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.
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Wow. Biden in Tampa on Trump: "He said there has to be punishment for women exercising their reproductive freedom ... maybe it's coming from that bible he's trying to sell. I almost wanted to buy one just to see what the hell is in it."
Biden: "It was a political deal to get rid of Roe, a political deal Trump made with the evangelical base of the Republican Party to look past his moral and character flaws in exchange for his commitment to appoint justices to SCOTUS who would overturn Roe."
Biden on a national abortion ban: "As long as I have the power of the presidency, it's never going to happen."
4 years ago today, Trump during his one of his covid disaster-pressers made his infamous, bonkers statement about "disinfectant" via "injection inside" being a miracle cure. But here are a couple other moments from that event you may have forgotten. (🧵)
As I noted at the time, Dr. Birx, who at the time as fawning over Trump on a daily basis, couldn't hide that she was appalled when Trump directed her to investigate his wild quackery.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Will your support for Trump continue even if he's convicted?
CHRIS SUNUNU: Yeah. This has been going on for more than a year and his poll numbers never go down.
S: But you're going to politics. I'm asking about right and wrong.
CS: This is about politics.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But I'm asking whether you're going to be swayed by a conviction
SUNUNU: Nobody should be shocked that the Republican governor is supporting the Republican president
STEPHANOPOULOS: Please explain given the fact you believe Trump contributed to an insurrection how you can say we should have him back in the Oval Office
SUNUNU: For me, it's not about him as much as it is having a GOP administration
S: But he will be the president! That doesn't make any sense to me. You believe that a president who contributed to an insurrection should be president again?
I'm going to put together a thread covering Trump's rally in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania. Follow along for clips 👇
"We will quickly rebuild the greatest economy in the history of the world like we had it just four years ago" -- the unemployment rate in April 2020 was nearly 15 percent
Trump was deeply confused about how covid spread but that didn't prevent him from publicly agitating for the economy to reopen, suggesting that public health precautions would lead to mass suicide