President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that aims to help people suffering from kidney disease.
The order directs federal agencies to educate and treat people with early forms of the disease, encourages the use of in-home dialysis treatments instead of outpatient centers and offers reimbursements for lost wages and childcare to living donors.
But Trump made additional headlines for what he said while announcing the initiative.
“The kidney has a very special place in the heart. It’s an incredible thing,” Trump said, adding:
“People that have to go this, people that have loved ones that are working so hard to stay alive, they have to work so hard. There’s an esprit de corps, there’s a spirit, like you see rarely on anything.”
In response, Trump’s critics offered him a free biology lesson:
As a former surgeon, the only time I've seen the kidney having a "special place in the heart" was after a fall from a 6-story building.
— Covfefe Jones- King Of Shade👑 (@King_Of_Shade) July 10, 2019
“The kidney has a very special place in the heart.“ — Donald J. Trump, sans TelePrompTer, July 10, 2019. Our president. Of these United States. WTF?!?
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) July 11, 2019
“The kidney has a very special place in the heart”.
— Ellen Barkin (@EllenBarkin) July 11, 2019
“...a tough hurricane, one of the wettest from the standpoint of water”
“I hope they now go n take a look at the oranges, the oranges of the investigation.”
“We gotta take care of the floors, ya know, the floors of forest”
Ooooh, now I get it.
— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) July 11, 2019
Trump has a kidney where normal humans have a heart.
Explains why he’s so full of piss and vinegar. https://t.co/i4kBLFwHBJ
Trump thinks the kidney is part of the heart, I kidney you not. https://t.co/SJogiCqMy6
— God (@thegoodgodabove) July 10, 2019
Stay awake in anatomy class, kids. https://t.co/pohE4V0MCa
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) July 11, 2019
What language is this? https://t.co/BofGSbvZM8
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) July 10, 2019
So ridiculous. It's not the kidney that's in the heart. Everybody knows the groove is in the heart.
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) July 10, 2019
“The kidney, very special, the kidney has a very special place in the heart. It’s an incredible thing. There’s a spirit like you see rarely.”
— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) July 10, 2019
That's the full quote.
Yes, this really happened.https://t.co/J3sHG70nTF
I laughed so hard, my kidney popped out of my heart. #VillageIdiot https://t.co/HKqeaDZhtg
— Trixie Martini #ImpeachTrump (@MartiniTrixie) July 11, 2019
At first I thought this might just be clumsy phrasing, but the way he slows down and emphasizes "in the heart" makes me think, no, he believes the kidney is literally in the heart. https://t.co/ZZIkvn3aIy
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) July 10, 2019
"the kidney has a very special place in the heart" is just pure sublime. we finally have a challenger to "very legal and very cool" and "one of the wettest we've ever seen from the standpoint of water." https://t.co/vtcOgyElWo
— Matthew Zeitlin (@MattZeitlin) July 10, 2019
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