UPDATE, 1945 GMT:

Speaking with BBC Three Counties’ Roberto Perrone this afternoon, I took apart Trump’s comments to answer the question, “Is he too dangerous to remain as President?”

Listen from 50:23

We are stuck with Donald Trump. The question is: “When will those who are also in Washington not only stand up and declare that not only does the Emperor Have No Clothes but also that the Emperor Has No Sense?”

UPDATE, 1215 GMT:

I spoke with talkRADIO’s Julia Hartley-Brewer about Trump’s disinfectant statement.

Listen from 19:55 in 0830-0900 Segment

If any person in a responsible person had said this in public, he or she — whatever his or her political party, whatever his or her policies — should be hauled off the stage as a quack.

And not just a quack, but a dangerous quack.

In his latest medical intervention over Coronavirus, Donald Trump advises Americans to inject themselves with disinfectant.

Trump said at a White House briefing on Thursday:

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 on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.

Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Coordinator, sat by silently.

While frequent washing of hands is recommended to check spread of the virus, ingesting disinfectants such as bleach is life-threatening.

John Balmes of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital explained:

Inhaling chlorine bleach would be absolutely the worst thing for the lungs. The airway and lungs are not made to be exposed to even an aerosol of disinfectant.

Not even a low dilution of bleach or isopropyl alcohol is safe. It’s a totally ridiculous concept.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has noted, “Calls to poison centers increased sharply at the beginning of March 2020 for exposures to both cleaners and disinfectants.”

The Food and Drug Administration echoed, “The FDA has received reports of consumers who have suffered from severe vomiting, severe diarrhoea, life-threatening low blood pressure caused by dehydration, and acute liver failure after drinking these products.”

Last week a federal judge issued a temporary injunction against the “Genesis II Church of Health and Healing” for selling a product equivalent to industrial bleach as a Coronavirus remedy.

Immediately after Trump’s statement, officials in Washington State — the initial center of the US epidemic — issued an advisory:

Trump: Try “A Very Powerful Light”

Trump continued with his recommendations:

Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light. And I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but we’re going to test it?….Supposing you brought the light inside the body, either through the skin or some other way.

He pointed to his head, “I’m not a doctor. But I’m, like, a person that has a good you-know-what.”

Just before Trump’s statement, William Bryan, the head of science at the Department of Homeland Security, said the virus dies quickly when exposed to sunlight and even faster with disinfectants.

But Dr. Birx carefully tried to check Trump as he asked if she had ever heard of the “heat and light” treatment.

“Not as a treatment,” she said. “I mean, certainly, fever is a good thing, when you have a fever it helps your body respond. But I’ve not seen heat or light.”

Trump charged ahead, “I think it’s a great thing to look at.”

Alarm and Black Comedy

Doctors reacted with alarm on social media as Trump’s comments circulated. Dr. Judy Melinek wrote, “Oh FFS please don’t do this. I don’t need the extra work. If you are sick call your doctor. Don’t self medicate.”

Others tried to find dark humor amid the danger:

Trump’s Quackery

After initially denying Coronavirus and blocking Government action for more than two months, Trump has declared a series of “wonder cures” with no scientific or medical backing.

Allied with Fox TV “doctors”, billionaire donors, bitcoin speculators, and his attorney Rudy Giuliani, he pushed the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, falsely saying it had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

A series of studies appear to have finally checked his advocacy. A small trial in Brazil was halted in mid-April after some patients developed irregular heart rates. This week experts at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said there was “insufficient data” to recommend any treatment with the drug.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that preliminary results from a study of about 600 patients in state hospitals showed hydroxychloroquine “didn’t really have much of an effect on the recovery rate”.

But Rick Bright, the head of the Government task force pursuing a vaccine, was dismissed after he demanded rigorous vetting.

See also TrumpWatch, Day 1,789: Coronavirus — Top Vaccine Expert Fired for Questioning Trump’s Untested Drug?
Video: 21st Century Medicine Show — Trump, The Fox “Doctors”, The Bitcoin Speculator, The Billionaire, and the Coronavirus “Wonder Drug”

Trump dismissed the threat of coronavirus throughout February, saying it would dissipate in warmer temperatures. He has continued to use that line, even as the death tolls in US states such as California, Louisiana, and Florida have climbed.