Trump Says He Wasn’t Joking About Slowing Down COVID-19 Testing: ‘I Don’t Kid’

US President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as he walks to board Air Force One prior to departure from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, June 23, 2020, as he travels to Arizona to view the border wall and speak at a Re... US President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as he walks to board Air Force One prior to departure from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, June 23, 2020, as he travels to Arizona to view the border wall and speak at a Republican student event. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images) MORE LESS
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President Trump on Tuesday insisted that he wasn’t kidding when he told attendees at his campaign rally over the weekend in Tulsa that he asked his administration to “slow the testing down, please” on the novel coronavirus.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Tuesday morning, Trump was pressed on whether he was kidding when he made the claim at his poorly attended rally.

“I don’t kid, let me make it clear,” Trump said. “We have got the greatest testing program anywhere in the world. We test better than anybody in the world. Our tests are the best in the world, and we have the most of them. By having more tests, we find more cases. We did 25 million tests.”

The President then argued that “testing is a double-edged sword” before reiterating that the country is “doing a great job” on it.

“In one way, it tells you, you have cases. In other way, you find out where the cases are and you do a good job,” Trump said. “We are doing a great job. We have never been credited for it. We’re doing the best testing job anywhere in the world.”

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended the President’s “I don’t kid” remark aboard Air Force One later Tuesday. She argued that he “appreciates testing” and that he was “using sarcasm.”

“He was making a serious point, which is why he said, ‘I don’t kid.’ He was noting — he was making a serious point but he was using sarcasm to do that at the rally,” McEnany said. “The serious point he was making was when you test more people, you identify more cases. But the cases shouldn’t be indicative of the progress we’ve made. Per capita we have fewer fatalities than Europe.”

Trump’s latest remarks come a day after he refused to confirm whether he requested that his staff “slow the testing down” during an interview with “Scripps.”

Trump’s newfound defense of his remarks at his Tulsa rally contradict White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s explanation the day before when she said that the President made the comment at the rally “in jest.”

“Any suggestion that testing has been curtailed is not rooted in fact,” McEnany said during a White House briefing on Monday.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro shared a similar defense of Trump’s original remarks during an interview on CNN Sunday morning, saying that the President was being “tongue in cheek.”

Watch Trump’s remarks below:

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Notable Replies

  1. O irony, how delicious thou art! (nom-noms)

    Once again, WH flaks attempt damage control over another of Cheeto Hitler’s “quiet-part-out-loud” gaffes…only to be undercut the next day by 45 hisself!

  2. Trump doesn’t joke (verb), but he is a joke (noun). One of the lacunar infarcts he had some time ago left him incapable of the verb-noun distinction. Someone should ask him to repeat, “No ands, ifs, or buts.”

  3. Believe Trump when he says he does not joke…

    He does NOT care if thousands of Americans die as long as his “numbers“ are nice = low Covid infections and death!

    Trump Death Clock = > 72k+ deaths

    In March = Trump said: Job well done/“Very Good Job” is <100k deaths

    In June 23rd = US Covid Death: 120k+

    Meanwhile, Stay Safe and Healthy
    AND
    Remember in November
    = VoteBlue
    = Vote Out Trump & Rs

  4. Trump Says He Wasn’t Joking About Slowing Down COVID-19 Testing: ‘I Don’t Kid’

    Bookmarked.

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