In a livestream Tuesday, right-wing activist Ed Martin acknowledged that some people probably ingested disinfectants after last week’s White House press conference in which President Donald Trump suggested doing so might combat the coronavirus. Yet, rather than blame the president for comments that alarmed public health officials and led to increased calls about disinfectant usage to poison control centers, Martin blamed the media.
The acknowledgment came amid Martin’s latest rant against the “fake news” media in which he argued that news outlets like CNN, Politico, Wall Street Journal, and even Fox News are hurting people and pushing left-wing talking points to expand government control. The rant followed comments he made Friday calling “fake news” journalists treasonous.
Martin then said the media was dangerous for reporting on Trump’s musings about injecting disinfectant. “The fake news is just killing us in this country,” he said.
“I want to explain to you this isn’t a ‘fake news is bad’ thing; this is a ‘fake news is actually hurting people.’ And there’s one level to hurting people when they say the president said you should ingest disinfectant, and therefore, some people tried it. That’s probably true,” Martin acknowledged. “But it’s not [that] the president said that; it's the coverage of what the president said that makes people crazy.”
Health professionals warn that ingesting disinfectant is extremely dangerous and, depending on the type and quantity, fatal.
Continuing his attack on the media, Martin, who leads the right-wing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, used the opportunity to plug his website and show as reliable sources. “The fake news is really good at hurting Americans,” Martin said. “You have to fight through all the fake news to sources like this to understand what's going on. And I’ll be clear, I’m not even saying Fox News is exempt. They’re part of the situation.”
