On the day of his tweet, the United States had 541 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Trump dismissed concerns about COVID-19 for months as it spread across the United States.
Boston Globe – Trump tweets a meme of himself fiddling, drawing a comparison to Roman emperor Nero
Worldometer – Coronavirus, United States
On August 13, 2020, Trump explained his reasoning behind withholding funds from the United States Postal Service amid the COVID-19 pandemic and ahead of the general election:
They want $25 billion — billion — for the post office. Now they need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. But if they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting.
Trump’s Postmaster General for the USPS, Louis DeJoy, a large campaign contributor with tens of millions in assets of USPS competitors, has also been accused of dismantling the USPS ahead of the election. Days later, Trump tweeted “SAVE THE POST OFFICE!”
Trump long held that mail-in voting is rife with fraud, though he and his family vote by mail.
Business Insider – Trump admits he’s refusing to fund the US Postal Service to sabotage mail-in voting
Associated Press – Trump admits he’s blocking postal cash to stop mail-in votes
New York Magazine – Trump Admits He’s Starving the Postal Service to Sabotage Voting by Mail
The Guardian – Trump admits he is undermining USPS to make it harder to vote by mail
During an August 17, 2020 speech, Trump pointed to New Zealand’s surge in COVID-19 cases as an example of how other countries weren’t handling COVID-19 well.
All of a sudden a lot of the places they were using to hold up, they are having a big surge, and I don’t want that, I don’t want that. But they were holding up names of countries and now they’re saying, whoops! Like even New Zealand, you see what’s going on in New Zealand. They beat it, they beat it, it was like front page, they beat it, because they wanted to show me some. The problem is, big surge in New Zealand.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern pointed out, “I don’t think there’s any comparison…we quite easily see that New Zealand’s nine cases in a day does not compare to the United States’ tens of thousands.”
New Zealand, which had completely eradicated the virus, recorded 9 new cases the day prior, totaling 1,631 cases and 22 deaths. On the same day, the United States reported approximately 40,000 new cases, totaling 5,631,457 cases and 174,272 deaths. Even adjusting for population, the United States had 131 times as many deaths.
The Guardian – Trump calls out New Zealand’s ‘terrible’ Covid surge, on day it records nine new cases
Worldometer – Coronavirus
During an August 10th, 2020 press conference, Trump said that the 1917 Spanish Flu “probably ended the Second World War.”
Trump likely meant the First World War, though was also still wrong about the date, as the Spanish Flu spread in 1918 and not 1917.
On the day of his remark, the United States was expericing record cases of COVID-19, with a total of 5,251,446 confirmed cases and 166,192 deaths.
Business Insider – Trump said the 1918 Spanish Flu ‘probably ended’ WWII, which did not begin until 21 years after the pandemic
USA Today – Trump erroneously says 1918 Spanish Flu ‘probably ended’ WWII, which happened two decades later
Worldometer – Coronavirus, United States
Trump retweeted a video of Stella Immanuel claiming that hydroxochloroquine was a cure for COVID-19. Trump made the unsubstantiated claims about the drug many times, despite there being no evidence for it. She also called masks unnecessary.
Immanuel previously claimed that various gynecological diseases were the result of sexual intercourse with demons and their “evil deposits.” She also claimed that medicines were made from “alien DNA.” In 2019, she was sued for malpractice.
In a subsequent press conference, Trump referred to her as “very impressive,” drawing criticism and ridicule as “demon sperm” became a trending Twitter topic.
The Washington Post – Trump retweeted a video with false covid-19 claims. One doctor in it has said demons cause illnesses.
The Daily Beast – Trump’s New Favorite Doctor Stella Immanuel Was Sued for Medical Malpractice in 2019
In a video posted to Twitter and Facebook, Trump claimed that children were “mostly immune” to COVID-19. The videos, part of a campaign to re-open schools across America amid record case and death numbers, was flagged by Twitter and Facebook for misinformation.
Though the suspension was for 12 hours, the video was quickly removed from both platforms and the suspension dropped.
Twitter had taken action against Trump’s misinformation before, including flagging a manipulated video of Biden. He later threatened to leave social media after another tweet was flagged.
The Wall Street Journal – Facebook, Twitter Take Down Video of Trump Saying Children ‘Almost Immune’ From Covid-19
Los Angeles Times – Twitter and Facebook take action on COVID-19 misinformation from Trump accounts
CNN – Twitter temporarily restricted Trump campaign’s ability to tweet over false Covid-19 claims
In a July 19 interview on Fox News, Trump shrugged off over 150,000 American deaths from COVID-19 by saying, “it is what it is.”
WALLACE: But I can tell you, the death chart is a thousand cases a day.
TRUMP: Excuse me, it’s all too much, it shouldn’t be one case. It came from China. They should’ve never let it escape. They should’ve never let it out. But it is what it is. Take a look at Europe, take a look at the numbers in Europe. And by the way, they’re having cases.
WALLACE: I can tell you cases are 6,000 in the whole European Union.
Trump went on to claim that the reason why cases were lower in the European Union was because they didn’t adequately test.
Trump repeated the remark in another interview with Axios on August 3 when asked about the daily deaths across the country.
TRUMP: Yeah. Under the circumstances right now, I think it’s under control. I’ll tell you what-
SWAN: How? 1,000 Americans are dying a day.
TRUMP: They are dying. That’s true. And it is what it is. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t doing everything we can. It’s under control as much as you can control it. This is a horrible plague that beset us.
During the same interview, he also objected to the use of deaths per capita as a metric of the severity of the virus in the United States.
Trump dismissed concerns about COVID-19 since it first began to spread in the United States.
Fox News – Transcript: ‘Fox News Sunday’ interview with President Trump
The Daily Beast – Trump Shrugs Off COVID Death Toll in Fox News Interview: ‘It Is What It Is’
The Hill – Trump on coronavirus death toll: ‘It is what it is’
During an August 3, 2020 interview with Axios, Trump defended his administration’s response to COVID-19 by using data showing deaths per confirmed cases. When the interviewer noted the deaths per capita instead, Trump replied, “you can’t do that,” and went on to say that he was “reporting it wrong.”
The difference in considering deaths per cases and deaths per capita is that the former reflects the quality of healthcare for the infected, while the latter reflects the presence of COVID-19 through the population.
At the time of the interview, the United States ranked 10th highest in the world for deaths per capita, and had a case fatality rate of approximately 3.3%. It totaled 4,863,916 confirmed cases and 158,928 deaths. Trump downplayed concerns over COVID-19 since it first began to spread in the United States.
During the same interview, Trump also avoided offering any praise for the late civil rights leader and US Representative John Lewis.
Business Insider – Trump replied ‘you can’t do that’ when his interviewer pointed out the US’s terrible record on COVID-19 deaths per capita
Worldometer – Coronavirus, United States
Our World in Data – Case fatality rate vs. Total confirmed COVID-19 deaths
The day for elections is established in the Constitution, so any such change requires new legislation. The 20th Amendment to the Constitution also specifically states that Presidential terms conclude on the following January 20th, Inauguration Day. No legislation is likely to be passed that would allow for any change.
The next person in order of succession is the speaker of the House. However, if there were no election, that seat would too be vacant, as the House has two-year terms that conclude on January 3 following the election. The next individual in line is president pro tempore of the Senate, who is the senior Senator of the majority party and presides over the Senate in the Vice President’s absence. The Senator who holds the title – Chuck Grassley of Iowa – is also up for reelection in 2020, and so his seat would similarly be vacant if no election were held. Because of the number of Senate seats up for re-election, if no election was held, Democrats would gain the majority in the chamber, and because the process of selecting the president pro tempore is informal, could choose any among them.
Trump claimed he lost the 2016 popular vote because of widespread fraud, though the commission he established to investigate it found none. Since then he has disparaged mail-in and other measures for easier voting, though he and his family vote by mail themselves, and has yet to confirm if he would accept 2020 election results.
At the same time that Trump made the suggestion to postpone elections amid the COVID-19 pandemic, his administration pushed for a full re-opening of schools across the United States.
NPR – Trump Floats Delaying The Election. It Would Require A Change In Law
Constitution Daily – Does the Constitution allow for a delayed presidential election?
Politico – Postpone the Election? That Could Mean President Biden
On July 13, 2020, Trump retweeted former game show host Chuck Woolery, who pushed to reopen schools amid record new cases of COVID-19. He alleged that scientific evidence pointed to the move, and that Democrats, Media, the CDC, and “our Doctors” had been lying about the disease.
When asked if endorsing comments that doubted his own Center for Disease Control would be confusing to the public, Trump replied,
I didn’t make a comment. I reposted a tweet that a lot of people feel. But all I am doing is making a comment. I’m just putting somebody’s voice out there. There are many voices. There are many people that think we shouldn’t do this kind of testing, because all we do, it’s a trap.
Three days later, Woolery deleted his Twitter account upon learning that his son tested positive for COVID-19.
On the day of the retweet, the United States totaled 3,483,584 cases and 120,004 deaths.
The Hill – Trump retweets game show host who said CDC is lying about coronavirus to hurt him politically
The Hill – Game show host retweeted by Trump deletes his account after announcing his son has coronavirus
The Baltimore Sun – After Trump retweets game show host saying CDC and doctors are lying, coronavirus task force pushes back: ‘None of us lie’
Deadline – Donald Trump, In CBS News Interview, Defends His Retweet Of Chuck Woolery’s Claim That CDC Officials Are Lying About COVID-19
Worldometer – Coronavirus Cases, United States
