Just some of the many lies Trump told about COVID-19 (Opinion)

A jackass is always going to be a jackass, and President Trump brays the loudest. After a debacle of a debate Tuesday night in which he childishly ridiculed Joe Biden for following scientific guidance and wearing a mask, the president, who has often shirked expert medical advice, now has tested positive for novel coronavirus. Brilliant.

To make matters worse, the White House knew Hope Hicks, someone who is often close to the president and traveled with him to the debate, tested positive and had exposed the president. Yet knowing he was exposed he still chose to come to New Jersey for a fundraiser at his golf club instead of doing the responsible thing and lying low.

And it turns out he has it. So does First Lady Melania. Most of his entourage the night of the debate ignored the rules for face coverings. Poetic that here we now are.

How many people in New Jersey did he expose by not caring about science and medical advice? Hopefully few if any but time will tell. He also made other trips and meetings in this condition, knowing full well he had been directly exposed to a positive Hope Hicks. He didn’t care.

Another thing he’s never cared about is the truth. This is a president who in the first three years of his term made more than 16,000 misleading or outright false statements as per the Washington Post. What about when it came to the pandemic?

He’s told many lies about the coronavirus outbreak. Here is just a brief list courtesy of The Atlantic. Perhaps someone could forward this to him as light reading material as he quarantines.

LIE: On July 4th - “99%” of COVID-19 cases are “totally harmless.”

TRUTH: The WHO said 15% of cases can be severe even if the patient doesn’t die. Many patients who recover are suffering damaged lungs and breathing issues many months later. His own top epidemiologist Dr. Anthony Fauci (a man who has served under every president going back to Reagan) even pointed out this falsehood. As of today, there were 7,497,980 cases in the U.S. with 212,702 deaths, which means nearly 3% of all who contracted it died. 99% of cases being “totally harmless” is of course totally fake news.

LIE: Said various times - If shutdowns continued suicides “definitely would be in far greater numbers than the numbers that we’re talking about” from COVID-19.

TRUTH: Numbers won’t be in yet for 2020 as one, the year isn’t over yet and two, this data takes time. But the last year available, 2018, saw 48,000 suicides in the United States before the virus was a thing. Even a 100% increase would be substantially less than the 212,000 deaths from COVID-19. This prediction will pan out to be just as false as the reports of suicides right after the market crash in 1929 leading to the Great Depression. The summer of ‘29 saw more suicides than did the months of October and November that year which were among the lowest suicide rates.

LIE: Multiple times in May Trump claimed, “Coronavirus numbers are looking MUCH better, going down almost everywhere,” and cases are “coming way down.”

TRUTH: The month he told this lie most states were either increasing or plateauing but not decreasing, not coming down. Then soon, in the summer, the country saw an even bigger surge than it did in the spring.

LIE: June 17 - The pandemic is "fading away."

TRUTH: The country was seeing at least 20,000 new daily cases and a second spike was beginning.

LIE: July 2 - The virus is "getting under control."

TRUTH: Said this as daily cases in the United States doubled to around 50,000 which was a higher count than seen at the beginning of the pandemic and as numbers continued to rise.

LIE: July 6 - "We now have the lowest fatality (mortality) rate in the world."

TRUTH: At the time this was said the United States had a case-fatality rate of 4.1 percent putting us solidly in the middle of global rankings. Also we had the ninth worst mortality rate on the planet with 41.33 deaths per 100,000 people. Anyway you look at this claim it was completely, totally fake news.

LIE: March 6 and May 11 - "Anybody that needs a test, gets a test" and "If somebody wants to be tested right now, they'll be able to be tested."

TRUTH: The United States did not have enough tests for either statement to be true on either date.

LIE: Said various times - The Trump administration "inherited" a "bad," "broken," and "obsolete" test for the novel coronavirus.

TRUTH: The virus did not exist in human beings during the Obama administration, therefore there never was any inherited test to be bad or broken or obsolete. They had to create a test for an entirely new virus.

There are plenty more, but it's just an example. The virus Trump once called the Democrat's new hoax has now infected him. Odds are overwhelming that he will get better, perhaps not even getting any sicker than the mild symptoms that are being reported on Friday. But there are 212,000 Americans who did not get better, and each of their families was owed better than these lies. I wish the president a speedy recovery. I just do not wish him a second term.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.