Idiocy that's impossible to swallow

Lawmaker Anne Chiang Lai-wan instantly became a laughing stock when the pro-Beijing politician suggested face masks might be steamed for repeated use to overcome an acute shortage in the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.

It's so true that idiocy has no limit.

Several days ago, the most powerful man on Earth dumbfounded even his medical advisers, asking whether it was probable to use disinfectants or ultra-violet light to kill the virus inside the body by injection or illumination.

Donald Trump is probably the only one capable of coming up with such a thought.

Equally shocking was how a few Americans reacted to the idea. Soon after the press conference, some Americans were reported to have suffered from poisoning after swallowing a few sips of the chemicals.

It's absolutely bizarre to think some may have taken Trump seriously. Let's hope they were merely accidents, otherwise it would be a huge insult to human intelligence.

Anyway, Chiang may take comfort in knowing that she was not alone.

It was on Thursday evening when Trump astonished everybody watching the daily press briefing which he had turned into a de-facto campaign tool - among the few still available to him after stay-at-home orders issued by individual states deprived him of the pleasure of making big speeches to his supporters at election rallies.

He was commenting on a report on the effects of disinfectants and UV light on the virus and asked his medical officers whether light could be "brought inside the body" and whether with disinfectant "we can do something like that by injection inside."

Not surprisingly, the comments sparked an immediate outcry among normal minds and led to a statement from a manufacturer that stressed the common sense that its disinfectant products must not be injected or swallowed.

Still, as reported by the US media, some did - by accident or otherwise.

The next day, Trump backtracked, saying he was being sarcastic to make a mockery of the media that he'd never been fond of.

If , according to British novelist Charles Dickens, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness" then, some 200 years later, it has become the most absurd of times and the gravest of times.

Chiang may be absurd, but can anyone be more absurd than Trump during the pandemic, which is the gravest crisis for a century?

There are two probable explanations for the unparalleled idiocy. First, Trump believed in it. Second, as he later claimed, it was meant to be sarcastic.

However, it's difficult to subscribe to the second probability because, when he spoke about it, he looked at his adviser and not the reporter asking him. Even if it were sarcasm, he should not have said so since someone may die as a result of his words.

Trump was confused apparently, ripped between the need to cure the disease and save the economy - as much as he's torn between the need to batter the communists and simultaneously get paid by Beijing due to the so-called historic trade deal.