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He didn't say using light or disinfectants were "promising". Please don't make me defend Trump, because I hate him, but I hate misinformation more. He suggested

He didn't say using light or disinfectants were "promising". Please don't make me defend Trump, because I hate him, but I hate misinformation more. He suggested it might be possible, but clearly he was off script and had no idea what he was talking about and just making conversation, something that a president should not do. He shouldn't have said anything, but he didn't say it was "promising".

newacct583 7y ago
I think "promising" sounds like a very apt paraphrase of what he said. I did indeed watch the press conference, and I didn't present it as a literal quote. Do we need to dig in and tear out the quote word by word now before we're even allowed to refute it? Is that really a good use of our collective time? That was, after all, exactly my point.
- ping_pong 7y ago
  Then be more accurate with your words and not irresponsibly spreading misinformation.
  - Bud 7y ago
    You're the one being irresponsible here, in mounting any kind of defense of what Trump said. It was total crazy talk. Tell the truth.
  - mattkrause 7y ago
    FWIW: 'Promising' is a pretty accurate paraphrase of “I think that’s a great thing to look at", which is what the NY Times quotes him as saying.
    - ping_pong 7y ago
      I'll assume no negative intent and that English is not your first language, because there's a big difference between calling something "promising" versus "interesting to look at".
      - newacct583 7y ago
        How, exactly? In context, a treatment being "interesting to look at" is interesting because you think it might work. Isn't that what "promising" means in the same context? You seem to be hiding behind the presidents imprecision here. I genuinely don't understand how someone could look at the video of that press conference and think the president was not celebrating the idea of possibly finding a cure by injecting disinfectants into people's bodies.
        deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
      - mattkrause 6y ago
        I am a native English speaker and would agree that "interesting to look at" is perhaps a little weaker than "promising." Maybe 20% weaker, as if there's a scale. However, the transcript from the NY Times and BBC--not to mention my comment above--also has him saying "a great idea to look at" in the same response, which I do think is equivalent to 'promising'. This is an inevitable consequence of telling others to be careful with their words.
  - splitrocket 7y ago
    Perhaps you could demand that first of the president of the united states, and then perhaps, secondarily of some random poster on hacker news?
- krapp 7y ago
  >Do we need to dig in and tear out the quote word by word now before we're even allowed to refute it? Are you actually a new account? Because if so, be warned - that is exactly how HN works a lot of the time.
  - newacct583 7y ago
    I'm not. I have a longstanding account, but had a... somewhat suspicious event on other social media that I think might have been inspired by comments here. My account has never been very private and there's a lot of potentially harvestable information there. So I'm experimenting with keeping my comments in more controversial topics isolated.
    - splitrocket 7y ago
      I'm curious, how much does the Internet Research Agency pay these days?
- chelovek89 7y ago
  > Do we need to dig in and tear out the quote word by word now before we're even allowed to refute it? Yes, this is a forum consisting largely of founder-engineers and words mean things. Not all bugs are spiders, not all disinfectants are bleach. Claiming the president suggested we inject bleach is disinformation, and it weakens the credibility of the rest of your argument.
  - rsynnott 7y ago
    ... Wait, what non-bleach disinfectant would it be appropriate for him to recommend injecting?
  - anigbrowl 7y ago
    Does the president bear any responsibility whatsoever for his own words, or should we treat them as oracular emanations of the divine, to be explored for meaning like the entrails of a sacrificial beast or the residues at the bottom of a coffee cup?
splitrocket 7y ago
"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. BRYAN: We’ll get to the right folks who could. TRUMP: 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." Technically, you are correct, he didn't say the word "promising". Given that promising has latinate origins, rather than germanic, it's likely not in his vocabulary. Still hydroxychloroquine ended up killing a bunch of vets, and at least one person credible enough to ingest it directly without medical advice or a prescription. I applaud your goals of precision, but, stochastic terrorism is real, and the point of communication, especially in such dire circumstances, shouldd not only to be understood, but to make it impossible to be misunderstood. Clarity and unambiguous language from leaders is literally essential public health.
- swebs 7y ago
  >and I think you said you’re going to test that too. It sounds interesting. That's a pretty far cry from telling people to inject bleach, which is the narrative some outlets are trying to spin right now.
  - splitrocket 7y ago
    It's entirely too close for the leader of the free world. It's also remarkably stupid. Like astoundingly dumb. To quote Craig Manzin: 'One of the hallmarks of the dangerously stupid is the consistent belief they’ve found great solutions that experts somehow missed.'
    - 7y ago

newacct583 7y ago

I think "promising" sounds like a very apt paraphrase of what he said. I did indeed watch the press conference, and I didn't present it as a literal quote. Do we need to dig in and tear out the quote word by word now before we're even allowed to refute it? Is that really a good use of our collective time? That was, after all, exactly my point.

ping_pong 7y ago
Then be more accurate with your words and not irresponsibly spreading misinformation.
- Bud 7y ago
  You're the one being irresponsible here, in mounting any kind of defense of what Trump said. It was total crazy talk. Tell the truth.
- mattkrause 7y ago
  FWIW: 'Promising' is a pretty accurate paraphrase of “I think that’s a great thing to look at", which is what the NY Times quotes him as saying.
  - ping_pong 7y ago
    I'll assume no negative intent and that English is not your first language, because there's a big difference between calling something "promising" versus "interesting to look at".
    - newacct583 7y ago
      How, exactly? In context, a treatment being "interesting to look at" is interesting because you think it might work. Isn't that what "promising" means in the same context? You seem to be hiding behind the presidents imprecision here. I genuinely don't understand how someone could look at the video of that press conference and think the president was not celebrating the idea of possibly finding a cure by injecting disinfectants into people's bodies.
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
    - mattkrause 6y ago
      I am a native English speaker and would agree that "interesting to look at" is perhaps a little weaker than "promising." Maybe 20% weaker, as if there's a scale. However, the transcript from the NY Times and BBC--not to mention my comment above--also has him saying "a great idea to look at" in the same response, which I do think is equivalent to 'promising'. This is an inevitable consequence of telling others to be careful with their words.
- splitrocket 7y ago
  Perhaps you could demand that first of the president of the united states, and then perhaps, secondarily of some random poster on hacker news?
krapp 7y ago
>Do we need to dig in and tear out the quote word by word now before we're even allowed to refute it? Are you actually a new account? Because if so, be warned - that is exactly how HN works a lot of the time.
- newacct583 7y ago
  I'm not. I have a longstanding account, but had a... somewhat suspicious event on other social media that I think might have been inspired by comments here. My account has never been very private and there's a lot of potentially harvestable information there. So I'm experimenting with keeping my comments in more controversial topics isolated.
  - splitrocket 7y ago
    I'm curious, how much does the Internet Research Agency pay these days?
chelovek89 7y ago
> Do we need to dig in and tear out the quote word by word now before we're even allowed to refute it? Yes, this is a forum consisting largely of founder-engineers and words mean things. Not all bugs are spiders, not all disinfectants are bleach. Claiming the president suggested we inject bleach is disinformation, and it weakens the credibility of the rest of your argument.
- rsynnott 7y ago
  ... Wait, what non-bleach disinfectant would it be appropriate for him to recommend injecting?
- anigbrowl 7y ago
  Does the president bear any responsibility whatsoever for his own words, or should we treat them as oracular emanations of the divine, to be explored for meaning like the entrails of a sacrificial beast or the residues at the bottom of a coffee cup?

splitrocket 7y ago

"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. BRYAN: We’ll get to the right folks who could. TRUMP: 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." Technically, you are correct, he didn't say the word "promising". Given that promising has latinate origins, rather than germanic, it's likely not in his vocabulary. Still hydroxychloroquine ended up killing a bunch of vets, and at least one person credible enough to ingest it directly without medical advice or a prescription. I applaud your goals of precision, but, stochastic terrorism is real, and the point of communication, especially in such dire circumstances, shouldd not only to be understood, but to make it impossible to be misunderstood. Clarity and unambiguous language from leaders is literally essential public health.

swebs 7y ago
>and I think you said you’re going to test that too. It sounds interesting. That's a pretty far cry from telling people to inject bleach, which is the narrative some outlets are trying to spin right now.
- splitrocket 7y ago
  It's entirely too close for the leader of the free world. It's also remarkably stupid. Like astoundingly dumb. To quote Craig Manzin: 'One of the hallmarks of the dangerously stupid is the consistent belief they’ve found great solutions that experts somehow missed.'
  - 7y ago