Trump on Coronavirus: It's Dems' 'New Hoax'

Claims Democrats are 'politicizing' contagious disease, says administration is 'totally prepared'
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 29, 2020 7:30 AM CST
Trump on Coronavirus: It's Dems' 'New Hoax'
President Trump is seen at a campaign rally Friday in North Charleston, SC.   (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

As the coronavirus continues to infiltrate countries around the world, President Trump is knocking Democrats in the US for "politicizing" the contagious disease. NBC News reports that Trump made his remarks at a campaign rally in North Charleston, SC, Friday evening as he continued to minimize the risk of COVID-19 here in the US. "This is their new hoax," he said of Dems, adding that going after his administration—which he noted was "totally prepared" and "magnificently organized" on how it's been dealing with the coronavirus—has become their "single talking point." "Democrats will always say horrible things," Trump said, tacking on that the press was in "hysteria mode." "Democrats want us to fail so badly."

"My administration has taken the most aggressive action in modern history to prevent the spread of this illness in the United States," he added. "We are ready. Totally ready." Trump also made a comparison of the coronavirus to the flu, noting the tens of thousands of people who die each year in the US from the latter. But NBC and Politico says that's a misleading analysis, and that COVID-19 is "significantly more contagious" than the flu, with a vaccine still at least a year or more away. Trump's comments came the same day that son Donald Trump Jr. angered some with his own remarks that Democrats wanted "millions" of Americans to die from the coronavirus to benefit their party. (More coronavirus stories.)

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