Biden says Trump should have injected himself with bleach

President Joe Biden's mockery of Donald Trump revives latter's suggestion that bleach could protect humans against viruses during early days of Covid-19 pandemic.

Biden has made light of Trump's bleach comment before, saying on April 24 in Washington that Trump had injected himself and "it all went to his hair." / Photo: Reuters
Reuters

Biden has made light of Trump's bleach comment before, saying on April 24 in Washington that Trump had injected himself and "it all went to his hair." / Photo: Reuters

US President Joe Biden has joked that he wished former president Donald Trump had injected himself with a little bleach, resurrecting one of Trump's more head-scratching moments from the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden, at a fundraising event south of San Francisco for his re-election campaign on Friday, said the presidency of his Republican opponent was chaotic and that voters should keep that in mind. Biden and Trump are locked in a close contest ahead of the November election.

"Remember him saying the best thing to do is just inject a little bleach in your arm? That's what he said. And he meant it. I wish he had done a little bit himself," Biden said.

Biden also made light of what he called Trump's "love letters" from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, although Biden, in yet another gaffe, mistakenly referred to Kim as the president of South Korea.

Trump had met with Kim and exchanged a number of letters with him, copies of which he kept in a loose-leaf binder in the Oval Office.

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Biden's remarks.

Biden has made light of Trump's bleach comment before, saying on April 24 in Washington that Trump had injected himself and "it all went to his hair."

Bleach, light and other disinfectants

During the early months of the 2020 pandemic, Trump said that an "injection inside" the human body with a disinfectant like bleach or isopropyl alcohol could help protect against the virus.

Trump and one of his senior officials also suggested that the body, exposed to ultraviolet or powerful light, could kill the virus in a minute.

"The virus dies quickest in sunlight," Bill Bryan, who led the Department of Homeland Security's science and technology division under Trump, said, leaving the latter wondering whether light could be brought "inside the body."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], Covid-19 killed nearly 1.2 million in the US alone, with 298.1 deaths per 100,000.

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