President Donald Trump took a victory lap while talking about the coronavirus death toll in insensitive remarks yesterday that drew wide condemnation.
As you may recall, Trump initially bragged about there only being 15 cases of the virus and insisting that it would be down to “zero” soon. That was nearly two months ago.
Now nearly 400,000 Americans are infected by the virus and more than 36,000 have died, a number that continues to rise exponentially because of Trump’s reckless response. And he’s obsessed with reopening the country, a move that would likely bring about a second wave that would be just as deadly since people can get the virus a second time and there is no vaccine.
During his press conference/campaign rally, Trump spiked the football on the death toll.
“When you look at the possible deaths at 2.2 million people – and it could have very well been that, it could have been more,” Trump said. “Frankly I’ve been looking at numbers where it could have been higher than that. 2.2 million people dying. If you figure we lost 500,000, maybe 600,000 in the Civil War, 2.2 million people, a minimum if we did nothing would have been 1.6, if you cut that in half, you’re talking about 800,000 [to] 900,000 – a million people dying.”
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“But we did a lot of work, and the people of this country were incredible, I have to say, I think we’re heading to the other category, that would be if we did work, and if it was successful they had between 100,000 and 220,000 to 240,000 on the upside, and I think we’ll be substantially, hopefully below the ‘100’ number, and I think right now we’re headed probably around 60, maybe 65,000,” he continued.
Seriously, he literally thinks a good job has been done if 65,000 Americans die.
Here’s the video via Twitter:
Trump says he now expects “around 60,000, maybe 65,000” American deaths from the coronavirus. He indicates he’ll proclaim any total under 100,000 as a reflection of what a great job his government did. pic.twitter.com/MV5YqNMtIW
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 17, 2020
Americans, of course, were horrified, especially since Trump has previously declared Obama’s handling on the H1N1 pandemic a disaster because 17,000 died.
So, 99,999 American deaths = winning.
Is it November yet?
— (myles) Covidfefe: Wash Yer Damn Hands! 🤧😷💥 (@MylesLP) April 17, 2020
60,000 give or take a 9/11
Jesus Christ
— Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) April 17, 2020
If this whole thing goes terribly bad and 2 million people die, he’ll still say he did a great job. No matter what happens in any of his fuck-ups, he says his administration did a great job.
— 🌊 Jebus 🌊 (@the_real_Lord) April 17, 2020
This is the behavior of a sociopathic monster. He thinks he deserves congratulations for negligently causing tens of thousands of deaths https://t.co/fRVRS5TzQp
— Daniel Gilmore (@gilmored85) April 17, 2020
Yet he called 17,000 (12,469 actual number) deaths from H1N1 for the year of April 2009 to April 2010 a disaster.
Now, it’s somehow a good thing if “only” 100,000 die on his watch? Well, he never was any good with math.— James Flick (@JamesLFlick) April 18, 2020
We should start a names quilt for the victims of this virus, like the AIDS quilt. I don’t think he understands what 37,000 deaths looks like. And the only victim’s name he’s said is that of the one person he knew.
— StickyBunny (@skullisland1919) April 17, 2020
Trump is insane. A total of American deaths under 100000 deaths is not a great job. It is mass murder. It is failure on all levels of his inept, deliberate mishandling of this crisis. He should be in solitary confinement for this catastrophe.
— Steven West (@zebra2222) April 18, 2020
Who takes a victory lap on piles of corpses? https://t.co/FpmzSsCZdY
— Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) April 17, 2020
Imagine doing nothing for months after the first two planes hit… And letting another 40 planes hit buildings all over the country and claiming victory…
Cause that’s pretty much what he’s gonna do.
20 9/11s…
— KMD (@Eurotrash007) April 18, 2020
What happened to a 15 cases becoming 0 in a couple of days.
— Imasteffy (@imasteffy) April 18, 2020
In addition to being a fucking moron, our president is a monster if he thinks “only” 60 thousand deaths is some kind of victory.
What is wrong with these people?
— Jeff McCourt (@TexPassions) April 18, 2020
This pandemic has killed more than twice as many Americans as H1N1. Had Trump acted sooner instead of pretending that the whole thing was a “hoax,” many lives could have been saved. And as Republicans continue to push to re-open their states, the death toll is only going to get higher, and you can bet that Trump will move the goalposts every time to make it look like he scored a touchdown even though all he’s been doing is fumbling.
Featured image via screen capture
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