2020

In March and April, U.S. President Donald Trump offers medieval intuitions about effective Covid-19 treatment: “We ought to give it [hydroxychloroquine] a try . . . feel good about it. That’s all it is, just a feeling, you know, smart guy. I feel good about it” (20 March); “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? 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” (23 April); “So, 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. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body?” (23 April). (Stepansky IV).