- President Donald Trump on Monday continued to blame the coronavirus pandemic on China, while urging people to “stop politicizing” the virus.
- “We need to stop politicizing the virus and instead be united in our condemnation of how this virus came to America, how this virus came into the world,” Trump said.
- Trump has sought to dispel his own failures in responding to the pandemic by Beijing’s debt.
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President Donald Trump on Monday urged people to “stop politicizing” COVID-19 moments before the pandemic again blamed China, amid a press conference in which he repeatedly said “China virus.”
“We need to stop politicizing the virus and instead be united in our condemnation of how this virus came to America, how this virus came into the world, and we will find out, and we will find out, and we are very angry about that, “Trump said in a statement issued Monday.
Monday’s press release was interrupted early due to a shooting at the White House.
The president was ousted because of the shooting, but eventually returned to discuss the virus and related issues, and Beijing is still blaming the pandemic in the process.
“We are overwhelmed with China because of what they did,” Trump said, before taking a conspiratorial tone and suggesting, without proof, that China “released” the virus in the US.
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 10, 2020
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 10, 2020
The novel coronavirus was first discovered in Wuhan, China. In the early days of the virus, Trump praised China’s handling of the first outbreak.
“China has worked very hard to contain the coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates its efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. Namely, on behalf of the American people, I would like to thank President Xi!” Trump tweeted in January.
But as things began to spread on a scale in the US, Trump shifted to accuse the pandemic of China and began calling COVID-19 the “China virus”. Meanwhile, the US has the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world, with the highest numbers in terms of confirmed deaths and reported cases. As of Monday, there were more than 5 million reported cases of COVID-19 and more than 163,000 confirmed deaths by the virus in the U.S., according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins.
Although China has received widespread criticism over its lack of transparency about the virus, public health experts strongly agree that Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been disastrous. The president has continuously downplayed the threat of the virus, repeatedly contradicting his own infectious disease and public health experts, and regularly exposing contempt for coronavirus restrictions.
