Shocked aides: We told Trump to promote disinfectants on surface, not bodies
Yesterday, the President of the United States suggested that injecting disinfectant into COVID-19 patients might be a viable strategy for combatting the virus. The idiotic idea—because that’s exactly what it is, no other description fits–prompted Lysol to release a public statement urging people not to ingest or inject their products.
After hearing presentation President Trump suggests irradiating people's bodies with UV light or injecting them with bleach or alcohol to deal with COVID19. pic.twitter.com/cohkLyyl9G
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 23, 2020
Understandably, Trump’s submoronic suggestion to administer deadly cleaning products to coronavirus patients was met with genuine shock and a tidal wave of mockery. Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden even got in on the action and directed Americans to not “drink bleach.”
I can’t believe I have to say this, but please don’t drink bleach.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 24, 2020
Perhaps not surprisingly, White House aides were shocked by Trump’s comments. NBC News reports that administration officials—who were given no prior warning since the president didn’t consult anyone about the statement prior to delivering it—watching the press conference live began to text each other as the president launched into his bizarre impromptu theorizing because, as one official revealed, they thought “this was going to be bad.”
Apparently, Trump was a bit confused by information he received before going in front of the cameras. He was told how coronavirus living on surfaces can be killed with disinfectant and removed from human hands by sanitizer. While trying to discuss this fact “the president took it a couple steps further” said one official.
The comments were “totally ad-libbed” and “off-the-cuff” explained one aide. “I think what he did was conflate the disinfecting product with heat and light. They are not the same things. The disinfectants are for surfaces,” the aide added.
“The plan was to stress during the daily WH coronavirus briefing that disinfectants should be used on surfaces but then…the president took the briefing information on disinfectant and sunlight and appeared to do some ‘deductive reasoning’ that it could be injected into people.” https://t.co/8jzr0lNYYt
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) April 24, 2020
So what does Trump have to say in the face of all the backlash? Lies of course.
When asked by a reporter to clarify his suggestion that injecting disinfectants could be a remedy for COVID-19 the president unconvincingly claimed that his remarks were sarcsatic
“I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen,” Trump said before rambling on about hand sanitizer.
“I was asking a sarcastic, and a very sarcastic question, to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside,” he said, circling back. “But it does kill it and it would kill it on the hands and that would make things much better. That was done in the form of a sarcastic question to the reporters,” he added.
The reporter pointed out the problem with Trump’s response, namely that he asked his medical experts on camera to look into his harebrained disinfectant theory.
“Uh no. No, no, no, no. To look into whether or not sun and disinfectant on the hands… But whether or not sun can help us because I mean he came in yesterday and he said they’d done a big study—this is a study—this isn’t where he hasn’t done it,” responded Trump.
“This is where they’ve come in with a final report that sun has a massive impact, negatively, on this virus. In other words, it does not live well with humidity and it doesn’t live well with sun, sunlight, heat. It doesn’t live well with heat and sun and disinfectant. And that’s what I brought out and I thought it was clear,” Trump said.
Unfortunately for the president, the footage of his original comments is still available. He was not just talking about the effect of sunlight on the coronavirus and he very clearly was not being sarcastic.
Watch his pathetic explanation below. And please, don’t inject yourself with bleach.
Reporter: Could you clarify your comments on injections of disinfectants?
Trump: I was asking the question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen…
Reporter: But you were asking your medical experts to look into it pic.twitter.com/T0hzizjgpN— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) April 24, 2020
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