Over 68,000 Americans have died from the Coronavirus, and well over 1.1 million cases of the disease have been confirmed in the United States. President Donald Trump’s reaction to the initial stages of the pandemic was obviously profoundly ineffective when it comes to actually averting the large-scale crisis that is currently in place. New York Times reporter Mark Mazzetti explained in recent days how during that early period, Trump stuck to the idea that concern about the Coronavirus was a “deep state” conspiracy to bring him down. Forever obsessed with his public image, Trump completely ignored the verifiable facts demanding substantive action in early weeks of 2020.
Mazzetti reported:
‘In his view, it was the so-called deep state, people in government who were hell-bent on bringing him down. So, by the time the coronavirus pandemic really started to worsen in the United States and scientists and experts were telling him of the problem, he saw some of these people as just an extension of the deep state, and so that led to I think, some of the skepticism that he had towards the advice he was being given.’
Watch some below:
There is no “deep state” conspiracy to bring Trump down. The presidents’s even implicit suggestion to the contrary appears to be a function of his paranoid self-obsession.
In late February, at a rally in South Carolina, Trump dismissed concern about the Coronavirus as a supposed “hoax.” He called the virus situation “Democrats’ new hoax,” and because he decided to believe that the world was conspiring against him and there was nothing to truly be really further concerned about, the U.S. wasted weeks in which lifesaving preparations could have been accomplished.
Now, Trump is still sticking to his conspiracy theory that the basic facts of the Coronavirus crisis are some kind of plot to make him look bad.
On Twitter recently, he belligerently claimed that calls for increased Coronavirus testing capacity are a “false talking point.” His self-obsession has reached the fever pitch that he’s trying to wish basic facts out of existence, because needs for increased testing are not just talking points!
He tweeted:
‘Cryin’ Chuck Schumer was on a late night show using a false talking point over & over again. “We don’t have enough testing ,” he would repeat, when he knows we have done a great job on Testing, just like we have on Ventilators and everything else. He lied, gave NY SALT. Run AOC!’
Cryin’ Chuck Schumer was on a late night show using a false talking point over & over again. “We don’t have enough testing ,” he would repeat, when he knows we have done a great job on Testing, just like we have on Ventilators and everything else. He lied, gave NY SALT. Run AOC!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2020
Imagine if the U.S. had a president amidst the Coronavirus crisis who didn’t filter everything through their self-obsession.
This week, as Americans keep dying in large numbers, Trump even tweeted that his administration’s response was getting “great reviews.”
He posted:
‘Getting great reviews, finally, for how well we are handling the pandemic, especially our strong production of desperately needed ventilators, the building of field hospitals & beds, and soon, the great things we are doing on testing. People are really working well together!’
It’s entirely unclear if the president actually saw a single review to spark this tweet or simply pulled the idea out of thin air.
Getting great reviews, finally, for how well we are handling the pandemic, especially our strong production of desperately needed ventilators, the building of field hospitals & beds, and soon, the great things we are doing on testing. People are really working well together!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 4, 2020
