At his nightly coronavirus press briefing on Thursday, April 23, President Donald Trump suggested that household disinfectants such as Lysol could be ingested as a way to ward off coronavirus — an idea so dangerous that the manufacturers of Lysol, Reckitt Benckiser, had to warn users that their product should only be used as a disinfectant and should not be ingested under any circumstances. Trump is being lambasted on Twitter for making such a ridiculous suggestion — and some Twitter users are slamming the New York Times for going too far to achieve balance when reporting on it.
At a White House briefing, President Trump theorized — dangerously, in the view of some experts — about the powers of sunlight, ultraviolet light and household disinfectants to kill the coronavirus https://t.co/cm6fyxqQ0O
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 24, 2020
Twitter user @PaulWuster implied that what was real-life reporting from the New York Times on Trump's press conference was the sort of parody that would be made up by "the staff of The Onion." And @RemmieYeo, similarly, tweeted, "It's like The Onion came to life to satirize 19th century America in the 21st."
Trump repeatedly claims that the New York Times has a vendetta against him. But as some Twitter users see it, the Times went way overboard in its effort to be even-handed.
This headline is cutesy garbage. THE STORY IS THAT THE PRESIDENT IS SO STUPID HE SUGGESTED INJECTING LYSOL
— Daniel Chun (@dannychun) April 24, 2020
@BoiseJim7, quoting the Times, posted, "'Dangerously in the view of some experts'"- what the hell is wrong with your paper? It's dangerous period! That's an objective fact, not an opinion! Holy hell!" And @cluebcke described the Times' reporting as "terminal both-sides-ism," while @RationalWiki asked the Times, "Sirs, could you please detail for us the editorial process that leads to both-sidesing drinking bleach? Thank you."
@DavMicRot wrote, "Cannot believe I need to write this, but: Despite what the @nytimes implies here in their pathetic attempt at False Equivalency, *ALL* experts agree that injecting yourself with bleach will kill you. So, do not listen to the President, it will kill you.
@Jmatonak sarcastically posted, "bleach keeps you young, so i've been told 'cause nobody who drinks it lives to get old!" And David Rothschild, @DavMicRot, tweeted, "Cannot believe I need to write this, but: Despite what the @nytimes implies here in their pathetic attempt at False Equivalency, *ALL* experts agree that injecting yourself with bleach will kill you. So, do not listen to the President, it will kill you."
According to @gilmored85, "If you can't state unequivocally that injecting yourself with disinfectants is bad, you have no business in journalism."
Cannot believe I need to write this, but: Despite what the @nytimes implies here in their pathetic attempt at False Equivalency, *ALL* experts agree that injecting yourself with bleach will kill you. So, do not listen to the President, it will kill you.
— David Rothschild (@DavMicRot) April 24, 2020
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