The problem wasn't that Trump encouraged trying it, but that he clearly exaggerated what we knew about its effects and continued to do so for a long time even after having been confronted about it.
I can personally discount everything he says, that doesn't make it any less legitimate to say that the President of the United States shouldn't hold press conferences in which he over-hypes the proven effectiveness of certain drugs during a pandemic.
Otherwise anyone can just claim anything whenever they want without any proof whatsoever.
Independent of whether that is actually right, where did I consider them to be connected in this discussion? I'm not even inferring a political motive, I'm just stating that it is a dumb thing to say.
So everyone, including frightened elderly people, is supposed to have a prior that the president is a liar and should be ignored, and thus it is acceptable for Trump to say what he wants? That's a frankly bizarre approach.
It's like they think we don't remember hearing about how he was the only honest, incorruptible candidate in the field because he was self-funded and "said what he thought," rather than "talking like a politician." Or how his competence as a businessman and hard-as-nails negotiator was worth more than any amount of political expertise.
We don't even hear about four-dimensional chess or "draining the swamp" anymore.