Radio host Howard Stern told listeners on Monday that President Trump wants Americans to drink Clorox as a means of combating the coronavirus pandemic.
The SiriusXM host said he was “very frustrated” with Mr. Trump’s supporters for not abandoning him in favor of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, particularly after a recent Coronavirus Task Force Briefing.
“I am all-in on Joe Biden,” Mr. Stern said. “You see the wall that’s right next to you? I’ll vote for the wall over a guy who tells me that I should pour Clorox into my mouth. Listen, I think we are in deep s—-. I think we could have been ahead of this curve.”
At issue was April 23 briefing in which Mr. Trump mulled ultraviolet light therapy as a possible option for coronavirus patients.
“Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it,” Mr. Trump said while flanked by medical experts. “And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that too. It sounds interesting.
Mr. Trump was told that medical professionals were experimenting on such solutions before continuing.
“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute,” Mr. Trump said. “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. So, that, you’re going to have to use medical doctors with. … The whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute, that’s — that’s pretty powerful.”
Various outlets framed the president’s comments as a literal endorsement of swallowing or injecting household cleaners into the body, which prompted a clarification.
“I was asking a very sarcastic question to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside,” Mr. Trump said April 24. “But it does kill it and it would kill it on the hands and that would make things much better. That was done in the form of a sarcastic question to the reporters. OK?”
The Hollywood Reporter noted that Mr. Stern was at his wits’ end with callers who reject his interpretations of Mr. Trump’s comments.
“I just can’t take it,” the radio host said. “I don’t know what is going on in our country.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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