Supporters of Donald Trump are now claiming not only that zero people have died from the coronavirus – a dangerous lie – but that the virus itself doesn’t even exist.
On her program on Saturday, MSNBC’s Joy Reid shared a disturbing clip from outside a MAGA rally, where one of Trump’s supporters called the coronavirus a “hoax” manufactured by the Democrats.
“I think it’s made up by the Democrats,” the woman wearing a Trump 2020 hat said, adding that she doesn’t believe anyone has truly died from it.
Tell that to the families all over the globe that have lost loved ones.
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Video:
Joy Reid in disbelief as Trump supporter calls coronavirus a “hoax” that no one has actually died from. #ctl #p2 #amjoy pic.twitter.com/zg016RN6OC
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) March 7, 2020
Transcript:
TRUMP SUPPORTER: I really think it’s a hoax.
REPORTER: When you say hoax, what do you mean?
TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think it’s made up by the Democrats. I mean, there are more cases of the common flu than there are the coronavirus.
REPORTER: So you don’t believe the coronavirus exists?
TRUMP SUPPORTER: I don’t.
REPORTER: So the two people who have been reported to have died from it in Washington state, you don’t trust that that’s true?
TRUMP SUPPORTER: I don’t trust anything the Democrats do.
Trump and his supporters are putting lives at risk
Political disagreements are normal. They’ve existed since our country’s founding and they will continue to exist so long as we live in a democracy.
But what the president and his supporters are doing in the midst of a global health crisis – spreading blatant falsehoods while happily flaunting their refusal to take basic precautions to keep themselves and others from being infected – is unacceptable.
As Joy Reid said on Saturday, “If [Trump supporters] don’t take precautions against the coronavirus because they think it’s just another trick by Democrats to hurt Trump, that doesn’t just endanger them – and it does – it endangers you.”
Donald Trump has created a fact-free environment for himself and his supporters. In the case of the coronavirus outbreak, it is quite literally putting American lives at risk.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
