Trump Falsely Claims COVID-19 Is ‘Dying Out’ As Cases Surge In Over 20 States

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House on June 5, 2020. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

June 18, 2020 9:50 a.m.

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President Donald Trump insisted on Wednesday that COVID-19 is going away despite the fact that over 20 states are seeing case numbers ramp up.

During an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump said he doesn’t “even like to talk about” vaccines for the virus “because it’s fading away.”

“It’s going to fade away,” he told Hannity.

The President made the same false claim earlier in the day during an interview with Gray Television reporter Jacqueline Policastro, who asked him if he was worried about people getting infected as a result of his upcoming rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday.

“No, because if you look, the numbers are very minuscule compared to what it was,” Trump replied. “It’s dying out.”

Except it isn’t.

Not only are cases increasing in over 20 states, several of those states (including Oklahoma) are actually reporting record highs as they begin rolling back stay-at-home measures.

Trump’s approval ratings have taken a major hit in part due to his administration’s delayed response to the pandemic, prompting the President to downplay the devastation of the outbreak ahead of the November elections.

Watch Trump on Hannity below:

Amid surges of COVID-19 cases in multiple states, Trump claims the virus is "fading away." pic.twitter.com/lSZjuKkgxJ

— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) June 18, 2020

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Cristina Cabrera (@crismcabrera) is a newswriter at TPM based in New York. She previously worked for Vocativ, USA Today and NY1 News.

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Notable Replies

maximus says:

June 18, 2020

And the deplorables will be the genesis of the 2nd wave. And 3rd wave. Etc. Etc.

We’re gonna need bigger Trump Trailers.
lastroth says:

June 18, 2020

The assault on our reality continues on…
tao says:

June 18, 2020

Fake news! Hoax!
Oh, yeah. Better order another million body bags.
ralph_vonholst says:

June 18, 2020

We shouldn’t be surprised anymore at anything Trump blurts out.

During one trade meeting, Trump grew irate when advisers began discussing Japan and the alliance, and began railing about Pearl Harbor, Bolton writes.

For extended periods of time, Trump kept telling different advisers they were in charge of border policy, according to Bolton’s book. One day in 2018 in the Oval Office, Kelly purportedly learned that Kushner was calling Mexican authorities when he barged into the Oval Office and said so.

“Why is Jared calling Mexicans?” Kelly asked loudly, according to the book. “Because I asked him to. How else are we going to stop the caravans?” Trump responded.

“He second-guessed people’s motives, saw conspiracies behind rocks, and remained stunningly uninformed on how to run the White House, let alone the huge federal government,” Bolton writes, always looking to “personal instinct” and opportunities for “reality TV showmanship.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-asked-chinas-xi-to-help-him-win-reelection-according-to-bolton-book/2020/06/17/d4ea601c-ad7a-11ea-868b-93d63cd833b2_story.html
mattinpa says:

June 18, 2020

lastroth:

The assault on our reality continues on…

Lately it seems his go-to response to bad news is to simply assert the opposite. I’m not sure he’s bothering any more to think about how what he says is perceived or what reaction it gets. He’s just doing what he does, and if it’s irrational and ineffectual that doesn’t penetrate his bubble.