Matt BlazeNov 16, 2023
While I'm glad Trump's criminality and corruption is coming into focus, I also hope that doesn't cause us to ignore his terrifying, deadly level of incompetence at being president. This is the man who urged the public to prevent COVID by injecting bleach.
Show threadgjmNov 16, 2023

@mattblaze I strongly agree that he was criminal, corrupt, and incompetent, but so far as I can tell he did not in fact ever urge the public to inject bleach.

(He _did_ urge his scientific advisors to investigate whether injecting disinfectant might be effective against COVID-19. Which is a stupid idea, and even if it hadn't been a public press briefing wasn't the place to raise it. But it was definitely "someone should investigate whether this works" not "the general public should start doing this", and I think the distinction matters.)

Show threadMatt BlazeNov 16, 2023

@gjm Nope. He made that statement publicly and prominently, undercutting non-crackpot measures.

There is no way to defend this.

Show threadNosirrahSec 🏴‍☠️ guillotine enthusiast

@mattblaze @gjm

This. Stop trying to rationalize truly fucking abysmal behavior, actions, and malfeasance.

Nov 16, 2023 at 6:42pmWeb
Show threadgjmNov 16, 2023

@NosirrahSec @mattblaze I'm not trying to rationalize it. It was irrational and stupid and dangerous. It just wasn't the _specific_ irrational and stupid and dangerous thing that Matt said.

I am very much in favour of reminding people of the awful things that Donald Trump has said and done, and of the awful things he is likely to do if elected again. I think this will be more effective if we only do it for awful things he actually has said and done, both because it's better to tell the truth than not and because it's bad to give his supporters an excuse to respond with "no, he didn't do that" _and ignore the fact that he actually did something similar which was also very bad_.

Show threadMatt BlazeNov 16, 2023
@gjm @NosirrahSec Keep digging.
Show threadJRNov 16, 2023

@gjm @NosirrahSec @mattblaze
Rationalize this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAauiLx3AvQ

It's exactly a year since Trump suggested using bleach to treat Covid

YouTube
Show threadArtemesiaNov 17, 2023

@gjm @NosirrahSec @mattblaze

gjm, you are simply wildly wrong:

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/23/trump-bleach-one-year-484399

It’s been exactly one year since Trump suggested injecting bleach. We’ve never been the same.

It was wild in the moment. In time, it came to symbolize the chaotic nature of the presidency and the early Covid fight.

POLITICO
Show threadgjmNov 17, 2023

@artemesia @NosirrahSec @mattblaze Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see anything in that article that says anything different from what I've been saying.

Here's the opening sentence of that article: "One year ago today, President Donald Trump took to the White House briefing room and encouraged his top health officials to study the injection of bleach into the human body as a means of fighting Covid."

Which is exactly what I said he did. And yes, it was stupid and irresponsible and dangerous (which is also what I've said throughout this very strange discussion).

What the article _doesn't_ say, because it isn't true, is that Donald Trump urged the public to inject bleach. And that's all I've been saying.

Show threadArtemesiaNov 17, 2023

@gjm @NosirrahSec @mattblaze

Do split that hair.