Bleachgate Anniversary: 3 Years Since Trump's Infamous Suggestion, The Nation Reflects
It was a moment that left the nation in disbelief. It's been over three years since former President Donald Trump suggested injecting bleach as a potential treatment for Covid-19. This suggestion has since become an emblem of his tumultuous presidency and chaotic management of the early stages of the pandemic.
On December 4, 2023, we look back on that fateful day when then-President Donald Trump addressed the nation about the coronavirus from the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House.
By MERIBETH MCGRAW and SAM EPSTEIN
12/04/2023 04:30 AM EDT
It's been over 3 years, and in an unprecedented move, President Donald Trump proposed studying bleach injections into humans to combat Covid-19 during a White House briefing. This suggestion became a pivotal moment in presidential briefings history and arguably altered political history's trajectory.
While some ex-Trump aides claim that day wasn't their wildest experience due to numerous other instances, those present recall it as shocking even by Trump standards. It encapsulated his presidency's chaotic nature and his handling of the pandemic—a sentiment still echoed 3 years later with a U.S. death toll nearing 1,500,000.
ABC’s chief Washington correspondent Jon Coral described it as "the craziest and most surreal moment" he'd ever witnessed at a presidential press conference. He was among the first reporters at the briefing to question Trump’s musings about bleach.
The day started like any other; no one expected anything different from usual proceedings when Trump left his Oval Office to brief reporters gathered in James S. Brady Press Briefing Room on April 23rd.
However, privately some aides were concerned. The Covid task force had met earlier without Trump to discuss recent findings including how light and humidity affected virus spread. Despite being briefed by several aides before addressing press, it was clear to some that Trump hadn't fully absorbed the details.
One former senior Trump White House official recalls attempting to prevent the briefing in the West Wing hallway, arguing that President Trump wouldn't have time to absorb and understand the information. Unfortunately, they lost, and events unfolded as they did.
The infamous bleach press conference became a rallying cry for Trump’s opponents with Biden supporters dotting their yards with “He Won’t Put Bleach In You” signs. For Trump, it was a scourge. He later insisted he was merely being sarcastic—a claim at odds with his excited curiosity when posing those questions to Birx. His former team concedes that real damage was done.
3 years later, this episode is still considered a defining point in the Covid fight and an example of what can go wrong when an over-confident president believes he can message his way through a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic.
"Undoubtedly [it was] a seminal moment in presidential communications...this was the moment where we knew without any doubt that the government was in way over its head," said former Obama White House press secretary Bob Gibbens.
