Friday Talking Points -- Our President's Crazy, Did You Hear What He Said?

[ChrisWeigant]

We have shown what we consider to be a massive amount of restraint during Donald Trump's term as president, in that we've only used that headline once previously. The line comes from a Talking Heads song ("Making Flippy Floppy" ) which was referencing Ronald Reagan, at the time it was written. We did consider two other headlines today: "Our National Nightmare Continues: Trump Suggests Injecting Bleach. Or Sunshine," as well as: "Stable Genius Offers Lethal Suggestions: Injecting Bleach Or Sunshine," but upon reflection we decided that the Talking Heads line was more deserved this week than ever before. Because the president is now giving people advice which, if followed, will kill them. In other words: our president's crazy, did you hear what he said?

Of course, earlier in Donald Trump's peripatetic response to the coronavirus, a man died because he drank chemicals intended to clean fishtanks -- because he thought it was the same thing as the miracle drug Trump was actively touting on a daily basis. So you'd think Trump would already be aware that sometimes people stupidly act on his advice with lethal consequences.

If so, you'd be wrong. Because yesterday, Trump tossed out a few more lethal ideas, including injecting bleach or isopropyl alcohol or somehow defying the laws of physics by getting ultraviolet light inside the body... somehow... to fight off the coronavirus.

Before we get any further, a disclaimer is necessary. DO NOT do these things. They WILL kill you. So don't even try. Just don't. Even if you love Trump and everything he does, DO NOT take his suggestions. Because no matter how loyal you are, no matter how many "Make America Great Again" hats you own, it will still kill you dead. Period.

Sigh. The fact that the previous paragraph was even necessary shows the depths to which America has now sunk. Remember when Republicans tried to scared the bejeezus out of everyone by warning of Obamacare's supposed "death panels"? Now a Republican president is suggesting that people form their own death panels and inject some bleach, just to see what would happen.

Let's go to the official transcript, to understand just how stable a genius is in charge of the country right now. Just after a presentation about how various things affect how fast the coronavirus dies on surfaces and in the air, which included information about disinfectants like bleach or rubbing alcohol as well as ultraviolet light, Trump jumped in with his own brainstorm:

Thank you very much. So I asked Bill a question that probably some of you are thinking of, if you're totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous -- whether it's ultraviolet or just very powerful light -- and I think you said that that hasn't been checked, but you're going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you're going to test that too. It sounds interesting.

The number of rather basic things Trump doesn't understand in this one paragraph is rather astounding. First, it's pretty obvious that even if Trump did float the idea to the scientists, in no way did they ever say they're "going to test that too." Because they are not morons, of course. And how exactly is Trump going to get light "inside the body"? The only waves in the electromagnetic spectrum strong enough to do so are things like X-rays and other hard radiation, of course. Visible light or even ultraviolet light just doesn't do that sort of thing. Even strong ultraviolet light is pretty dangerous -- it's what causes sunburn, after all. But according to Trump, this could happen "through the skin or in some other way." Well, it won't work through the skin, so what other way is he even thinking about? Cutting people's lungs open and laying them out in the sunlight? Or what? Maybe he's just patting himself on the back for doing such a great job for the past few months by "blowing sunshine up everyone's ass"? That could actually be it, now that we think about it.

But amazingly, this wasn't even the stupidest or most lethal thing Trump suggested. He continued:

Right. 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 almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. So, that, you're going to have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds -- it sounds interesting to me. So we'll see. But the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute, that's -- that's pretty powerful.

Again, the disinfectants under discussion were bleach and isopropyl alcohol, both of which are highly toxic (that's why they are disinfectants in the first place, after all) and should never be injected into a human body. It's difficult to follow Trump's tortured syntax, but he also seems to be suggesting that maybe people could just breathe it in ("almost a cleaning" and then talking about the lungs). The worst constructed sentence was of course: "So, that, you're going to have to use medical doctors with." Which is somewhat of a relief, because no sane medical doctor is ever going to go along with such an obviously lethal course of action.

Since there were a few actual medical experts in the room with Trump, the reporters turned to them to see what they thought about the idea. The acting D.H.S. undersecretary (with the unwieldy title: "Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary for Science and Technology" ) who had just given the presentation on disinfectants was first asked about the concept:

But I -- just, can I ask about -- the president mentioned the idea of cleaners, like bleach and isopropyl alcohol you mentioned. There's no scenario that that could be injected into a person, is there? I mean --

His answer was swift and unequivocal:

No, I'm here to talk about the findings that we had in the study. We won't do that within that lab and our lab.

Trump then tried to walk back his suggestion: "It wouldn't be through injection," even though that is exactly what he had just proposed.

Later, while declaring himself a mental giant once again, he turned and asked Dr. Deborah Birx whether it would be a good idea or not.

I would like you to speak to the medical doctors to see if there's any way that you can apply light and heat to cure. You know -- but if you could. And maybe you can, maybe you can't. Again, I say, maybe you can, maybe you can't. I'm not a doctor. But I'm like a person that has a good [points to his own head] you know what.... Deborah, have you ever heard of that? The heat and the light, relative to certain viruses, yes, but relative to this virus?

Dr. Birx was equally clear in her answer: "Not as a treatment." Although, in the first official transcript of the briefing the White House released, this was reported as: "That is a treatment." It was later changed to reflect the reality of what she had said.

Trump tried to get right back on the horse that just threw him: "I think it's a great thing to look at. I mean, you know. Okay?"

When a reporter chided Trump for providing "rumors" rather than hard scientific information, Trump attacked the reporter. Because of course he did.

In the 24 hours after all this happened, the reactions have been raising the alarm. As well they should be, when the president of the United States tells the public it might be a good idea to inject some bleach.

First, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany (who has only been on the job three weeks) tried to pin it all on the media somehow taking Trump's words "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. Leave it to the media to irresponsibly take President Trump out of context and run with negative headlines.

I guess, in her world, "you're going to have to use medical doctors with" equates to "consult." And it's pretty impossible not to "run with negative headlines" when the president is suggesting injecting lethal substances.

Would anybody actually be stupid enough to follow Trump's advice? Sadly, the answer to that is not "no, of course not." It was revealed today that over 100 people had already called into Maryland's emergency hotline asking whether injecting or ingesting disinfectants could help cure COVID-19. Once again: it cannot -- it will KILL YOU instead. Maryland's state emergency management agency had to issue a warning: "This is a reminder that under no circumstances should any disinfectant product be administered into the body through injection, ingestion or any other route."

The corporation that makes Lysol also put out a strong public warning:

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). As with all products, our disinfectant and hygiene products should only be used as intended and in line with usage guidelines.

Trump's own former Food and Drug Administrator Scott Gottlieb went on the airwaves to reinforce this message:

I think we need to speak very clearly. There's no circumstance under which you should take a disinfectant or inject a disinfectant for the treatment of anything, and certainly not the treatment of coronavirus. There's absolutely no circumstance in which that's appropriate, and it can cause death and very adverse outcomes, so people should not be doing that if that was an impression that was left by any of the reporting around comments that have been made in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Trump toady Rudy Giuliani was doubling down on the stupidity, suggesting to Fox News that the government also contact trace for cancer, obesity and heart disease, which is, of course, impossible, since they are not contagious diseases.

But back to Trump's lethal idiocy. More reactions poured in:

Regardless of the intent behind Trump's statements, they compelled the American Cleaning Institute, which represents the manufacturers and formulators of various cleaning products, to publish a news release Friday "in response to speculation about the use of disinfectants in or on one's body."

"Disinfectants are meant to kill germs or viruses on hard surfaces. Under no circumstances should they ever be used on one's skin, ingested or injected internally," the A.C.I. said. "We remind everyone to please use all hygiene, cleaning and disinfecting products as directed in order to ensure safe, effective and intended use of those products."

Even Surgeon General Jerome Adams appeared to caution against the president's advice, reminding Americans in a tweet to "PLEASE always talk to your health provider first before administering any treatment/medication to yourself or a loved one."

"Your safety is paramount, and doctors and nurses... have years of training to recommend what's safe and effective," Adams wrote.

Rep. Will Hurd of Texas was one of the first Republican lawmakers Friday to break with the White House over Trump's enthusiasm for disinfectants, saying elected officials should "leave the guidance on health to health professionals."

"Nobody should drink disinfectant," Hurd told MSNBC. "I think that's pretty clear, and we should be listening to doctors and scientists on this issue. I'm not listening to any politician on health-related issues."

Later today, Trump tried to explain it all away as some sort of joke -- he was just "asking a question sarcastically to reporters... just to see what would happen." Nobody on Planet Earth believed him, however, since the video clearly shows no signs of sarcasm whatsoever and also shows Trump asking the question to his own doctors and not to the journalists present.

To fully understand why it is impossible to believe that Trump was in any way joking, two previous events must be examined. The first is that the V.A. released a report earlier this week showing that Trump's favorite miracle cure to date -- hydroxychloroquine -- kills people when administered to fight coronavirus. More people than in the control group which didn't get it, in fact. Trump's been eager to tout this as a cure-all, but now cannot do so (although he still "hasn't read the report" from the V.A. and likely never will). So he's been flailing around looking for some other magic cure.

And just in the nick of time, a quack contacted Trump about the wondrous (and non-existent) healing powers of bleach. The Guardian broke the story of how snake-oil salesman Mark Grenon sent a letter to the White House this week touting his chlorine dioxide bleach panacea:

The leader of the most prominent group in the U.S. peddling potentially lethal industrial bleach as a "miracle cure" for coronavirus wrote to Donald Trump at the White House this week.

In his letter, Mark Grenon told Trump that chlorine dioxide -- a powerful bleach used in industrial processes such as textile manufacturing that can have fatal side-effects when drunk -- is "a wonderful detox that can kill 99% of the pathogens in the body". He added that it "can rid the body of COVID-19".

A few days after Grenon dispatched his letter, Trump went on national TV at his daily coronavirus briefing at the White House on Thursday and promoted the idea that disinfectant could be used as a treatment for the virus.

This fills in the cracks, obviously. Trump is denied his favorite miracle cure, desperately seeks another, and a letter arrives from a snake-oil salesman touting the magic properties of drinking bleach. So Trump decides to float this idea to his experts on live television. With disastrous results.

This, from a man who swears that the noise from wind turbines somehow causes cancer. This, from a man so deeply insecure that he had to take a Sharpie to a weather map because a hurricane didn't go where Trump said it was going to go.

How does a person live through seven decades on this planet without ever learning that injecting bleach can kill you? How does a person that old not understand how light works when it hits solid bodies? The president of the United States is supposed to be smarter than the average fifth-grader. But, sadly, this one is not. Which is why so many experts are begging Trump's supporters not to inject bleach, just because their Dear Leader said it might be a great idea.

This is where we are as a nation, folks. At least until next January.





Last week, we mused whether Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi would wind up disappointing us this week, since at that point the deal over the next bailout bill had not yet been struck and we did not think she was doing the best job of getting her side of the story out in the media.

We retract this speculation, and hereby award Speaker Pelosi the Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award, for not only getting a much better deal than what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had originally offered, but also for doing an absolute stellar job of explaining the whole thing to the American public this week.

In particular, we urge everyone to watch Pelosi's interview on this Wednesday's PBS NewsHour, which was given right after the deal had been struck. Not only does she hit it out of the park in the interview itself, she appears to be actually beaming with joy over the outcome.

She made the case for why the Democrats were demanding more from McConnell, she explained how Democrats had gotten most of what they were demanding, and she outlined what will be in the next bailout bill, which she swore would originate in the House this time around. And she also took a few potshots at Donald Trump, for his woefully inadequate response to the crisis:

And so that's why I am saying that [President Donald Trump] is a poor leader. He ignores his own responsibility and assigns blame, instead of taking responsibility, paying attention to science, recognizing the word -- the role of governance in all of this to get the job done for the American people.

And so he's engaged in distractions like immigration, distractions like supporting people [demonstrators] on the street. They are all distractions away from the fact, the known fact, that he's a total failure when it comes to testing.

Pelosi, like most politicians, has good interviews and bad interviews. This was an excellent interview, plain and simple. We never should have doubted her, in fact.

Today, she continued on her roll at her news conference, ripping into Trump's reported insistence that he won't be bailing out the U.S. Postal Service: "No money for the post office. Instead inject Lysol into your lungs as we shut down the states." She also had a few choice words for Mitch McConnell, who this week expressed his opinion that cities and whole states should just go through bankruptcy rather than get bailed out by federal money: "Speaking of Mitch, what's gotten into him? The president is asking people to inject Lysol into their lungs and Mitch is saying the states should go bankrupt."

All around, Pelosi had a great week. Plus, her scarf/facemask is the most stylish face covering we've seen on just about anybody to date. All of which is why she's our obvious choice for Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week this week.

[Congratulate Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on her House contact page, to let her know you appreciate her efforts.]





While we are in the midst of a pandemic, we are also in the midst of a presidential race where the Democrats have settled on a nominee. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Barack Obama have all formally endorsed Biden. But there are two big names missing from the list of important and powerful Democrats who have offered a Biden endorsement: Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Where are they? What are they waiting for? Why has neither formally endorsed Joe Biden? It is downright inexplicable.

We have a living former Democratic president and the previous presidential nominee of the Democratic Party still sitting on the sidelines. The only possible reason they haven't endorsed Biden yet would be that Team Biden is somehow holding them back so they can use their endorsements to maximum value later on. But that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, when Sanders, Warren, and Obama all rolled out their endorsements within a single week.

Is there some sort of bad blood between the Clintons and Biden that we are unaware of? It's certainly possible, but one would think that this would have been public knowledge by now if there was such a rift. Biden got picked for Obama's veep while Hillary only got secretary of State, but she never showed any resentment directed specifically at Biden for this that we are aware of, at any rate.

So our apologies if this is some sort of grand strategy by the Biden campaign, but we have to say that the Clintons are becoming more conspicuous in their absence from the list of high-profile Democrats who have endorsed Joe Biden. Which we feel is enough to win them this week's Most Disappointing Democrats Of The Week award.

[Bill and Hillary Clinton are private citizens now, and it is our blanket policy not to provide contact information for such persons, so you'll have to seek their contact information out for yourselves if you'd like to urge them to endorse Joe Biden sooner rather than later.]




Volume 571 (4/24/20)

For what we think is the first time ever -- in 571 iterations of this column -- we are not going to offer up some political talking points this week, but rather turn this section into a public service announcement. Because no matter who you are and no matter what politics you support, there's a very important message to get out to every single person right now, and we want to do everything we can to aid this effort. For the most part, we're going to keep them as short and to-the-point as possible, as well.



It will kill you

In the immortal words of Joe Bob Briggs: "I'm surprised I have to explain this stuff." Sigh.

"Do NOT inject bleach into your body. It will kill you."



It will kill you

Furthermore...

"Do NOT inject alcohol of any type into your body. It will kill you."



It will kill you

And just if you got any other crazy ideas:

"Do NOT drink or ingest bleach or rubbing alcohol into your body. It will kill you, or -- at the best -- you will go blind."



It will kill you

And then there's one more base to cover:

"Do NOT try to breathe in bleach or rubbing alcohol into your lungs. It will most likely kill you, or make you deathly ill."



It is seriously dangerous

As for UV rays, let's nip the most common one in the bud before anyone gets any bright ideas:

"Do NOT lie on a tanning bed for hours on end, in an attempt to use ultraviolet light to kill the coronavirus. It will not work and you will get severely burned. Attempting to do so is highly dangerous, in fact."



You will die

Back to that Joe Bob Briggs line, once again, we suppose.

"Do NOT cut yourself open and lie in the sun. Even attempting to do so will almost certainly kill you."



The golden rule

Finally, the golden rule when it comes to which experts to consult.

"Do NOT take any medical advice at all from Donald Trump because he doesn't have the slightest clue what he is talking about. He's over seventy years old, and still doesn't realize that injecting bleach will kill you. He is a dangerous snake-oil salesman at best, and you should never follow any medical suggestion he ever makes, period."




Chris Weigant blogs at: ChrisWeigant.com
Follow Chris on Twitter: ChrisWeigant
Full archives of FTP columns: FridayTalkingPoints.com
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