At a press conference on April 23, President Trump said he wondered if disinfectant could be used inside the body. This led to #PresidentLysol trending on Twitter.

Trump first began speaking about the government’s study of sunlight, humidity, and the temperature, as he speculated if those elements would have an effect on the coronavirus. Trump then said, “And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute…. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or, or almost a cleaning?”

One of the first people to comment on social media was Dr. Eugene Gu (@eugenegu). He tweeted, “PLEASE do not inject anything into your body or ingest anything at all to kill the coronavirus. There is NO SUBSTANCE that will disinfect your body of the coronavirus from the inside…”

Gu’s post was retweeted nearly 18,000 times and has over 58,000 likes. One person who interacted with the tweet was Lisa Baginski (@baginski_lisa), who attached an online petition to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. The online petition, which is on www.moveon.org, now has nearly 10,000 signatures.

Trump’s comments about disinfectant also prompted the Lysol company (@Lysol) to tweet, “Reminder: Lysol disinfectant and hygiene products should only be used as directed and in line with usage guidelines” with a text image that further discussed “Improper Use of Disinfectants.”

In response, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) said the media misreported what Trump said. McEnany said in a public statement, “President Trump has repeatedly said that Americans should consult with medical doctors regarding coronavirus treatment, a point that he emphasized again during yesterday’s briefing. Leave it to the media to irresponsibly take President Trump out of context and run with negative headlines.”

Joe Biden (@joebiden), former vice president and the lead Democrat running for president against Trump, first tweeted, “UV light? Injecting disinfectant? Here’s an idea, Mr. President: more tests. Now. And protective equipment for actual medical professionals.”

A day later, Biden tweeted again, “I can’t believe I have to say this, but please don’t drink bleach.”

Another opponent of Trump, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton), also got involved. She tweeted, “Please don’t poison yourself because Donald Trump thinks it could be a good idea.”

A day after the president’s disinfectant comments, Trump claims he wasn’t being completely serious. He said, “When I was asking a sarcastic – a very sarcastic question to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the outside, but it does kill it, and it would kill it on the hands and that would make things much better. That was done in the form of a sarcastic question to a reporter.”

Other top trending hashtags that were used after Trump’s comments included: #TrumpIsNotADoctor, #Disinfectant, and #DontDrinkBleach.