Promises Made, Promises Broken: 4 Trump Doozies On COVID-19 Response
Huff PostLOADING ERROR LOADING By Wednesday of this week, more than 1 million Americans had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and nearly 60,000 had died ― more than the U.S. death toll during the 20-year Vietnam War. During an appearance that morning with Trump’s allies at “Fox & Friends,” White House senior adviser Jared Kushner declared victory over the pandemic. “If we could hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000 — it’s a horrible number, maybe even less — but to 100,000, so we have between 100 and 200,000, we all together have done a very good job,” he said Then last week, with the U.S. death toll at 42,000, Trump moved the target again, predicting a maximum of 60,000 Americans would fall victim to the disease and making clear he wants credit. “We did the right thing, because if we didn’t do it you would have had a million people, a million and a half people, maybe 2 million people dead,” Trump said April 20. In early March, as stories of people being denied tests mounted, Trump declared that “anybody that needs a test gets a test.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, contradicted the president during a congressional hearing days later, describing the lack of available tests as an ongoing failure.