Hi Justin,

In reading your article, I admire the precision used to describe the President’s suggested new modalities of COVID-19 treatment: “disinfectant and sunlight might be used internally to treat”. I think the lack of absolute accuracy in describing what is said, by many media types, provides a space for Republican lackies to crank up their Excuse-O-Meter, Explain-O-Meter and Outrage-O-Meter machines used to assuage their minions that the President has yet again been victimized by the “Librul” media. Critiques to the effect of: “The President never said to drink Lysol”, are factually accurate and enable the fan base to stay to loyal. Indeed, you see Krugman engaged in this shoddy kind of short hand journalism with the tweet you reference. Should he be cut some slack on Twitter? In normal times yes, but sadly this is a far from a normal time with a totally abnormal president.

The President should be slated for both his ignorance, in suggesting the possibility of wildly implausible treatments along with the absolute inappropriateness of unleashing his fecal musings on a public who are justifiable fearful of the pandemic. However being imprecise, just plays into the hands of the sycophantic right wing media complex that has grown more impervious to fact in the face of the ongoing, almost daily deluge of presidential ignorance. Many will cry that such criticism is a double standard and they would be right, but those on the side of the facts have to hold themselves to a far higher standard, the survival of the Republic depends now on accuracy and consistency of messaging.