Past 24 Hours: Trump’s Dangerous Lies

Trump continues to lie and downplay the severity of this crisis, putting American lives and livelihoods at risk. Here’s a look at the many ways Trump’s previous statements have been directly contradicted by new reporting over the past 24 hours alone:

TRUMP: “We have prevailed” on testing. 

EXPERTS: “It’s a mess.”

CNN: Coronavirus testing in the United States is disorganized and needs coordination at the national level, infectious disease experts said in a new report released Wednesday. Right now, testing is not accurate enough to use alone to make most decisions, including who should go back to work or to school, the team at the University of Minnesota said. ‘It’s a mess out there,’ Mike Osterholm, head of the university’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), which issued the report, told CNN.”

TRUMP: “We’re doing a good job. We acted very early.”

REALITY: Trump’s delayed response may have cost tens of thousands of lives.

New York Times: “If the United States had begun imposing social distancing measures one week earlier than it did in March, about 36,000 fewer people would have died in the coronavirus outbreak, according to new estimates from Columbia University disease modelers. And if the country had begun locking down cities and limiting social contact on March 1, two weeks earlier than most people started staying home, the vast majority of the nation’s deaths — about 83 percent — would have been avoided, the researchers estimated.”

TRUMP: “If somebody wants to be tested right now, they’ll be able to be tested.”

REALITY: More than half of U.S. counties don’t have a single testing site.

Axios: “More than half of U.S. counties don’t have a single coronavirus testing site, according to a recent report by Castlight, a health software company. Why it matters: That leaves a wide swath of the country — particularly rural areas — vulnerable to undetected coronavirus outbreaks, especially as lockdown measures ease. Asking people to travel long distances to get a coronavirus test is both unrealistic and potentially dangerous.”

TRUMP: “There’s no president that’s treated the farmers like Trump. I don’t know, I hear we’re doing well with the farmers.”

REALITY: Farmers won’t see coronavirus relief funds until June—more than two months after they were passed by Congress.

CNN: “Struggling farmers and ranchers, many of whom have seen their markets collapse as the pandemic upended supply chains, won’t see coronavirus relief money until June — about two months after Congress appropriated the funds… Farm bankruptcies are up 23% over the past year and are likely to keep rising because of the pandemic, according to the group. Farmers were already suffering before the coronavirus outbreak. They became a specific target of President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, which has been ongoing for two years.”

TRUMP: “We’re also shipping out 60 sterilization systems to 10 different cities that can each sterilize up to 80,000 masks each day, and I’m even hearing it can go up to 120,000 masks a day…it works very well.”

REALITY: It doesn’t work well.

NBC News: “Trump administration paying huge premium for mask-cleaning machines. Which don’t do the job.”

TRUMP: “It’s just been incredible what’s taken place over a very short period of time…People don’t talk about masks anymore.”

NURSES: “There are not enough masks.”

Pennsylvania nurse: “What we do know is that there are not enough masks for medical workers and there are very real consequences if we get sick.”

Washington Post: “Mask shortage for most health-care workers extended into May, Post-Ipsos poll shows”

The Guardian: “Survey finds 87% of America’s nurses forced to reuse protective equipment”

TRUMP: “Coronavirus numbers are looking MUCH better, going down almost everywhere.”

REALITY: Several states are seeing a rise in new cases.

Axios: “Several Southern states are seeing a rise in new coronavirus cases, moving them further away from an important target for safely reopening parts of their economies.”

TRUMP: “Tens of thousands of loans to small businesses. It’s a — it’s a great thing to see. It’s turned out to be more successful and more productive than anybody would have thought.”

REALITY: Congress can’t get answers over Trump’s failed implementation of the small business loan program.

Wall Street Journal: “Since its launch nearly two months ago, the government’s rescue effort for small businesses has been peppered with complaints over terms of the loan programs and the piecemeal way the programs have been implemented. In Congress, lawmakers have yet another beef—they can’t get answers from the Small Business Administration, which is leading the effort.”