On Saturday, President Donald Trump delivered his first public address following his recent positive Coronavirus test results. He was speaking from a White House balcony to supporters who had gathered on the White House lawn, and it was a doozy — for reasons well beyond the fact that the president seems eager to get back on the campaign trail despite the recency of his revelation that he’d tested positive for the Coronavirus. After lengthy screams of adulation from his supporters, Trump began his remarks by insisting that folks have “gotta get rid of” Democratic politicians — which sounds like something that some folks could take as a side-door endorsement of physical intimidation and/ or violence.
After the screams from his supporters died down, Trump said:
‘Well thank you very much, and keep that enthusiasm going — get out and vote. We gotta vote. We gotta vote these people into oblivion. Vote ’em into oblivion. Gotta get rid of ’em — so bad for our country.’
Watch his comments below:
Trump begins his first post-coronavirus diagnosis speech by telling his adoring fans at the White House, "we gotta vote these people into oblivion. Into oblivion. Gotta get rid of 'em. So bad for our country." pic.twitter.com/RtH7O8jYY7
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 10, 2020
He then insisted that he was “feeling great.” The White House has consistently been nearly opaque on the issue of the president’s health. As of Friday, the White House still wouldn’t even confirm the last occasion on which the president tested negative for the Coronavirus. In light of the fact that the president attended an in-person debate with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in the days before his positive Coronavirus diagnosis was revealed, what if his team exposed the Biden team to the Coronavirus at the debate?
During his Saturday rant at the White House, Trump totally misrepresented the actual state of the Coronavirus pandemic in the United States. He ranted that the virus was supposedly “disappearing,” but by any reasonable measurement, it is not. The United States is about to hit 8 million cases and 220,000 deaths. There’s an arduous road still ahead for the country, especially with a willfully ignorant person like Donald Trump as president.
On Saturday, Trump said:
‘I want you to know our nation’s going to defeat this terrible China Virus… and we’re producing powerful therapies and drugs and we’re healing the sick, and we’re going to recover, and the vaccine is coming out very very quickly, in record time, as you know… Through the power of the American spirit, science medicine will eradicate the China Virus once and for all… it’s going to disappear. It is disappearing.’
The virus isn’t disappearing. During the president’s weekend White House meltdown, Trump also claimed, among other things, that he has “done more for the black community than any president since Abraham Lincoln.” This claim is ludicrous on its face. Watch the president’s comments below:
Trump falsely claims the coronavirus is "disappearing," then suggests the situation in the US isn't that different from elsewhere, saying, "very big flareup in Canada." Canada had about 2,500 new coronavirus cases on Friday, whereas the US had more than 58,000. pic.twitter.com/gzeHPZ2O6O
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 10, 2020
"I have done more for the black community than any president since Abraham Lincoln. Nobody can dispute it. Nobody can dispute it. Nobody can dispute it." — Trump's material is unchanged pic.twitter.com/E8EnpYhuOi
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 10, 2020