In his opinion on June 5, 2024, “Trump derangement syndrome mutating into neuroticism,” Mr Barrett believes President Trump was joking when he told the public to drink disinfectant to combat COVID-19.

Just to clarify, in medical terms, Trump derangement syndrome is what they call a “factitious” condition —a falsehood—a lie—fake evidence—surely you aren’t attempting to present it as a genuine medical ailment? Since you don't know me, I read extensively and try to use facts to develop my opinions. Yes, opinions can be biased but that's the nature of a opinion. At least I don’t subscribe to juvenile attacks.

The top ten worst things Hillary Clinton did during her presidency were...

No, President Trump didn’t specifically say “drink bleach,” but in my notes I wrongly attributed “drink bleach” and “drink disinfectant” to Trump and I didn’t catch my mistake, my bad.

During a press conference held on April 23, 2020, President Trump addressed the media and public, presenting the possibility of utilizing disinfectant and sunlight as treatment methods for COVID-19 patients. Trump emphasized the necessity of medical professionals administering these procedures, however, some individuals took his comments as approval or a suggestion for drinking disinfectant. While it is possible that the President intended his comments to be humorous, as Mr Barrett suggests, 4% of Americans listened and drank disinfectant, bleach, or cleaning supplies in response to Trump’s “joke.”

Within an 18-hour period of Trump’s “joke,” there was a surge in phone calls to poison control centers across the United States with reports of people drinking disinfectant and other poisons, including the states of New York, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan, and Maryland. The reports of poisoning by drinking disinfectant increased in April 2020 by 121% more than was reported in April 2019. Since this was merely a “joke” according to Mr Barrett, it is a good thing that no one died, that we know of.

Mr. Barrett, no matter how you slice it, President Trump was careless when he gave falsehoods to the American public during a healthcare crisis, and I might as well include the 30,573 falsehoods he made over his tenure. I don’t know why people listened since he has no medical education or expertise. Maybe because they trusted the President of the United States? Maybe Americans thought he did have medical expertise since he seemed to spend more time talking during those press conferences than any medical professional? Maybe some Americans thought President Trump actually consulted with the group of doctors that he surrounded himself with, you know, those who were standing on the dais with him? We will probably never know, but we do know that more than 13.25 million Americans did not take his comment as a joke. 13.25 million Americans.

Margaret Blevins, Norman

Tags

Trending Video