Why are people taking Trump's disinfectant comments seriously?

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Every time you think Donald Trump has lost his talent for making people’s heads explode, he somehow excels himself. His latest? Telling Americans that injecting disinfectant and shining UV light could cure Covid-19 patients. You’ll have seen the clip already, everybody has, but it is worth watching again:

Trump suggests injecting #coronavirus patients with #disinfectant or “very powerful light,” alarming experts.
This was a Trumpian masterpiece. I particularly enjoyed the way he turned to the experts for validation, while his mouth trotted out the peculiar ideas. And I find it hilarious, even though I know we are all supposed to be horrified that the US Commander-in-Chief, the leader of the free world, can sound quite so bonkers and incoherent. People might now die, the pundits gravely inform us, from stabbing disinfectant into their veins because they believe every word that comes out of the President’s mouth. What the pundits really mean: Trump fans are gullible, poor and idiotic.

Editorial teams across America will now be scouring the local news networks for stories of dumb MAGA-heads killing themselves by following Trump’s medical ‘advice’ — even though it wasn’t really advice — more a discursive spiel. Maybe they’ll get lucky. There are crazy people out there.

But this brings us back to that old journalistic chestnut about taking ‘seriously, not literally’. In 2016, Salena Zito pointed out that Trump’s supporters took him seriously, not literally — while his enemies and the media did the opposite. It was a brilliant insight at the time, but perhaps missed the truth by an inch. Trump voters don’t necessarily even take Trump all that seriously — he’s just a brilliant and highly amusing weapon for irritating the elites they despise. The crazier he is, the crazier they go. It works every time.

So while CNN anchors will have spasms of apoplexy at the thought that the poorly educated might start injecting themselves with disinfectant, most Trump fans will just laugh. They know that Trump’s medical insights are not meant to be taken seriously or literally.

They also know that it may just take something mad-sounding to answer this awful virus. Trump does have an uncanny habit of being right, albeit often in a very roundabout way. We shall see. They do say that sunlight is the best disinfectant.

https://app.spectator.co.uk/2020/04...-disinfectant-comments-seriously/content.html
 
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They know that Trump’s medical insights are not meant to be taken seriously or literally.
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disagree. Trump's public call for hydroxy has saved peoples lives,and his phone call to PM Modi released hydroxychloroquine that India was going to keep for itself

he was thinking out loud, and the press spun it to he was recommending -when he clearly said it should be looked into.

But Trump always gets fake news coverage, forget it, and get the economy going again
 
Trump,who has no sense of humor at all goes to sarcasm or a joke when he says something so stupid an all-night brainstorming session could not find a way out. This was not sarcasm. It was not in execution or in fact. Why do rightys embarrass themselves with that defense? We know better. Don't do that to your shreds of fading credibility.
 
anatta said:
disagree. Trump's public call for hydroxy has saved peoples lives,and his phone call to PM Modi released hydroxychloroquine that India was going to keep for itself

he was thinking out loud, and the press spun it to he was recommending -when he clearly said it should be looked into.

But Trump always gets fake news coverage, forget it, and get the economy going again
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Dr. Birx agrees with you. :thup:
 
Havana Moon said:
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Every time you think Donald Trump has lost his talent for making people’s heads explode, he somehow excels himself. His latest? Telling Americans that injecting disinfectant and shining UV light could cure Covid-19 patients. You’ll have seen the clip already, everybody has, but it is worth watching again:

Trump suggests injecting #coronavirus patients with #disinfectant or “very powerful light,” alarming experts.
This was a Trumpian masterpiece. I particularly enjoyed the way he turned to the experts for validation, while his mouth trotted out the peculiar ideas. And I find it hilarious, even though I know we are all supposed to be horrified that the US Commander-in-Chief, the leader of the free world, can sound quite so bonkers and incoherent. People might now die, the pundits gravely inform us, from stabbing disinfectant into their veins because they believe every word that comes out of the President’s mouth. What the pundits really mean: Trump fans are gullible, poor and idiotic.

Editorial teams across America will now be scouring the local news networks for stories of dumb MAGA-heads killing themselves by following Trump’s medical ‘advice’ — even though it wasn’t really advice — more a discursive spiel. Maybe they’ll get lucky. There are crazy people out there.

But this brings us back to that old journalistic chestnut about taking ‘seriously, not literally’. In 2016, Salena Zito pointed out that Trump’s supporters took him seriously, not literally — while his enemies and the media did the opposite. It was a brilliant insight at the time, but perhaps missed the truth by an inch. Trump voters don’t necessarily even take Trump all that seriously — he’s just a brilliant and highly amusing weapon for irritating the elites they despise. The crazier he is, the crazier they go. It works every time.

So while CNN anchors will have spasms of apoplexy at the thought that the poorly educated might start injecting themselves with disinfectant, most Trump fans will just laugh. They know that Trump’s medical insights are not meant to be taken seriously or literally.

They also know that it may just take something mad-sounding to answer this awful virus. Trump does have an uncanny habit of being right, albeit often in a very roundabout way. We shall see. They do say that sunlight is the best disinfectant.

https://app.spectator.co.uk/2020/04...-disinfectant-comments-seriously/content.html
Click to expand...

People are mocking him for being a retard, so you're pretending he was joking. :laugh:
 
Bourdeaux Nights said:
Are ya really that bloody daft? If you're expected not to take a leader seriously then they can't be a leader by definition.
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Boxers or Briefs? | Top 10 MTV Moments | TIME
Feb 10, 2010 - Long before America's mass preoccupation with Bill Clinton's crotch area, one high school student had the nerve to ask about it on national ...

THE COMMANDER IN BRIEFS - The Washington Postwww.washingtonpost.com › lifestyle › 1994/04/20 › th...
Apr 20, 1994 - ... know -- is it boxers or briefs?" "Usually briefs," William Jefferson Clinton IV told his gleeful audience of 200 college and high school students.

Pres. Clinton on 'boxers v. briefs' | C-SPAN.orgwww.c-span.org › video › pres-clinton-boxers-v-briefs
Apr 23, 1994 - At the WHCD, President Clinton recounts the recent flap about his MTV "boxers or briefs" answer.
 
Those are really my top criteria when it comes to effective leadership in a crisis: someone whose words should not be taken "literally or seriously," and who has a talent for irritating people.

That article is actually pretty infuriating. I'm glad that writer finds it all terribly amusing during a pandemic.

Maybe someday, Trump supporters will hear themselves. That day isn't today.
 
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