On April 23, 2020, in one of the most infamous moments of his presidency, Donald J. Trump stood at the White House podium and suggested that injecting disinfectant or using ultraviolet light inside the human body might be a possible treatment for COVID-19.

This wasn’t a slip of the tongue. It was a bizarre, dangerous musing delivered live during a nationally televised coronavirus briefing. Trump looked to his science team, asking whether disinfectant—used to clean hard surfaces—could be administered “by injection inside or almost a cleaning.”

Medical experts were horrified. Poison control centers across the U.S. saw a sharp spike in calls that week. Doctors rushed to warn the public: do not ingest or inject disinfectants. The manufacturer of Lysol issued a press release urging people not to misuse their products. The CDC was forced to issue clarifying guidance to counter the president’s misinformation.

Rather than admit his mistake, Trump later claimed he was being “sarcastic.” But there was nothing funny about it. In a country desperate for clear guidance and sound leadership, the President of the United States publicly floated pseudo-scientific nonsense—and risked lives in the process.

It wasn’t just embarrassing. It was emblematic of the chaos and disinformation that marked Trump’s pandemic response. In a time when facts could save lives, the president gave America bleach and wishful thinking.

Why did you vote for him again in November 2024?