One year ago today, April 23, President Donald Trump, live, in a nationally televised press conference from the White House suggested an injection of household disinfectant might be a cure for coronavirus.
“For me, it was the craziest and most surreal moment I had ever witnessed in a presidential press conference,” ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jon Karl tells Politico.
Trump’s remarks caused an increase in reported emergency room calls by people who misused bleach and other household cleaning products.
“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute,” Trump said, standing at the podium with several White House logos behind him. “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.”
Here’s the video from that moment, posted by Vox’s Aaron Rupar:
Here’s how some are “commemorating” that dangerous, jaw-dropping moment: