Monday, October 12, 2020

"A tiny little microscopic piece of dust": Trump's germ theory of disease

In his phone-in conversation with Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business on Thursday, 8 October, President Trump offered his version of the germ theory of disease after his coronavirus infection: "[...] look, it’s a tiny, tiny it's like it's a tiny little microscopic piece of dust and it gets into your nose or your mouth or your eye frankly or something else or you touch something." Trump is known for being a germophobe, but his understanding of infection is either that of someone who didn't really understand biology class that week and can't remember it sixty years later, or that of a President who doesn't pay attention in his briefings. Or both. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 12 October)


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