The thing that kills me about the denialism of Trump calling the coronavirus a hoax is that even by what his defenders say, he was lying. His claim of a hoax have been disproven by time. He lied to his followers about what the danger was, for his own personal gain.
Trump is not a nuanced or precise speaker. He DID say coronavirus is a hoax, just like he's said Russia is a hoax. Those are the exact words he's used. We know he doesn't mean there's no such country as Russia, though. We know what he actually means.
When he said the coronavirus was a hoax (which, again, is what he said) we understand he meant the danger wasn't real. And it was. We understand he meant Democrats and the media were overhyping it. And they didn't.
At the same time he was calling coronavirus "the new hoax" he said there were 15 cases (there were more than that! he focused on a specific cluster to keep the number low) and "soon to be zero". Lies! The whole thing was lies. His claim of a hoax was a lie.
The mainstream media and the Democrats said that the danger of the coronavirus was real. They were right. They said that Trump's xenophobic, racist travel ban wasn't going to contain it. They were right.
He called these criticisms a hoax.
*That* was the hoax.
He called these criticisms a hoax.
*That* was the hoax.
We are going to be at 60,000 people in this country dead of it officially well before the end of the week (and uncounted more who died alone at home or weren't diagnosed) and he said that the danger was fake news, that the media was out to get him.
