Thread by @atrupar

wut

Trump is using the lie that he banned travel from China (he restricted it but didn't ban it) to take credit for saving "untold numbers of lives" (the coronavirus was already spreading within the US by the time the restrictions went into effect)

Trump is using the April 14 #TrumpPressBriefing to try and shift blame by attacking the World Health Organization

TRUMP: "For the time being we will redirect global health and directly -- work with others. All of the aid we send will be discussed at very, very powerful letters and with very powerful and influential groups, and smart groups." #wut

Trump calls Andrew Cuomo's ventilator requests "ridiculous" and then attacks President Obama, who left office in 2017, for the fact the national ventilator stockpile was depleted in 2020

adventures in reading with Trump

"These are high-quality ventilators. We had a choice. We could do inexpensive, less productive ventilators, or high-quality. We've done a high-quality ventilator" -- Trump

Trump still hasn't figured out that the 1918 flu pandemic didn't happen in 1917

well, now i feel better about things

"There's never been an economy like we had, just a little more than a month ago" -- Trump's new 2020 slogan leans pretty heavily into nostalgia

One day after (falsely) claiming he has "total authority" to reopen states, Trump has walked that back and is now saying he'll merely consult with individual governors about when they'll get their economies up and running again

If you're looking for stock tips for tomorrow morning here's nearly a minute of Trump reading off the names of random companies and CEOs

"Pepsi Cola, Chick-fil-A, Subway, Yum Brands, Papa John's" -- Trump is still reading off the names of random companies during a press briefing that is ostensibly about a deadly pandemic that is killing Americans

"We have to get our sports back. I'm tired of watching baseball games that are 14 years old." -- Trump

"The minimum was 100,000 deaths and I hope to be substantially under the minimum," says Trump, who as late as the last week of February was claiming that the coronavirus would go away on its own

TRUMP: "If we're unhappy with a state, we're going to let them know we're unhappy ... we'll have to do something that's very ser-- very serious. We'll maybe have to close them up and start all over again."

Trump takes a question about why cutting funding for the WHO during a pandemic is a good idea -- and does not even come close to answering it

"This isn't me -- this is the presidency": Get a load of the guy who pushed racist conspiracy theories about President Obama claiming to care about the institution of the presidency

Trump is not happy with a Fox News question about how the current lack of testing capacity in the country is consistent with getting state economies back up and running

"Governors are supposed to do testing. It's up to the governors. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. The governors are doing the testing. It's now not up, and it hasn't been up, to the federal govt ... if you keep talking, I'll leave ... just a loudmouth" -- Trump unloads on @BrianKarem

.@kaitlancollins: You're criticizing the WHO for praising China's transparency. You did the same thing

TRUMP: I don't talk about China's transparency

C: You did in a tweet in January

TRUMP: If I'm so good to China, how come I'm the one that closed our borders against China?

"Who cares? If you can't be here, that's too bad" -- Trump to a reporter who tries to ask a question on behalf of a colleague who couldn't be there

"Kroger and Walmart, which does a lot of the food, and many of the stores -- they seem to be in very good shape" -- Trump downplays possibility of food supplies running short

REPORTER: The reason many states don't have problems right now is because of social distancing--

TRUMP: "No ... the reason also is they are different kinds of states. They have lots of room."

Trump then threatens governors who might not cooperate with him & ends the briefing.