Trump Jr. Dismisses His Coronavirus Comments As ‘Hyperbole’

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD - FEBRUARY 28: Donald Trump Jr., son of President Donald Trump, speaks on stage during the Conservative Political Action Conference 2020 (CPAC) hosted by the American Conservative Union on February 28, 2020 in National Harbor, MD. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Donald Trump Jr.
Donald Trump Jr., son of President Donald Trump, speaks on stage during the Conservative Political Action Conference 2020 (CPAC) on February 28, 2020 in National Harbor, MD. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Donald Trump Jr. isn’t sweating the comments he made last month amid growing fears surrounding the coronavirus outbreak.

During an interview on “Fox and Friends” last month, Trump Jr. slammed Democrats when asked by co-host Brian Kilmeade about whether he’s surprised by the party’s reactions to the Trump administration’s coronavirus response.

“Anything that they can use to try to hurt Trump, they will…,” Trump Jr. said on “Fox and Friends.” “For Democrats to try to take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here and kills millions of people so that they can end Donald Trump’s streak of winning is a new level of sickness.”

In a clip released by Axios on Sunday, Trump Jr. expressed no regrets about his comments.

“Not at all, not at all,” Trump Jr. said. “I think I can talk about it in hyperbole. You know, I don’t know that they want ‘millions’ of people—but you could see them, there was nothing that Trump could do that could turn his response to coronavirus into, ‘Hey, he did a good job.’”

Trump Jr. also blamed an op-ed in the New York Times titled “Let’s Call It Trumpvirus.”

“But I was also quoting an article in the NY Times so this isn’t some sort of left-wing blog — it’s the New York Times that said we should all it the ‘Trumpvirus,'” Trump Jr. said. “So I don’t want to hear the sanctimony from these people on the left saying these sorts of things.”

Trump Jr. went on to argue that he is “entitled to speak with hyperbole” because that “drives home the point of what I’m saying.”

Watch Trump Jr.’s remarks below:

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. I’m sure someone had to correct his pronunciation from HYPERBOWL to HYPERBOLEE.

  2. I agree. Let’s call it Trumpvirus.

  3. That’s a mighty big word, goober. Where you learn that?

  4. I know that Jr. had at least one class in Freshman English where straw man arguments and post hoc reasoning were discussed. Maybe he learned the lesson all too well and feels he can deploy fallacies to his advantage.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

132 more replies

Participants

Avatar for daveminnj Avatar for krusher Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for mickeyg Avatar for kenstarr Avatar for daveyjones64 Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for danny Avatar for lastroth Avatar for theghostofeustacetilley Avatar for dangoodbar Avatar for benthere Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for tena Avatar for jinnj Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for brian512 Avatar for dannydorko Avatar for justruss Avatar for inthesedays Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for filmknight Avatar for dogselfie Avatar for RFK

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: