FLASHBACK: Biden reminds nation of Trump’s bleach FIASCO
Don’t inject bleach.
That’s pretty solid advice, and it seems obvious enough that the average citizen shouldn’t need either their doctor or president to tell them.
In fact, if someone seems to be advising to drink or inject bleach or other disinfectants, or to insert them into the body in any way, it should raise a serious red flag.
That’s why President Joe Biden is taking time out, four years later, to remind voters of the incident in which Donald Trump’s rambling, stream-of-consciousness, incoherent babble in a press conference did seem to suggest exactly that.
For fact-checking purposes: Trump never literally said that anyone should inject bleach, on their own or with the help of a medical professional. Instead, he engaged in injudicious and dangerous rambling rhetoric, as he addressed a nation in crisis. His exact words were, in part:
“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute, and is there a way we can do something like that, by injection, inside, or, or, almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’ll be interesting to check that, so that you’re gonna have to use medical doctors.”
Biden reposted the video clip of Trump making these unsound suggestions on the anniversary of the press conference, adding his own recommendations:
“Don’t inject bleach. And don’t vote for the guy who told you to inject bleach.”
Don’t inject bleach.
And don’t vote for the guy who told you to inject bleach. https://t.co/4ggDwycPlY
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 23, 2024
While Trump’s disjointed rambling wasn’t quite a direct suggestion, it had a measurable effect. In April 2020, accidental poisonings with household disinfectants were up 121% over the same time period in 2019, according to Time Magazine.
For bleach specifically, accidental poisonings were up by 77%.
It’s not the only harm Trump did during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. His behaviors — including refusing to wear a mask and publicly downplaying the danger, increases in the number of uninsured Americans, cuts to public health emergency preparedness, shortages of personal protective equipment, and so much more — contributed to a bad outcome, ABC reports.
In fact, a Lancet Commission reportedly found these to have contributed to so many deaths that — with a competent and serious response — as many as 40% of them could have been avoided.
When Biden took over, he quickly dedicated his team to getting shots in people’s arms and making healthcare accessible again — and today, while COVID-19 is still a threat, the CDC shows that hospitalizations, deaths, and emergency department visits for the virus have all dropped dramatically.
The moral of this story — at least from the Biden campaign’s perspective — is to never believe a word that Donald Trump says. You’ll be much better off and healthier, too.
For clarifications, comments, & typos, email: editor@occupydemocrats.com.
