STUMPED BY DISEASE
DON PLAYS VIRUS POLITICS
President Trump turned a coronavirus briefing Friday into a campaign rally as he railed against Democrats and compared his response to the outbreak to his “perfect” phone call with Ukraine’s leader — even as his administration announced 21 new cases onboard a cruise ship off the coast of California.
Donning a red baseball cap hyping his own reelection campaign, Trump went on the politically laced tirade during a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta — a trip he had initially canceled after inaccurately claiming a worker there had been infected with the virus.
Trump slammed Washington Gov. Jay Inslee as “a snake” and expressed disappointment that Vice President Mike Pence had been “nice” to him during a visit Thursday. The Democratic governor’s state has suffered the worst coronavirus outbreak in the country, with all but one of the 14 deaths in the U.S. being reported there.
“Let me just tell you we have a lot of problems with the governor,” said Trump, who was flanked by CDC officials and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. “So Mike may be happy with him, but I’m not, okay?”
Trump went on to draw the peculiar parallel to his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky while boasting about the supposedly widespread availability of coronavirus tests.
“Anybody that needs a test gets a test. The tests are all perfect like … the transcription was perfect, right?” Trump said, referring to the infamous phone call that led to his impeachment on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Trump’s claim that the coronavirus tests are widely available contradicts an assessment by Pence, who as recently as Thursday said the administration was experiencing a shortage.
Speaking at his own press conference at the White House, Pence struck a far more somber tone as he announced 21 people onboard a 3,500guest cruise ship moored off the coast of California had tested positive for coronavirus.
Of the people infected, 19 are crew members of the Grand Princess and two are passengers, Pence said.
“All passengers and crew will be tested for the virus. Those that will need to be quarantined will be quarantined. Those who will require medical help will receive it,” the vice president said.
Passengers on the Grand Princess were caught off guard by Pence’s announcement, CNN reported.
“We apologize, but we were not given advance notice of this announcement by the U.S.
federal government,” said an audio announcement played on board after Pence’s press conference.
During his briefing earlier in the day, Trump said he didn’t want to let people off the ship.
“I like the numbers being where they are,” he said, referring to confirmed coronavirus cases. “I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship.”
There are now nearly 300 confirmed U.S. cases of the virus, which originated in China and causes flu-like symptoms that can be deadly.
In New York State 44 cases have been confirmed, Gov. Cuomo announced Friday. More than 4,000 people in New York are in precautionary quarantine, according to Cuomo.
Democrats have accused Trump and his administration of failing to take the virus seriously and not responding forcefully enough.
The worsening outbreak has sent the stock market tumbling and raised red flags from economists about a possible recession.
Trump, whose reelection bid is in large part based on the strong state of the economy, has tried to downplay the severity of the virus, including disputing the World Health Organization’s official fatality estimate and falsely claiming last week that the number of cases in the U.S. would be “close to zero” within days.
The president continued down that factually dubious path during his Friday visit to the CDC. He even appeared a bit annoyed while talking about the stock market.
“We were going to hit 30,000 on the Dow … and then all of a sudden this happened,” he said.
The president said he had not considered cancelling his campaign rallies in light of the rapidly spreading virus.
“It doesn’t bother me at all and it doesn’t bother them at all,” he said of his supporters.
Earlier in the day, Trump signed an $8.3 billion emergency spending package meant to help local and state governments respond to the virus.
“Be calm. It will go away,” Trump said after signing the bill, as more cases were announced in New York, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Connecticut and other states.
The aid package — which was overwhelmingly approved by both chambers of Congress — nearly quadruples the $2.5 billion Trump originally said would be plenty to tackle the coronavirus.
After his CDC visit, Trump was expected to jet to his private club in Florida, where he will spend the weekend.
Trump demurred when asked if Americans should be concerned about traveling because of the virus.
“Instead of being negative, you should be positive,” he said.