(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The president held a press conference regarding the Coronavirus, and it truly killed whatever small hope I had for this country. Talking about the outbreak as if everyone is fine and over three thousand people have not died worldwide, including six in the United States and a growing number of cases, the president basically said lock yourself away and just stay inside, and you’ll be fine.
I listened to said Trump press conference to find his quote on Ebola, and I truly could feel my brain cells dying. This is coming from me, a person who willingly watches Love Island for pleasure. Around 49 minutes in, a reporter brings up the fact that Trump was very harsh on Obama during the Ebola crisis, which caused two deaths in the U.S.
The president, for whatever reason, said that people sick with Ebola disintegrated. Ebola, according to the CDC, has the following symptoms:
- Fever
- Aches and pains, such as severe headache, muscle and joint pain, and abdominal (stomach) pain
- Weakness and fatigue
- Gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhea and vomiting
- Abdominal (stomach) pain
- Unexplained hemorrhaging, bleeding or bruising
And Donald Trump’s explanation?
This is a much different problem than Ebola. With Ebola, you disintegrated. Especially at the beginning.
As Saturday Night Live pointed out … that’s Thanos, not Ebola.
Of course, Donald Trump doesn’t care, because he’d never let facts get in the way of his love of criticizing Obama.
But that aside, we live in a world where the president just says that the Coronavirus is the flu (it is not) and that if you have it to just quarantine yourself, even if that means not going to the hospital in the first place. Again, this is the president. His tips for fighting the virus—wash your hands, stay clean—aren’t wrong, but his desire to write it off as just some virus going around that will just run its course and disappear in the warmer months is not what we need from those tasked with keeping us safe.
Just look at how actual experts react to that nonsense in real time:
oh god her reaction pic.twitter.com/1UYz9ulkSL
— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) February 27, 2020
The unhelpful remarks don’t stay within the hour-long timeline of this press conference, though. The president is determined to just keep lying about the Coronavirus. HAHAHAHAHA we’re screwed.
Infectious diseases head Dr. Anthony Fauci has to stop Trump from asserting in a White House meeting that coronavirus vaccine would be available in two months: “Like I’ve been telling you, a year to a year and a half.” pic.twitter.com/YF59PYMlG0
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) March 2, 2020
Don’t worry, though. Trump, yesterday, stated that we’re doing great on the Coronavirus front—you know, the same day they announced that 6 deaths were confirmed in the state of Washington.
President @realDonaldTrump gives an update on the coronavirus: pic.twitter.com/1rtDjXaUgn
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 2, 2020
He’s also become convinced that the real problem is the flu, because—as he’s apparently unembarrassed to admit—he only just found out that people regularly die of it through coronavirus comparisons.
What’s worse is that now Trump and his crew are insinuating that legitimate concerns over the handling of the virus are nothing but political attacks, as the administration seeks to escape any scrutiny whatsoever and pretend that whatever happens is just the best outcome we could possibly have had:
Coronavirus should not be a partisan political issue. It is time for the Dems to support the decisive actions taken by President @realDonaldTrump to ensure the risk to Americans remains low. pic.twitter.com/wn8Z5ZJ030
— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) March 2, 2020
And of course, some of his supporters have taken that to the extreme
I’ve never felt more like KC Green’s “This is fine” comic.
(KC Green)
While I want to say, “What ignorant thing will Trump say about Coronavirus next?” I would, you know, rather not, seeing as the virus is expected to spread, and the president is acting like it’s nothing—especially since he said, “Very exciting things are happening,” in regards to a disease that is killing people …
“A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly” pic.twitter.com/4opyUDi0Ey
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) March 2, 2020
Panic is bad, but so is downplaying real concern just to make yourself look better.
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