1. On February 28, just 71 days ago, Donald Trump held a rally in Charleston, South Carolina
Since then there have been 1,323,068 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S.
78,639 Americans have died.
Let's review what Trump said on February 28.
Because he'd like you to forget.
Since then there have been 1,323,068 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S.
78,639 Americans have died.
Let's review what Trump said on February 28.
Because he'd like you to forget.
2. "Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus, you know that right? Coronavirus, they’re politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs. You say, 'How’s President Trump doing?' They go, 'Oh, not good, not good.' They have no clue. They don’t have any clue."
3. Trump's point was that he was doing an amazing job dealing with the coronavirus and the Democrats, who were arguing Trump should be doing more, were "politicizing" the issue because they weren't recognizing how amazing he was doing.
4. "'Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.' That didn’t work out too well... Think of it. And this is their new hoax. But we did something that’s been pretty amazing. We have 15 people in this massive country and because of the fact that we went early."
5. This is the much-discussed "hoax" line. And no, Trump did not say that the coronavirus itself was a hoax. But he said any criticism of his response was a hoax.
AND HIS PROOF WAS THAT ONLY 15 PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES HAD TESTED POSITIVE
AND HIS PROOF WAS THAT ONLY 15 PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES HAD TESTED POSITIVE
6. "So a number that nobody heard of, that I heard of recently and I was shocked to hear it, 35,000 people on average die each year from the flu. Did anyone know that? 35,000, that’s a lot of people"
More than twice that # of people have now died of the coronavirus in the US
More than twice that # of people have now died of the coronavirus in the US
7. "And so far we have lost nobody to coronavirus in the United States. Nobody. And it doesn’t mean we won’t and we are totally prepared. It doesn’t mean we won’t, but think of it. You hear 35 and 40,000 people and we’ve lost nobody and you wonder the press is in hysteria mode."
8. Here Trump is saying that the press coverage of coronavirus is "hysterical" because no one has died
And Trump claims the US is "totally prepared" for an outbreak.
A few days later nurses would be wearing garbage bags because there were no PPE
And Trump claims the US is "totally prepared" for an outbreak.
A few days later nurses would be wearing garbage bags because there were no PPE
9. "My administration has taken the most aggressive action in modern history to prevent the spread of this illness in the United States. We are ready. We are ready. Totally ready."
[We were not ready.]
[We were not ready.]
"A virus starts in China, bleeds its way into various countries all around the world, doesn’t spread widely at all in the US because of the early actions that myself and my administration took against a lot of other wishes"
The entire speech is one victory lap after another.
"We had a quarantine some people. They weren’t happy, they weren’t happy about it. I want to tell you there are a lot of people that not so happy, but after two weeks they got happy."
"We had a quarantine some people. They weren’t happy, they weren’t happy about it. I want to tell you there are a lot of people that not so happy, but after two weeks they got happy."
Trump again criticizes Dems for overreacting: "I requested 2.5 billion dollars to ensure we have the resources we need. The Democrats said, 'That’s terrible. He’s doing the wrong thing. He needs eight and a half billion, not two and a half.' I’ve never had that before."
"With your help, your devotion and your drive, we are going to keep on working, we are going to keep on fighting, and we are going to keep on winning, winning, winning...You have the best year ever on record, right?"
