"One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia. That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything, they tried it over and over, they’ve been doing it since you got in. It’s all turning, they lost, it’s all turning. Think of it. Think of it. And this is their new hoax. But you know, we did something that’s been pretty amazing. But you know, we did something that’s been pretty amazing. We’re 15 people [cases of coronavirus infection] in this massive country. And because of the fact that we went early, we went early, we could have had a lot more than that."
He literally says "this is their new hoax." Referring to COVID.
I never said the president called the virus a hoax. I said he sympathizes with and encourages the "hoax" perspective.
And that perspective is that concern about the pandemic is a plot against his presidency just like the Russia investigation was. Go back and watch the speech. It's clear as day. The way he puts the pandemic in the past tense ("We did one of the great jobs..."). The framing of the issue as a foreign invasion. Mission accomplished guys, what's the big deal? This hoopla is just another hoax.
The broader context is important here as well. The speech was delivered in front of a packed auditorium as calls to avoid such gatherings were being made, to little avail.
The president has repeatedly doubled-down on this stance that the pandemic is being blown out of proportion, both in words and actions.
How do you square minimizing the threat of COVID with the news recently that some hospitals are running out of beds, getting mobile mourges, and running their staff to the point of exhaustion and breakdown?
That is easy to fix. He should send a clear messages about the virus, but he keeps has downplaying the severity of the outbreak. Even calling the medias reaction to the virus a hoax is wrong.
