That Donald Trump is the stupidest person to ever lead a country is almost beyond question after he last week suggested that bleach and disinfectant could be investigated as a possible cure for the coronavirus.

The next day he unconvincingly tried to suggest that he was being sarcastic with a journalist who wasn’t even in attendance at the press briefing.

You could be forgiven for thinking that you couldn’t even write for the level of stupidity that Trump is now displaying, but you’d be wrong.

Before Trump was elected president, in March 2016, comedian Ricky Gervais sent out this tweet:

The fact that there are warnings like "Do not drink" on bottles of bleach makes me realise that Donald Trump can become president.

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) 6 March 2016

Gervais wasn’t the only one that could see the direction things were heading with Trump and the coronavirus.

Last month satirical news website The Onion wrote a piece entitled “Man Just Buying One Of Every Cleaning Product In Case Trump Announces It’s Coronavirus Cure.”

Read the story here.

In case you think that no-one in America would be stupid enough to take the President’s advice, calls to New York City’s Poison Control Centre for exposure to household chemicals more than doubled after Trump’s announcement last week.

In the 18 hours after Trump’s news conference, the centre got 30 exposure calls -- nine specifically about Lysol, 10 about bleach and 11 about other household cleaners.

In the same window last year, there were 13 cases -- two specifically about bleach and none of them about Lysol-related products.

Is America doomed under Trump?