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Monday March 30, 2020

‘Totally Under Control’: What Trump Said About the Coronavirus in the First Months of the Pandemic

For future reference:

  • Jan. 22: “We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China. It's going to be just fine.” Via Poliltico
  • Jan. 30: “We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment—five—and those people are all recuperating successfully. But we‘re working very closely with China and other countries, and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for us ... that I can assure you.” Via Poliltico
  • Jan. 30: White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow: “We see no material impact on the [U.S.] economy. The pandemic is, of course, in China, not the United States.” Via Washington Post
  • Jan. 30: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross: “[We don‘t] want to take a victory lap [but] I think it will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America, some to [the] U.S., probably some to Mexico as well. ... I think there’s a confluence of factors that will make it very, very likely more reshoring to the U.S. and some reshoring to Mexico.” Via Washington Post and New York Times
  • Jan. 31: U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar: “Today President Trump took decisive action to minimize the risk of novel coronavirus in the United States [by declaring a public health emergency and restricting travel from China]. ... We are working to keep the risk low.” Via NPR 
  • Feb 2: “We‘re gonna see what happens, but we did shut it down, yes.” Via Reuters
  • Feb 7: “Just had a long and very good conversation by phone with President Xi of China. He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus. He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days. Nothing is easy, but ... he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone. Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!” Via Twitter
  • Feb. 11: “The virus that we’re talking about having to do, a lot of people think that goes away in April, with the heat. As the heat comes in, typically that will go away in April.” Via The Hill
  • Feb. 11: “And by the way: The virus. They‘re working hard, but it looks by April, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. Hope that’s true. But we‘re doing great in our country. China, I spoke with President Xi, and they’re working very, very hard, and I think it's all going to work out fine. Rough stuff, I tell you, rough, rough stuff, but I think it's all going to work out good. We only have 11 cases and they‘re all getting better.” At campaign rally, via YouTube
  • Feb. 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!” Via Twitter
  • Feb. 25: White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on CNBC: “We have contained this, I won’t say airtight but pretty close to airtight.” Via Politico
  • Feb. 26: “The risk to the American people remains very low. We have the greatest experts, really in the world, right here. ... We‘re ready to adapt and we’re ready to do whatever we have to as the disease spreads, if it spreads. We‘ll spend whatever is appropriate.” During a press conference in which he announced Vice President Pence was coordinating the government’s response. Via The New York Times
  • Feb. 26: “And again, when you have 15 people — and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero — that's a pretty good job we‘ve done.” Via Washington Post
  • Feb. 28: “Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. You know that, right? The coronavirus. They’re politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs. .... And this is their new hoax. But you know we did something that's been pretty amazing: We‘re 15 people in this massive country. And because of the fact that we went early—we went early—we could’ve had a lot more than that.” At a campaign rally in South Carolina. Via YouTube
  • March 2: “I think it's very safe [to hold campaign rallies].” Via The Hill
  • March 5: “With approximately 100,000 CoronaVirus cases worldwide, and 3,280 deaths, the United States, because of quick action on closing our borders, has, as of now, only 129 cases (40 Americans brought in) and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!” Via Twitter
  • March 5: “Well, I think the 3.4 percent [mortality rate] is really a false number. ... Because a lot people will have this and it's very mild. They‘ll get better very rapidly. They don’t even see a doctor. They don't even call a doctor. You never hear about those people. So you can't put them down in the category of the overall population in terms of this corona flu—or virus. So you just can't do that. So if, you know, we have thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of people that get better, just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work—some of them go to work but they get better.” On Sean Hannity's Fox News Show. Via Politico
  • March 6: “But I think, importantly, anybody, right now and yesterday, that needs a test gets a test. They‘re there, they have the tests, and the tests are beautiful. Anybody that needs a test gets a test. ... The tests are all perfect, like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. This is not as perfect as that, but pretty good.” At the CDC. Via Wired
  • March 6: “You know my uncle was a great person. He was at MIT. He taught at MIT for, I think, like, a record number of years. He was a great supergenius, Dr. John Trump. ... I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctors said, ’How do you know so much about this?' Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.” At the CDC. Via Wired
  • March 6: “I like the numbers being where they are. I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault.” At the CDC. Via NBC News
  • March 8: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus. We moved VERY early to close borders to certain areas, which was a Godsend. V.P. is doing a great job. The Fake News Media is doing everything possible to make us look bad. Sad!” Via Twitter
  • March 9: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!” Via Twitter
  • March 11: “We made a life-saving move with early action on China. Now we must take the same action with Europe. ... A number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travelers from Europe.” In address to the nation from the Oval Office. Via Politico
  • March 13: “No, I don't take responsibility at all.” At Rose Garden press conference backed by CEOs. Via YouTube
  • March 17: “This is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.” Via The New York Times

 

Posted at 07:49 AM on Monday March 30, 2020 in category Politics