Articles

Because 'People Will Die' If They Listen to Trump, #DontDrinkBleach Hashtag Goes Viral

Common Dreams / Eoin Higgins / April 26, 2020

The hashtag #DontDrinkBleach trended on Twitter Friday in reaction to comments by President Donald Trump Thursday evening endorsingthe idea that Americans could somehow imbibe or be injected with disinfectants to eradicate the coronavirus.

"It is April 24, 2020 and #DontDrinkBleach is trending on Twitter," tweeted poet Remi Kanazi. "The world has not ended, but may soon."

The president's comments came during a press conference on the White House's handling of the pandemic, which has, as of press time, killed over 50,000 Americans.

"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?" Trump asked Department of Homeland Security scientist William Bryan during the briefing. "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"

As Common Dreams reported, the Trump's remarks led scientists and other officials to insist the public not listen to the country's highest elected official.

"My concern is that people will die" if they listen to the president, said New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center director of global health in emergency medicine Craig Spencer.

Politicians and commentators on Twitter seized on the #DontDrinkBleach hashtag as a way to both mock the president and to urge Americans not to take Trump's advice.

"Anyone who does this will not die from #COVID19 because they will have already poisoned themselves to death," tweeted Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.). "Do NOT try this! #DontDrinkBleach."

Actress Emmy Rossum expressed her disbelief in the state of the presidency.

"I cannot believe that #DontDrinkBleach is actually trending," tweeted Rossum.