Donald Trump on the COVID-19 Outbreak

Donald Trump on the Seriousness of the COVID-19 Outbreak

THEN
NOW


Jan - April 2020
Feb - Oct 2020

Donald Trump on the COVID-19 Outbreak Then
Donald Trump on the COVID-19 Outbreak Now


#DonaldTrump 2/22/20: "We have ❲COVID-19❳ totally under control…It’s going to be just fine." » #Trump 3/25/20: "Nobody could have ever seen something like this coming." Click To Tweet

Donald Trump on the Seriousness of the COVID-19 Outbreak

THEN

Jan - April 2020

Donald Trump on the COVID-19 Outbreak Then
“No [‘worries about a pandemic at this point’]. Not at all. We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”
- Jan 22, 2020
“I do [‘trust that we’re going to know everything we need to know from China’]. I do. I have a great relationship with President Xi.”
- Jan 22, 2020
China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”
“We are in very close communication with China concerning the virus. Very few cases reported in USA, but strongly on watch. We have offered China and President Xi any help that is necessary. Our experts are extraordinary!”
“Well, what I’m doing [about the coronavirus] is we’re dealing very closely with China. We’ll be making certain announcements over the next 24 hours and 48 hours. And we are in great shape. China is not in great shape right now, unfortunately. But they’re working very hard. We’ll see what happens. But we’re working very closely with China and other countries.”
- Jan 30, 2020

Fox News (via Real Clear Politics), Jan 31, 2020
Trump: Elizabeth Warren Is Not Going To Be The Nominee, 'Too Many Yarns'

(retrieved 3/23/20)
“We’re very much involved with [China], right now, on the virus that’s going around. We’re working very closely. I spoke to President Xi. We’re working very closely with China.”
- Jan 30, 2020
“Now we’re working very strongly with China on the coronavirus… we’re working very closely with them and with a lot of other people and a lot of other countries. And 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 it. So that I can assure you.”
- Jan 30, 2020

“Working closely with China and others on Coronavirus outbreak. Only 5 people in U.S., all in good recovery.”
“In fact, maybe we’ve never had a better relationship [with China] and we’re working with them very closely on the coronavirus. We’re working with them very, very closely. We only have five people. Hopefully everything’s going to be great. They have somewhat of a problem, but hopefully it’s all going to be great. But, we’re working with China just so you know, and other countries very, very closely, so it doesn’t get out of hand, but it’s something that we have to be very, very careful with, right? We have to be very careful.”
- Jan 30, 2020
“We pretty much shut it down coming in from China… we can’t have thousands of people coming in who may have this problem, the coronavirus. So we’re gonna see what happens, but we did shut it down, yes.”
- Feb 2, 2020
“We are coordinating with the Chinese government and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in China. My administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat.”
- Feb 4, 2020

Associated Press (via U.S. News), Feb 5, 2020
Text of President Trump's 2020 State of the Union Address

(retrieved 3/23/20)
“The virusa lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat — as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April

“I had a long talk with [China‘s] President Xi… He feels very confident. And he feels that, again, as I mentioned, by April or during the month of April, the heat, generally speaking, kills this kind of virus. So that would be a good thing. But we’re in great shape in our country. We have 11, and the 11 are getting better. Okay?”
- Feb 10, 2020

Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. I hope that’s true. But we’re doing great in our country… I think it’s going to all work out fine.”
- Feb 10, 2020

“I think China is very, you know, professionally run in the sense that they have everything under control. I really believe they are going to have it under control fairly soon. You know in April, supposedly, it dies with the hotter weather. And that’s a beautiful date to look forward to. But China I can tell you is working very hard. We’re working with them.

“You know, we just sent some of our best people over there, World Health Organization, and a lot of them are composed of our people. They’re fantastic. And they’re now in China, and we’re helping them out. We’re in very good shape. We have 11 cases and most of them are getting better very rapidly. I think they’ll all be better… I think the virus is going to be — it’s going to be fine.”
- Feb 10, 2020

“Well, we’re working on it very closely… It’s a problem, we think and we hope, based on all signs that the problem goes away in April because — which is not too far down the road, because heat kills this virus.… We only have, basically, 12 cases and most of those people are recovering and some cases fully recovered. So it’s actually less…

“Again, the April date is very important. But you know this is a big thing. The April date is very, very important because if that’s the case, if heat does, in fact, kill that’s when it starts getting hot and this virus reacts very poorly to heat and dies. So we’ll see what happens.”
- Feb 13, 2020

“We have a very small number of people in the country, right now, with it. It’s like around 12. Many of them are getting better. Some are fully recovered already. So we’re in very good shape

“There’s a theory that, in April, when it gets warm — historically, that has been able to kill the virus. So we don’t know yet; we’re not sure yet. But that’s around the corner, so that’ll be a great thing in China and other places.
- Feb 14, 2020

White House, Feb 14, 2020
Remarks by President Trump to National Border Patrol Council Members

(retrieved 3/23/20)
“I think the numbers are going to get progressively better as we go along… I think it’s going to work out fine. I think when we get into April, in the warmer weather, that has a very negative effect on that and that type of a virus. So let’s see what happens, but I think it’s going to work out fine.”
- Feb 19, 2020
“We’re very, very cognizant of everything going on. We have it very much under control in this country… We have it very much under control… We had 12, at one point. And now they’ve gotten very much better.”
- Feb 23, 2020

White House, Feb 23, 2020
Remarks by President Trump Before Marine One Departure

(retrieved 3/23/20)
“The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
Our country is under control… I think it’s going to work out fine.”
- Feb 25, 2020

White House, Feb 26, 2020
Remarks by President Trump at a Business Roundtable | New Delhi, India

(retrieved 3/23/20)
“You may ask about the coronavirus, which is very well under control in our country. We have very few people with it, and the people that have it… They’re all getting better.”
- Feb 25, 2020

White House, Feb 25, 2020
Remarks by President Trump in Press Conference

(retrieved 3/23/20)
“Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus [sic] look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape!”
“The level that we’ve had in our country is very low… we have a total of 15 people, and they’re in a process of recovering…

“We’re very, very ready for this, for anything

And the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero

“We’re going very substantially down, not up

“This will end. This will end. You look at flu season…

Now, you treat this like a flu… And we’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner…

“This one is different [than Ebola]. Much different. This is a flu. This is like a flu.
- Feb 26, 2020

“And the 15 will soon be down to 3 or 4 because we take them off the list as they get better and they’re recuperate. Like, if you had the flu, you recuperate…

“It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear… But 15 people is almost, I would say, a miracle.”
- Feb 27, 2020

White House, Feb 28, 2020
Remarks by President Trump in Meeting with African American Leaders

(retrieved 3/23/20)
“This will end. This will end. You look at flu season... It is a little bit different, but in some ways it’s easier and in some ways it’s a little bit tougher. But we have it so well under control. I mean, we really have done a very good job.”
- Feb 27, 2020
“Congratulations and thank you to our great Vice President & all of the many professionals doing such a fine job at CDC & all other agencies on the Coronavirus situation. Only a very small number in U.S., & China numbers look to be going down. All countries working well together!”
“Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus, you know that right? Coronavirus, they’re politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs. You say, ‘How’s President Trump doing?’ They go, ‘Oh, not good, not good.’

“One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia. That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax… And this is their new hoax.
- Feb 28, 2020

The Hill, Feb 28, 2020
Trump hits Democrats over coronavirus criticism: 'This is their new hoax'

(retrieved 3/23/20)
starts at beginning

“At this moment, we have 22 patients in the United States currently that have coronavirusif you’re healthy, you will probably go through a process and you’ll be fine.
- Feb 29, 2020
“I’ve gotten to know these professionals. They’re incredible. And everything is under control… They’ve done it, and they’ve done it well. Everything is really under control.
- Feb 29, 2020
“We’re talking about a much smaller range [of deaths than the flu]. Now, hopefully, it stays at a much smaller range.”
- March 2, 2020
“We have a very, very small percentage… a very small number of people [infected] in this country.
- March 4, 2020
“Well, I think the 3.4 percent [mortality rate] is really a false number. Now, and this is just my hunch… it’s very mild.… So if, you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, by sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better… They don’t report to doctors or the hospital in many cases. So I think that that number is very high. I think the number — personally, I would say the number is way under 1 percent.
- March 4, 2020

Fox News (via Washington Post), March 5, 2020
Trump’s habit of fudging inconvenient numbers enters dangerous territory

(retrieved 3/23/20)
“The United States…has, as of now, only 129 cases (40 Americans brought in) and 11 deaths.
“We have 240 cases, 11 deaths… when people have the flu, you have an average of 36,000 people dying… So I start to say, ‘I wonder what’s going on here.’ Now, you look at the percentage: The percentage for the flu is under 1 percent. But this could also be under 1 percent because many of the people that aren’t that sick don’t report

“Not [protecting myself] at all. No, not at all. Not at all… the fact is I feel very secure. I feel very secure…

“No, I haven’t [considered not having campaign rallies]… It doesn’t bother me at all and it doesn’t bother [my rally crowds] at all…

“Anybody that wants a test can get a test. That’s what the bottom line is… Anybody right now and yesterday — anybody that needs a test gets a test. We — they’re there. They have the tests. And the tests are beautiful.and the tests are all perfect… And this is, by the way, the highest level test…

“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.”
- March 6, 2020

“I have great people… They would like to have the people come off. I’d rather have the people stay [on the infected cruise ship]… because 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… they’re mostly Americans, so I can live either way with it. I’d rather have them stay on but I fully understand if they’d rather take them off. I gave them the authority to make the decision.”
- March 6, 2020
“No, I’m not concerned at all [that the virus is now in D.C.]. No, I’m not.”
- March 7, 2020
“We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus.”
“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!”
“The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant. Surgeon General, ‘The risk is low to the average American.‘”
“We’re prepared, and…it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away… But be calm. It’s really working out.”
- March 10, 2020

White House, March 10, 2020
Remarks by President Trump After Meeting with Republican Senators

(retrieved 3/23/20)
“The Invisible Enemy will soon be in full retreat!”


#DonaldTrump 2/24/20: "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA." » #Trump 2/29/20: "Body bags all over in hallways. I have been watching them bringing in trailer trucks…because they can’t handle the bodies." Click To Tweet

NOW

Feb - Oct 2020

Donald Trump on the COVID-19 Outbreak Now
“The virus…goes through air, Bob. That’s always tougher than the touch. You know the touch, you don’t have to touch things, ight? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus... This is more deadly. This is five per — you know, this is 5 percent versus 1 percent and less than 1 percent, you know. So, this is deadly stuff.
Feb 7, 2020 -
“It’s an unforeseen problem. What a problem. Came out of nowhere, but we’re taking care of it… It’ll go away.”
March 6, 2020 -
“I just think this is something…you can never really think is going to happen… Six, seven, eight weeks ago — who would have thought we would even be having the subject?… And all I say is, ‘Be calm.’”
March 6, 2020 -
“This blindsided the world.”
March 9, 2020 -
“We’re having to fix a problem that, four weeks ago, nobody ever thought would be a problem. Nobody… This came out of nowhere.”
March 11, 2020 -

White House, March 11, 2020
TITLE

(retrieved 3/23/20)
“I…hereby find and proclaim that the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States constitutes a national emergency.”
March 13, 2020 -
“I don’t take responsibility at all. We were given a set of circumstances and we were given rules, regulations and specifications from a different time. It wasn’t meant for this kind of an event, with the kind of numbers that we’re talking about.”
March 13, 2020 -

CNN, March 13, 2020
Trump declares national emergency -- and denies responsibility for coronavirus testing failures

(retrieved 3/23/20)
quote starts at beginning
“It’s something that nobody expected. It came out of China, and it’s one of those things that happened. It’s nobody’s fault.”
March 14, 2020 -
“This is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic… I’ve always viewed it as very serious.”
March 17, 2020 -

New York Times, March 17, 2020
Trump Now Claims He Always Knew the Coronavirus Would Be a Pandemic

(retrieved 3/23/20)
“I view it as, in a sense, a wartime president. I mean, that’s what we’re fighting… It’s the invisible enemy. That’s always the toughest enemy, the invisible enemy.”
March 18, 2020 -

Politico, March 18, 2020
Trump labels himself ‘a wartime president’ combating coronavirus

(retrieved 3/23/20)
starts at 1:26

“Now it’s turning out it’s not just old people, Bob. But just today and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It’s not just old, older — young people too, plenty of young people…

“I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
March 19, 2020 -

“I always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously… The Fake News new narrative is disgraceful & false!”
Nobody could have ever seen something like this coming, but now we know, and we know it can happen and happen again.”
March 25, 2020 -
“The speed and the viciousness, especially if it gets the right person, it is horrible

“I’ve been watching that for the last week on television, body bags all over in hallways. I have been watching them bringing in trailer trucks, freezer trucks because they can’t handle the bodies. There are so many of them. This is in essentially my community in Queens, New York. I have seen things that I have never seen before.”
March 29, 2020 -

New York Times, March 29, 2020
Trump Extends Social Distancing Guidelines Through End of April

(retrieved 3/30/20)
“Our country is in the midst of a great national trial, unlike any we have ever faced before… We’re at war with a deadly virus. Success in this fight will require the full, absolute measure of our collective strength, love, and devotion…

“I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead… this is going to be a very painful — a very, very painful two weeks. When you look and see, at night, the kind of death that’s been caused by this invisible enemy, it’s incredible…

“As we send planeloads of masks and gloves and supplies to the communities battling the plague — and that’s what it is, this is a plague — we also send our prayers…

To see the scenes of trailers out there and what they’re doing with those trailers — they’re freezers — and nobody can even believe it

“And I watched the doctors and the nurses walking into that hospital this morning. It’s like military people going into battle, going into war… things are happening that we’ve never seen before in this country

“2.2 million people would have died if we did nothing, if we just carried on our life… You would have seen people dying on airplanes. You would have been seeing people dying in hotel lobbies. You would’ve seen death all over… on the higher side, the number would be 2.2 and maybe even more, and on the lower side, 1.6 million people…

“I’ve had many friends, business people, people with great, actually, common sense — they said, ‘Why don’t we ride it out?’ A lot of people have said… ‘Don’t do anything, just ride it out and think of it as the flu.’ But it’s not the flu. It’s vicious.

“When you send a friend to the hospital, and you call up to find out how is he doing — it happened to me, where he goes to the hospital, he says goodbye. He’s sort of a tough guy. A little older, a little heavier than he’d like to be, frankly. And you call up the next day: ‘How’s he doing?’ And he’s in a coma? This is not the flu

“I’ve heard some of the paramedics and some of the doctors, they said they were — they’ve been in war zones, they’ve been in — they’ve never seen anything like this… It is a war zone, in a true sense

“When this gets the wrong person… it is ravaging. It is horrible.”
March 31, 2020 -

“We’re in a very critical phase of our war against the coronavirus… The sacrifices we make over the next four weeks will have countless American lives saved… Maintaining social distance, practicing vigorous hygiene, and staying at home are your most effective ways to win the war and to escape danger.”
April 2, 2020 -
“Our country is being hit hard… we intensify our military campaign against the virusthis will be a very painful week.
April 7, 2020 -
“You know, we’re fighting this hidden enemy, which is genius. Okay? It’s genius, the way it’s attacked so many countries at so many different angles. I mean, you take a look at what’s going on… Look what it’s done to some people. I mean, some people it’s grabbed, and it’s a — it’s a horrible — it’s a horrible way to go, if you want to know the truth…

“And some people — I looked at New York this morning, and I look at what’s happening and the amount of people that are dying and dying — violently dying. It’s a very tough adversary.”
April 10, 2020 -

“This thing is a killer if it gets you. If you’re the wrong… So this rips you apart… It is the plague…

“Bob, it’s so easily transmissible, you wouldn’t even believe it. I mean, you could, you could be in the room — I was in the White House a couple of days ago, meeting with 10 people in the Oval Office and a guy sneezed, innocently. Not a horrible — You know, just a sneeze, the entire room bailed out, OK? Including me, by the way.”
April 13, 2020 -

Bob Woodward (via CNN), Sept 15, 2020
This coronavirus timeline is incredibly damning for Donald Trump

(retrieved 9/15/20)
quote starts at 0:45
“We went through the worst attack we’ve ever had in our country. This is really the worst attack we’ve ever had. This is worse than Pearl Harbor. This is worse than the World Trade Center. There’s never been an attack like this. And it never should have happened. It could’ve been stopped at the source, it should’ve been stopped at the source. It should’ve been stopped in China.’
May 6, 2020 -
“If you look at what’s going on: the younger, the better…

“So, can you assure anybody of anything? I do say, again: Young people are almost immune to this disease… young people are almost immune. If you look at the percentage, it’s a tiny percent of 1 percent. It’s a tiny percent of 1 percent. So we have to have our schools open.
July 30, 2020 -

White House, July 30, 2020
Remarks by President Trump in Press Briefing | July 30, 2020

(retrieved 8/4/20)
“[COVID-19] could have been stopped at [China’s] border… I don’t think [I could have done more to stop the pandemic spread]. I think what I did by closing up the country, I think I saved two, maybe two and a half, maybe more than that lives. I really don’t think so.”
Sept 15, 2020 -

The Hill, Sept 15, 2020
Trump says he doesn't think he could've done more to stop virus spread

(retrieved Sept 16, 2020)
quote starts at 1:40
“[Dr. Anthony Fauci is] like this wonderful guy, a wonderful sage telling us how he said, do not wear facemasks — that’s a number of months ago. He said, do not close it up to China. I have a list of 15 things. And yet we keep him. Every time he goes on television there’s always a bomb. But there is a bigger bomb if you fire him. But Fauci is a disaster. I mean, this guy, if I listened to him, we would have 500,000 deaths. Fauci, if we listened to him, we’d have 700,000 to 800,000 deaths right now.”
Oct 19, 2020 -

The Hill, Oct 19, 2020
Trump labels Fauci a 'disaster' on campaign call

(retrieved 10/20/20)


#DonaldTrump 2/27/20: "It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear." » #Trump 3/6/20: "I just think this is something…you can never really think is going to happen…And all I say is, ‘Be calm.’" Click To Tweet