The Coronavirus According to Donald Trump
A tick-tock of the President's remarks over the last seven weeks as the COVID-19 viral disease outbreak grew into a pandemic.
[Editor's note: The timeline in this post will be continuously updated with President Trump's latest statements about Coronavirus.]
One of Donald Trump’s superpowers is that his neverending firehose of corruption, lies, gaffes, and buffoonish behavior gushes out a flood of information that neither the human brain nor the news media is capable of comprehending or contextualizing.
Last night this superpower may have finally met its kryptonite as the reality of the coronavirus hit home in one dizzying evening. As a hoarse President Trump addressed the nation, a stunning and frankly scary onslaught of news about the virus exploded onto everyone’s smartphones: An NBA game mysteriously canceled. A travel ban on foreign nationals coming from Europe goes into effect. Jared Kushner is now in charge. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have contracted the virus. An NBA player has it. Stock market futures plunge again. The NBA season is canceled.
The contrast between the severity of breaking news and the narcissistic and cavalier treatment the pandemic has received from the White House is so sharp, it may pierce even the Fox News bubble.
So as the White House and the country grapple with what’s to come, it is important to cut through the MAGA-bullshit with a full accounting of just how unconscionably reckless Trump has been for the past seven weeks as the crisis of his presidency comes to a head. Here is a list of the most egregious false or misleading statements from the president and his top advisers about the coronavirus:
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The “fake news” playbook reaches its limits when people are dying and forced to self-quarantine in their homes.
Over the past seven weeks, the president promised the country the virus would go away within a couple of days, then promised it would go away by April. He and his advisers repeatedly advised the public to buy stocks as the market plunged and stocks lost value.
These comments were not your usual Trumpian word salad. They were direct and declarative statements that happened amidst an ongoing outbreak—a national emergency and global pandemic—that required the U.S. government to be transparent, forthcoming, and responsive.
Finally, on Wednesday night he attempted a pivot to taking the growing threat seriously, mere hours after dismissing concerns as fake news.
Why would anyone trust or believe him?
