I had 26 friends in the beginning
but now it seems our numbers are thinning
Some people drive fast others love to bet
still others snort coke in a private jet.
But drinking bleach is my way of winning.(Bad guitar solo)
I’m so bored I’m drinking bleach (x472)
So yesterday, at his daily press conference ostensibly about the coronavirus, the President of the United States of America Donald James Trump absentmindedly mused about whether disinfectants (or powerful light…)could be injected to combat Covid -19. Seriously, I am not joking, Listen for yourself if you dare, as reported by Vox’s Aaron Rupar.
"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. It gets in the lungs" — Trump seems to suggests that injecting disinfectant inside people could be a treatment for the coronavirus pic.twitter.com/amis9Rphsm
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 23, 2020
In case you think this isn’t drop dead serious, Trump’s previous miracle cure for the virus, the anti-malarial drug chloroquine, is already linked to at least one death.
A man died and his wife needed critical care after they both took a drug meant for aquariums that contains chloroquine, a drug President Trump recently touted as a treatment for COVID-19 in spite of a lack of study by health officials or approval by the World Health Organization.
Now us in the skeptic community are familiar with the concept of the Snake Oil Salesman. For as long as humans have dealt with disease we have searched for potions or ointments in hope of relief or desperate to stave off the Grim Reaper. We’ve just never had one in the Oval Office before this.
The makers of the well known disinfectant Lysol were quick to respond, warning their customers that their product is not intended for internal use. This set off irony meters across the cosmos considering their product’s history… Like when it was marketed as a feminine hygiene product and/or birth control.
Do you have a favorite example of Snake Oil to share? Share it in the comments! Oh… and here’s the Dead Milkmen to play us out… (DON ‘T DRINK BLEACH KIDS!!!)
Featured Image: Dead Milkmen, by Yoshiaki Ito on Flickr, shared with a Creative Commons license
