Trump Is Lying. He Did Not Take Coronavirus Seriously for Weeks.

Authored by esquire.com and submitted by cogit4se
image for Trump Is Lying. He Did Not Take Coronavirus Seriously for Weeks.

At a press conference at the White House Tuesday, President Trump began the almighty task of trying to erase his weeks-long record of downplaying the threat posed by the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19. The United States had its first case in January, but up until this past Friday, Trump's public statements were primarily geared towards making the case there would be no major economic or social disruptions in American life as a result of the growing pandemic.

Trump said it was contained, that it would miraculously go away, that it would not rise from the level of 15 cases, that people were going to work while sick—no big deal. His clear public stance, echoed by his administration and conservative media, was that the threat was being blown out of proportion by Democrats and The Fake News Media. The official response reflected this, most prominently in the miserable American effort to get reliable and accessible test kits. The comparisons between the U.S. and other countries—most prominently South Korea, which had its first case one day before yet has proceeded to run hundreds of thousands more tests since—are not flattering. The president did not take this seriously enough, early enough.

Except on Tuesday, the president suddenly had a new line: "I've felt it was a pandemic before it was called a pandemic. All you had to do was look at other countries...I have always viewed it as very serious." This is simply an insane lie, an attempt to gaslight the country when there are mountains of video evidence suggesting the opposite.

The president's new focus and dedication, such as they are, should be welcomed. His previous record, however, should not be forgotten just because he lies about it very loudly, over and over again.

lastoftheromans123 on March 18th, 2020 at 21:26 UTC »

He took it as a serious threat to his re-election chances.

FenderPrecisionBass on March 18th, 2020 at 21:23 UTC »

February 10: Trump says without evidence that the coronavirus “dies with the hotter weather”

February 24: Trump baselessly claims the situation is “under control”

February 25: A senior White House official falsely claims the virus has been “contained”

February 25: Trump falsely claims Ebola mortality was “a virtual 100%”

February 25: Trump falsely claims “nobody had ever even heard of Ebola” in 2014

February 26: Trump wrongly says the coronavirus “is a flu”

February 26: Trump baselessly predicts the number of US cases is “going very substantially down” to “close to zero”

February 26: Trump wrongly says the flu death rate is “much higher” than Dr. Sanjay Gupta said

February 27: Trump baselessly hints at a “miracle”

February 28: Trump baselessly hints at an immigration link to the virus

February 29: Trump exaggerates Tim Cook’s comments about Apple and China

March 1: Azar wrongly says 3,600 people have been tested

March 2: Trump falsely claims “nobody knew” the number of US flu deaths

March 2: Trump says a vaccine is coming “relatively soon”

March 4: Trump falsely claims Obama impeded testing

March 4: Trump wrongly says as many as 100,000 people died of the flu in 1990

March 4: Trump says “the borders are automatically shut down”

March 4: Trump says he believes there was a coronavirus death in New York, though there hadn’t been one

March 4: Trump falsely claims the Obama administration “didn’t do anything” about H1N1

March 5: Trump misleadingly describes a Gallup poll relating to his handling of the virus

March 5: Trump wrongly claims the virus only hit the US “three weeks ago”

March 6: Azar wrongly claims there is no test shortage

March 6: As the number of cases and deaths in Italy rises, Trump says the number is “getting much better”

March 6: Trump falsely claims anybody can get tested if they want

March 6: Trump exaggerates the number of people on the Grand Princess cruise ship

March 6: Trump falsely says US coronavirus numbers “are lower than just about anybody”

March 6: Trump baselessly muses that “maybe” the coronavirus improved US jobs numbers

March 9: Pence says Trump’s “priority” was getting Americans off the ship

Daily reminder there are still conservatives who would defend this as a competent response.

EDIT: thanks for all the upvotes and coins but I cannot take credit. This is copied and pasted from another user. I posted this in an earlier thread and listed their user name but the comment was removed due to a rule prohibiting posting others' user names.

420catloveredm on March 18th, 2020 at 21:21 UTC »

Yeah.... all this gaslighting makes me feel like I’m in an abusive relationship with the president.