And when you ask stupid questions people just say
WTF?
This event came to symbolize the chaotic nature of the Trump presidency. It was a watershed moment, soon to become iconic in the annals of presidential briefings. It symbolized the chaotic essence of his presidency and his handling of the pandemic.
Privately, however, some of his aides were worried. The Covid task force had met earlier that day — as usual, without Trump — to discuss the most recent findings, including the effects of light and humidity on how the virus spreads. Trump was briefed by a small group of aides. But it was clear that he hadn’t processed all the details before he left to speak to the press.
“A few of us actually tried to stop it in the West Wing hallway,” “I actually argued that President Trump wouldn’t have the time to absorb it and understand it. But I lost, and it went how it did.”
As Bryan spoke, charts were displayed behind him about surface temperatures and virus half-lives. He preached for people to “move activities outside” and then detailed ongoing studies involving disinfectants. “We tested bleach,” he said at one point. “I can tell you that bleach will kill the virus in five minutes.”
Standing off to the side, Trump clasped his hands in front of his stomach, nodded and looked out into the room of gathered reporters. When Bryan was done, he strode slowly back to the lectern.
“A question that probably some of you are thinking of if you’re totally into that world,” “So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. 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. And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a 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.”
Dr. Deborah Birx, Trump’s former coronavirus response coordinator, sat silently off to the side as the president made these suggestions to her. Later, she would tell ABC, “I didn’t know how to handle that episode,” adding, “I still think about it every day.”
“Even for him,” said one former Biden campaign aide, “this was stratospherically insane and dangerous. It cemented the case we had been making about his derelict covid response.”
Trump would later insist that he was merely being sarcastic, a claim at odds with how he was acting and what he was saying.
“People joked about it inside the White House like, ‘Are you drinking bleach and injecting sunlight?’ People were mocking it and saying, ‘Oh let me go stand out in the sun, and I’ll be safe from Covid,” said one former administration official. “It honestly hurt. It was a credibility issue. … It was hurting us even from an international standpoint, the credibility at the White House.”
It was wild in the moment. In time, it came to symbolize the chaotic nature of the presidency and the early Covid fight.
www.politico.com
