4 ms·

That's charitable. He was mocked (unjustly, as all presidents are), but criticized (justly) for taking simple observations (UV kills the virus, disinfectant kil

That's charitable. He was mocked (unjustly, as all presidents are), but criticized (justly) for taking simple observations (UV kills the virus, disinfectant kills the virus) and extrapolating medically in a way that the president should not do in a public statement, and that's even regardless of the sloppiness of his descriptions.

iammisc 5y ago
Trump was not just mocked unjustly... words were inserted into his statement by major, reputable news sources, such as the New York Times, which was one of the first to begin using the word 'bleach' (which is actually dangerous to inject) instead of the stated word 'disinfectant' (which is non-specific enough to be less dangerous). https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/26/opinion/coronavirus-bleach-trump-autism.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/26/opinion/coronavirus-bleac... IMO, this is incredibly irresponsible. Antibiotics are a disinfectant, which are completely safe to inject. Other anti-virals are also safe to inject. The Times took the word 'disinfectant', which while perhaps used incorrectly, does not immediately suggest doing any actual dangerous action, and, instead of restricting their criticism to the fact that no known COVID injectable disinfectant exists, they linked the word to actually dangerous 'cures'. While doing so, they popularized an otherwise fringe movement, and made baseless claims connecting this movement to Trump's motivations behind saying the word (the fact that such a group lobbied Trump is not in any way evidence that this is why he used that word... lots of groups lobby presidents all the time). Joe Biden and Obama are and were surely mocked as well, but not by the likes of the New York Times, WaPo, and other major news outlets. I mean... is the New York Times running articles on Brandon? I don't think so.
- ceejayoz 5y ago
  They'd just been discussing bleach and isopropyl alcohol specifically. There's a pic of the slide, which states "COMMONLY AVAILABLE DISINFECTANTS (Bleach & Isopropyl Alcohol) work to kill the virus:: https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/AA47/production/_111919534_trumpgetty2.jpg https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/AA47/production/... Antibiotics are not disinfectants. Both kill bacteria, but that doesn't make them the same thing.
  - s1artibartfast 5y ago
    Isopropyl alcohol is a disinfectant with many other other medical uses. e.g. wound care, skin disinfection. Bleach (Sodium hypochlorite) is also medically used to kill pathogens during root canal procedures.
    - ceejayoz 5y ago
      Yes. There's a reason we don't nebulize them to deal with respiratory viruses, though. https://xkcd.com/1217/ https://xkcd.com/1217/
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
s1artibartfast 5y ago
Not a Trump fan, but having previously heard of deep tissue UV treatments, I thought they were completely reasonable questions. It is interesting that so many people are divided on the president asking medical questions in the public setting.
- readflaggedcomm 5y ago
  When the president qualifies for the 25th amendment, it's reasonable to question whether his ideas and policies will negligently kill people.
  - kcplate 5y ago
    If he were unfit for office, he would have been removed. He wasn’t. I’m no Trump fan nor voter, but it’s pointless to keep posting opinions like this pretending they are facts. It’s the continued little lies like this that helped add up to 74M votes (12M more than 2016). So if you really want to see him in office again, keep it up.
  - s1artibartfast 5y ago
    Question, sure. But not Ignore common sense, assume irresponsible behavior, and assume public harm.
- listless 5y ago
  I’ve never understood this either. There is much to not like about the guy and much to mock him for, but Trumps comments here have plenty of science behind them. It’s stuff like this that earns the media a reputation for being elitist and cruel.

iammisc 5y ago

Trump was not just mocked unjustly... words were inserted into his statement by major, reputable news sources, such as the New York Times, which was one of the first to begin using the word 'bleach' (which is actually dangerous to inject) instead of the stated word 'disinfectant' (which is non-specific enough to be less dangerous). https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/26/opinion/coronavirus-bleach-trump-autism.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/26/opinion/coronavirus-bleac... IMO, this is incredibly irresponsible. Antibiotics are a disinfectant, which are completely safe to inject. Other anti-virals are also safe to inject. The Times took the word 'disinfectant', which while perhaps used incorrectly, does not immediately suggest doing any actual dangerous action, and, instead of restricting their criticism to the fact that no known COVID injectable disinfectant exists, they linked the word to actually dangerous 'cures'. While doing so, they popularized an otherwise fringe movement, and made baseless claims connecting this movement to Trump's motivations behind saying the word (the fact that such a group lobbied Trump is not in any way evidence that this is why he used that word... lots of groups lobby presidents all the time). Joe Biden and Obama are and were surely mocked as well, but not by the likes of the New York Times, WaPo, and other major news outlets. I mean... is the New York Times running articles on Brandon? I don't think so.

ceejayoz 5y ago
They'd just been discussing bleach and isopropyl alcohol specifically. There's a pic of the slide, which states "COMMONLY AVAILABLE DISINFECTANTS (Bleach & Isopropyl Alcohol) work to kill the virus:: https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/AA47/production/_111919534_trumpgetty2.jpg https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/AA47/production/... Antibiotics are not disinfectants. Both kill bacteria, but that doesn't make them the same thing.
- s1artibartfast 5y ago
  Isopropyl alcohol is a disinfectant with many other other medical uses. e.g. wound care, skin disinfection. Bleach (Sodium hypochlorite) is also medically used to kill pathogens during root canal procedures.
  - ceejayoz 5y ago
    Yes. There's a reason we don't nebulize them to deal with respiratory viruses, though. https://xkcd.com/1217/ https://xkcd.com/1217/

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

s1artibartfast 5y ago

Not a Trump fan, but having previously heard of deep tissue UV treatments, I thought they were completely reasonable questions. It is interesting that so many people are divided on the president asking medical questions in the public setting.

readflaggedcomm 5y ago
When the president qualifies for the 25th amendment, it's reasonable to question whether his ideas and policies will negligently kill people.
- kcplate 5y ago
  If he were unfit for office, he would have been removed. He wasn’t. I’m no Trump fan nor voter, but it’s pointless to keep posting opinions like this pretending they are facts. It’s the continued little lies like this that helped add up to 74M votes (12M more than 2016). So if you really want to see him in office again, keep it up.
- s1artibartfast 5y ago
  Question, sure. But not Ignore common sense, assume irresponsible behavior, and assume public harm.
listless 5y ago
I’ve never understood this either. There is much to not like about the guy and much to mock him for, but Trumps comments here have plenty of science behind them. It’s stuff like this that earns the media a reputation for being elitist and cruel.