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
And the deplorables will be the genesis of the 2nd wave. And 3rd wave. Etc. Etc.
We’re gonna need bigger Trump Trailers.
The assault on our reality continues on…
Fake news! Hoax!
Oh, yeah. Better order another million body bags.
We shouldn’t be surprised anymore at anything Trump blurts out.
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.