
Sure enough, by March 24, the narrative was in place. President Trump was responsible for killing a man and almost killing a woman. Indeed, these narratives were not subtle. This NPR tweet is a stand-in for what all the media outlets were doing:
By March 30, thanks to some excellent reporting from the Washington Free Beacon, there was more information about the woman who survived. Most people noted the fact that she was a fanatic anti-Trumper and “pro-science” person. Read More
What the Media Didn't Tell You About the Woman Who Gave Her Husband Fish Tank Cleaner
A couple of weeks ago the media had a field day over reports that an elderly couple had ingested chloroquine after seeing President Trump talking about it during a Coronavirus Task Force press briefing, killing the husband and leaving the woman in intensive care. Eventually, it was revealed that the media hadn't reported the fact that they didn't take the medication at all, but they actually had ingested poisonous fish tank cleaner because it contained a chemical variant of chloroquine, chloroquine phosphate, as an additive.
But the media got their anti-Trump story, complete with the woman blaming Trump for her husband's death.
"Oh my God. Don't take anything. Don't believe anything. Don’t believe anything that the president says ..The media presented the narrative that this woman and her husband trusted Trump's judgment ... there was even more to the story the anti-Trump media didn't report. For example, the woman was a "prolific donor" to Democrat causes ... Techno Fog, an anonymous, but widely followed lawyer on Twitter, has been tracking the story, and has discovered interesting information from court documents. According to these documents he's acquired, the woman has a history of mental illness, including paranoia, anxiety, and depression. She also considered divorcing her husband ... Calling Sherlock Holmes - send up the bat signal Full Story - Matt Margolis - PJ Media
