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Donald Trump once again contradicted some of his closest aides, who claimed the president made a “joking” comment during a weekend campaign rally that asked them to halt coronavirus testing.
“I’m not kidding,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday as he was leaving the White House for a trip to Arizona, again calling on Covid-19 to try a “double-edged sword” because more tests reveal more positive cases. Public health experts, including a list that works for the Trump White House, say the tests are critical to locating and isolating the virus.
Speaking about Marine One’s loud buzz in the South Lawn of the White House, the president used Tuesday morning’s edition of “Chopper Talk” to suggest that he is primarily concerned with keeping the number of confirmed cases and deaths from Covid low. -19.
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One way to do it, by definition, is to try less. People would still be sick with the coronavirus, or even die, but they would not join any of the lists.
His speech against the South Lawn evidence was a replay of a tweet he sent just before 7 am
“Cases are increasing in the US. Because we are testing much more than any other country, and expanding. With smaller tests we would show fewer cases!” he wrote.
But that’s a very different message than the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, sent the day before.
“No, he didn’t,” McEnany said when asked if Trump had needed, as he said at a Tusla rally, he ordered his aides to reduce the evidence. “Any suggestion that testing has slowed down is not actually rooted.”
Trump was “joking” and criticizing the media for failing to report that the United States leads the world in evidence, he added. (However, that is a false statement.)
But Trump told his followers Saturday night in Oklahoma that he had given that order.
“Then I closed it to Europe early, I closed it because I saw what was happening. And by the way, most people said: don’t do it, don’t do it. We save hundreds of thousands of lives and all we do is hitting each other like we’re terrible. And what we’ve done with the fans and the medical team and the tests, you know, the tests are a double-edged sword, “he said.
“We have now tested 25 million people. There are probably 20 million more people than anyone. Germany has done a lot, South Korea has done a lot. Call me, they say the work you are doing. Here’s the bad part, when you test – when you test up to that point, you will find more people, you will find more cases, “Trump said. “So, I told my people to slow down the tests, please. They test and test.”
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