At a time when Trump was being told in intelligence briefings that became daily warnings of the spread of coronavirus to America and around the world:
Jan. 22, in a television interview from Davos with CNBC’s Joe Kernen. The first American case had been announced the day before, and Kernen asked Trump,
Q: “Are there worries about a pandemic at this point?”
Trump: “No. Not at all. And we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”
Jan. 24: Trump tweeted,
“It will all work out well.”
Jan. 28: Trump retweeted a headline from One America News, an outlet with a history of spreading false conspiracy theories:
“Johnson & Johnson to create coronavirus vaccine.”
Jan. 30, Trump during a speech in Michigan:
“We have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five. And those people are all recuperating successfully.”
Jan. 31:
Sean Hannity: “Coronavirus. How concerned are you?”
Trump: “Well, we pretty much shut it down coming in from China. We have a tremendous relationship with China, which is a very positive thing. Getting along with China, getting along with Russia, getting along with these countries.”
Trump, for his part, spent these first weeks of February telling Americans that the problem was going away. On Feb. 10, he repeatedly said — in a speech to governors, at a campaign rally and in an interview with Trish Regan of Fox Business — that warm spring weather could kill the virus.
Feb. 10: Trump,
“Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away."
Feb. 19, Trump, to a Phoenix television station,
“I think the numbers are going to get progressively better as we go along.”
Feb. 23: Trump, coronavirus,
“very much under control. We had 12, at one point. And now they’ve gotten very much better. Many of them are fully recovered.”
Last week in February: The stock market began falling. Started blaming others:
Trump: CNN and MSNBC,
“panicking markets.”
Trump, at a South Carolina rally, blaming,
“the Democrat policy of open borders”
And,
“Do Nothing Democrat comrades.”
Trump tweeted about,
“Cryin’ Chuck Schumer,”
Mocking Schumer for arguing that Trump should be more aggressive in fighting the virus.
The next week, Trump would blame an Obama administration regulation for slowing the production of test kits. There was no truth to the charge.
Throughout late February, Trump also continued to claim the situation was improving.
Feb. 26, Trump:
“We’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.”
Feb. 27, Trump:
“It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.”
Feb. 29, Trump: a vaccine available “very quickly” and “very rapidly”
Trump: His administration’s actions,
“the most aggressive taken by any country.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/opinion/trump-coronavirus.html
None of it was true. It was all lies.
Jan. 22, in a television interview from Davos with CNBC’s Joe Kernen. The first American case had been announced the day before, and Kernen asked Trump,
Q: “Are there worries about a pandemic at this point?”
Trump: “No. Not at all. And we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”
Jan. 24: Trump tweeted,
“It will all work out well.”
Jan. 28: Trump retweeted a headline from One America News, an outlet with a history of spreading false conspiracy theories:
“Johnson & Johnson to create coronavirus vaccine.”
Jan. 30, Trump during a speech in Michigan:
“We have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five. And those people are all recuperating successfully.”
Jan. 31:
Sean Hannity: “Coronavirus. How concerned are you?”
Trump: “Well, we pretty much shut it down coming in from China. We have a tremendous relationship with China, which is a very positive thing. Getting along with China, getting along with Russia, getting along with these countries.”
Trump, for his part, spent these first weeks of February telling Americans that the problem was going away. On Feb. 10, he repeatedly said — in a speech to governors, at a campaign rally and in an interview with Trish Regan of Fox Business — that warm spring weather could kill the virus.
Feb. 10: Trump,
“Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away."
Feb. 19, Trump, to a Phoenix television station,
“I think the numbers are going to get progressively better as we go along.”
Feb. 23: Trump, coronavirus,
“very much under control. We had 12, at one point. And now they’ve gotten very much better. Many of them are fully recovered.”
Last week in February: The stock market began falling. Started blaming others:
Trump: CNN and MSNBC,
“panicking markets.”
Trump, at a South Carolina rally, blaming,
“the Democrat policy of open borders”
And,
“Do Nothing Democrat comrades.”
Trump tweeted about,
“Cryin’ Chuck Schumer,”
Mocking Schumer for arguing that Trump should be more aggressive in fighting the virus.
The next week, Trump would blame an Obama administration regulation for slowing the production of test kits. There was no truth to the charge.
Throughout late February, Trump also continued to claim the situation was improving.
Feb. 26, Trump:
“We’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.”
Feb. 27, Trump:
“It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.”
Feb. 29, Trump: a vaccine available “very quickly” and “very rapidly”
Trump: His administration’s actions,
“the most aggressive taken by any country.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/opinion/trump-coronavirus.html
None of it was true. It was all lies.
