Throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump has opted to behave as though acknowledging the slightest fact about the reality of the situation would constitute some kind of grave threat to his public image that he just can’t tolerate. Routinely, Trump has prioritized his public image over the health and safety of the American people. To that end, this Monday morning, he tweeted the claim that there’s essentially no problem with Coronavirus testing capacity in the United States. He included a brazen lie in his claims, insisting that the U.S. has completed more Coronavirus tests than any other country. Pesky things called math and reality indicate that’s entirely untrue.
He posted:
‘Interesting? By Congress not wanting the special 5 minute testing apparatus, they are saying that they are not “essential”. In any event, we have great testing capacity, and have performed 6.5 million tests, which is more than every country in the world, combined!’
Interesting? By Congress not wanting the special 5 minute testing apparatus, they are saying that they are not “essential”. In any event, we have great testing capacity, and have performed 6.5 million tests, which is more than every country in the world, combined!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 4, 2020
Again, the claim that the U.S. has done more Coronavirus tests than every other country put together is entirely incorrect. Tens of millions of tests have been performed across the globe. The U.S. has completed just a fraction of those. Trump’s contention that Congress said they’re not essential workers via refusing the administration’s offer of rapid response tests is similarly disconnected from the facts. In a joint statement — a rarity! — Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi indicated that they wanted to prioritize cutting edge supplies going to the front lines, which is the complete opposite of the self-deprecating affront that Trump suggests.
Dr. Anthony Fauci on COVID-19 testing: "We need to significantly ramp up not only the number of tests, but the capacity to perform them" https://t.co/JvJxwel9TS #TIME100Talks pic.twitter.com/FTwI7gCBV0
— TIME (@TIME) April 26, 2020
This Monday, Trump also mockingly tweeted about California’s supposed desire to secure their southern border amidst the Coronavirus pandemic. He suggested that the move represented some kind of vindication of his own longstanding attempts to largely shut down the southern border, which is just a laughable notion. Emergency measures amidst a pandemic are not remotely any vindication for Trump.
Interesting? By Congress not wanting the special 5 minute testing apparatus, they are saying that they are not “essential”. In any event, we have great testing capacity, and have performed 6.5 million tests, which is more than every country in the world, combined!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 4, 2020
Check out Twitter’s response below…
