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Trump’s Chlorox your way to coronavirus health? Experts (and Chlorox) say N0: Trump walks it back

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A cheap possible Coronavirus cure (suggests Trump)?

Is injecting yourself with disinfectants possibly a cure or treatment for coronavirus? At Donald Trump’s Thursday press conference briefing he raised the issue unprompted with this comment:

“I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets inside the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.”

Trump’s comment was immediately greeted with consternation by many and the firestorm over his remarks continued through the evening. Trump was lambasted on Twitter and by doctors, lawmakers and disinfectant companies.

Then the predictable occurred: some at Fox News and right wing websites said “the media” was to blame for inflating the comment. The White House put out a statement blaming the press and the big story — and now Trump has just undercut his own White House’s defense by saying he was just being “sarcastic.” The video of what he said and and how he said it doesn’t back up that claim.

“I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen,” Trump told reporters at an Oval Office bill signing.

He asked a question sarcastically just to test and trigger the media? The question immediately comes to mind: What kind of a political leader would issue a “sarcastic” comment like this in the middle of a historic crisis?

But that’s a straw man question.

Even a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli on a shelf at Safeway can watch the video and see he was not being sarcastic.

And even a Fox Newser didn’t accept his explanation:

“I was asking a sarcastic — and a very sarcastic question — to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside,” the president continued. “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.”

When a journalist in the Oval Office pointed out that Trump had turned to experts next to the stage when he first raised the idea on Thursday, the president claimed he was asking those officials “whether or not sun and disinfectant on the hands … can help us.”

The president’s explanation drew skepticism among those who watched the briefing, where Trump directly turned to other government officials to ask about the idea.

“It didn’t seem like it was coming off as sarcastic when he was talking and turning to Dr. Birx on the side,” Fox News anchor Bret Baier said on air after Trump’s walk-back was reported.

The company that owns Lysol immediately issued a statement saying: don’t drink it.

Reckitt Benckiser (RBGLY), a British company, warned Friday that human consumption of disinfectant products is dangerous. It issued the statement following “recent speculation and social media activity.”
“As a global leader in health and hygiene products, we must be clear that under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route),” the company said in a statement.

NBC News reports that Trump’s aides and the coronavirus task force were shocked by Trump’s comments. All of this has left Trump’s defenders scrambling to find ways to defend him and Trump undercut one defense made in his behalf, Talking Points Memo notes:

The White House and several prominent defenders of President Donald Trump twisted themselves into knots Friday, attempting to “fact check” reporting on the President’s own suggestion that injections of disinfectant could prove effective against COVID-19.

In a statement to TPM Friday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany didn’t deny what Trump had said the night before, but she did accuse the media of “irresponsibly” taking the President out of context.

“President Trump has repeatedly said that Americans should consult with medical doctors regarding coronavirus treatment, a point that he emphasized again during yesterday’s briefing,” McEnany said. “Leave it to the media to irresponsibly take President Trump out of context and run with negative headlines.”

But Trump undercut that defense and others pretty quickly Friday, telling reporters he was just kidding around when he suggested injecting disinfectants: “I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen,” he told reporters in the White House, according to a pool report.

The Daily Beast notes:

Reverting to “sarcasm” is a favorite get-out-of-jail card for Trump. He previously said he was being “sarcastic” when he repeatedly claimed that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton founded the Islamic State, and when he repeatedly thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for expelling U.S. diplomats.

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