Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top infectious disease expert, recently told CNN that former President Donald Trump’s comments about ingesting disinfectant could have led to some major problems.
- “I just said, ‘Oh my goodness gracious.’ I could just see what’s going to happen,” he told CNN.
- “You’re going to have people who hear that from the president and they’re going to start doing dangerous and foolish things, which is the reason why, immediately, those of us who were not there said, ‘This is something you should not do.’ Be very explicit. The (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) came out, I think, the next day and put in one of their publications, ‘Do not do this.’”
Wait, what did Trump say?
Back in April 2020, Trump floated the idea that disinfectants could be used to treat the novel coronavirus, according to The Washington Post.
“I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute,” Trump said during a coronavirus press briefing. “And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets inside the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.”
Some more insight into pandemic response
Fauci, who worked with the Trump administration on the COVID-19 response, said he was disappointed with Trump’s response in an interview with The New York Times.
- Fauci told The New York Times that former President Trump would call him to “express disappointment in me that I was not being more positive. He said Trump surrounded himself “with people saying things that didn’t make any scientific sense.”
However, Fauci told The New York Times he never considered walking away from the position, though.
- “I always felt that if I did walk away, the skunk at the picnic would no longer be at the picnic,” Fauci said. “Even if I wasn’t very effective in changing everybody’s minds, the idea that they knew that nonsense could not be spouted without my pushing back on it, I felt was important.”