Triple nothingburger (with lickspittle sauce)

Somewhere on the short walk from a scientific briefing to the press room podium, a notion had lodged in the presidential cranium, which meant it had to come out: If Lysol or Clorox can kill viruses on countertops, maybe an “injection” could provide covid-19 patients “almost a cleaning.”

For that matter, perhaps some sort of heat lamp could be introduced into patients to kill pathogens much as sunlight disinfects some surfaces, Trump continued. “Have you ever heard of that? The heat and the light relative to certain viruses?” he asked Deborah Birx, the coronavirus task force coordinator, seated nearby. With all the caution of a hostage negotiator calming a delusional gunman, Birx replied gently, “Not as a treatment.”

So that’s the week that was, some 40 days after Trump declared a national emergency. What seemed like the low point was actually a high point. Pence’s triple nothingburger (with lickspittle sauce) was statesmanlike compared with space suits, happy talk and hot lightbulbs down the gullet. Yet each, in its own way, reinforced a single point: We’re on our own, America.

David Von Drehle, Trump has proven it. We’re on our own, America. (emphasis added for those with really, really short attention spans)