Donald Trump is appearing at 6 PM ET to address the nation on the threat represented by the outbreak of COVID-19. With over 81,000 confirmed cases worldwide, known cases in 43 countries, and epicenters in Italy and Iran as well as China, the Centers for Disease Control has already indicated that it’s a matter of “when, not if” the virus begins spreading among the U.S. population.
On the other hand, while Trump was traveling in India, he declared that everything was fine, under-counted the cases in the United States by a factor of five, and complained the stock markets weren’t dropping over coronavirus … they were falling because of Bernie. And back in the states, Trump’s surrogates have been alternating between claiming the danger from the virus is overblown and blaming it on a Chinese weapon lab.
There’s a good chance Trump will point a finger at Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Democrats in general. And now that he’s already demonstrated that he knows more than all the economists, scientists, and generals: Move over, doctors. We’ll be doing live coverage when he appears.
Thursday, Feb 27, 2020 · 12:39:32 AM +00:00
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Mark Sumner
So …
- Your life is in the hands of Mike Pence, because he was available and has lots of free time.
- There are only 15 people with coronavirus in the United States. Because the other 45 aren’t real.
- The stock market crashed 1,900 points because Democrats were about to step on stage say things and everyone on Wall Street can peer into the future.
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2020 · 11:08:08 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
At the last minute, the start of the press conference has been moved back by half an hour. Which is exactly the kind of highly organized response you want to see in a crisis. So … 6:30 PM ET then.
On Tuesday, Nancy Messonier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, warned that Americans can expect to see the COVID-19 coronavirus spread within the United States, and that “disruption to everyday life may be severe.“ It will be interesting to see if Messonier is part of the “Coronavirus Task Force” that Trump is introducing on Wednesday afternoon.
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2020 · 11:40:57 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
Trump says that the U.S. is … through some “very good decisions that were ridiculed at the time” America remains safe.
Says “we have a total of 15 … we took in some from Japan, they’re getting better too.” Then says “It could have been as many as 42.”
It’s 60.
“We have a total of 15 people...” Trump says again. This is already off the rails.
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2020 · 11:43:35 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
“We’ve had tremendous success, tremendous success, beyond what people would have thought.” Says that President Xi is “working very hard.”
Amazingly Trump has no script at all for this. He’s wandering all over to talk about China, then the money, then bringing in “a specialist tomorrow who is very talented at doing this.” And now he’s doing how many people are killed by the flu.
And again he says “the 15 people” THERE ARE 60.
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2020 · 11:46:45 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
Trump just keeps wandering all over the place -- China, money, experts, 15 people, flu, 1 or 2 people, one guy "pretty sick," 15 people, John's Hopkins says we're number 1. Indiana has great health care.
If the stock markets were still open, they'd be down 2000 right now.
