Trevor Noah mocks Trump’s disinfectant comments: ‘He created shockwaves of stupidity’
New York health authorities reported a spike in possible bleach exposure cases after Trump’s now-infamous press briefing
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Your support makes all the difference.The Daily Show host Trevor Noah has ridiculed Donald Trump’s now-infamous coronavirus press briefing, in which he mused aloud about the potential of disinfectants injected inside the body to treat Covid-19.
In a monologue about “the Pandumbic”, Noah said the president “created shockwaves of stupidity with his latest and probably greatest unlicensed medical opinion yet”.
He added: “This is maybe the first time in documented history that we’ve seen someone not thinking, out loud.
“Injecting disinfectants into your body? This is the problem when the dumbest person in the room thinks they’re the smartest person….
“If you’re some random guy on the internet with 12 followers, you can say s*** like this and it really doesn’t matter. But Donald Trump is not just some random guy. Donald Trump was the star of The Celebrity Apprentice. People listen to what he says!”
Following reports that people have been calling up their local health departments to ask if it’s safe to inject themselves with disinfectant, Noah joked: “That means that even the people who are dumb enough to drink bleach are still smart enough not to trust something Donald Trump said.”
Maryland’s Republican governor said state officials received “hundreds of calls” from residents asking about ingesting disinfectants following Trump’s briefing, in which the president said: “I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, 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.”
New York health authorities have also said there was a spike in possible bleach exposure cases in the 18 hours following Trump’s comments.
His remarks prompted health experts and brands like Dettol to warn of the potentially lethal dangers of ingesting household cleaning products.
Other Trump officials and allies, however, tried to play down Mr Trump’s misinformation, including Dr Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator.
“It bothers me that this is still in the news cycle because I think we’re missing the bigger pieces of what we need to be doing as an American people to continue to protect one another,” she said.
Amid reported urgings from his advisers that his false and dangerous claims are hurting his election chances, Trump skipped a Saturday briefing altogether following a short Friday session in which he took no questions.
He suggested the hiatus would continue when he tweeted on Saturday they were “not worth the time and effort”.
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