We have all at some point or another contemplated the idea of art imitating life or life imitating art. The latter seems to have happened in what would be a fun way, except in this case, it is a sad reminder of just how easily misled people can be nowadays. Leave it to the folks at The Onion, a satirical online publication, to absolutely nail what is happening today.
Yesterday, President Donald Trump went out of his way to suggest that disinfectants could cure people of the COVID-19 virus. Trump did throw out a couple of offhand disclaimers like “I’m not a doctor” but also suggested that his idea of putting such things into the human body could be a cure for COVID-19.
Trump remarked at Thursday’s White House briefing that he’s seen that disinfectant “knocks it (COVID-19) out in a minute. And is there a way you can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs — so it’ll be interesting to check that. … It sounds interesting to me.”
The remarks drew swift and immediate condemnation from all corners of the medical and scientific community. Even some political friends of the POTUS quickly disavowed his statements and claims. In addition to that, the leading manufacturer of disinfectant products, Lysol, had to issue a statement warning everyone to not take the president’s advice.
One would think no one could have predicted Trump giving out such horrible advice from the bully pulpit of the POTUS, but someone did — The Onion.
On March 25th of this year, the satirical site published a story titled “Man Just Buying One Of Every Cleaning Product In Case Trump Announces It’s A Coronavirus Cure.”
The satirical article then went on to say:
EVANSTON, WY—Throwing bottles of bleach, ammonia, and Drano into a cart at his local grocery store, area man Troy Mitchell was reportedly stocking up on one of every cleaning product he could find Wednesday in case President Donald Trump announces it is a coronavirus cure. “I got toilet bowl cleaner, carpet cleaner, Swiffer WetJet refills—you name it—just so me and my family will be ready if the president announces one of these things can treat Chinese virus,” said Mitchell, indiscriminately throwing containers of laundry detergent, Scrubbing Bubbles, grout whitener, steel wool, Febreze, Tilex mold and mildew remover, and laptop screen wipes into the cart, the contents of which rang up to $2,513.67 at checkout. “I’m not getting caught without some oven degreaser should Trump say it’s going to save us, so I better go ahead and grab me a bottle. After this, I’m hitting the hardware store to pick up a 5-gallon bucket of roof sealant to make sure I’m prepared in the event that turns out to be what gets rid of the Wuhan. Could just be 10 or 20 squirts of Windex into each nostril. You never know what might work in a pinch!” At press time, neighbors confirmed Mitchell had been found unresponsive on the floor of his bathroom with several empty aerosol cans of Rust-Oleum wax-and-tar-removing solvent by his head.
Yes, sometimes life does imitate art. In this case, it is a very sad and unfortunate imitation. Let us hope that no one in real life tries to follow Trump’s advice and end up “unresponsive on the floor.”
Trump on Friday tried to distance himself from the remarks, claiming he was being “sarcastic.” Unfortunately for him, anyone who looks at the actual press briefing can clearly see he wasn’t joking in any sense of the word. In fact, he got downright hostile when questioned about the validity of the statement by reporters when he made the claims.
Furthermore, his own Press Secretary never mentioned that Trump was joking when trying to defend Trump after the briefing.
Regardless, one has to hand it to The Onion for predicting just how ridiculous things have gotten under this president and with his hardcore and cult-like followers in the view of millions of Americans.
