During the daily White House propaganda briefing on Monday, Donald Trump whined about the fact that he hasn’t left the White House “in months.”
The only problem with the president’s claim is that he held a campaign rally last month in North Carolina at a time when most people recognized how serious and dire the coronavirus outbreak would be.
During that campaign rally, Trump compared the coronavirus to the flu.
When White House reporter Yamiche Alcindor called out the president for lying about having been stuck in the White House for “months,” he appeared to glitch out in real time.
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“I don’t know. Did I hold a rally? I’m sorry. I hold a rally. Did I hold a rally?” the president said.
Video of the moment:
TRUMP: I took coronavirus very seriously
ALCINDOR: You held rallies in February and March
TRUMP: I haven’t left the White House in months
ALCINDOR: You held a rally in March
TRUMP: Did I hold a rally? I’m sorry pic.twitter.com/MPDK8lZAeD
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 20, 2020
The exchange between Trump and Alcindor:
TRUMP: At the end of January, I put out a ban. … We put on a ban because I was reading bad things about China. World Health Organization should’ve told us. But I was reading it with or without them. They should’ve known, all they had to do was read it. They didn’t have to even be there, but they tried to cover up for China. World Health covered up for China.
ALCINDOR: You held a rally in February and March.
TRUMP: I put on a ban. In other words, I stopped China from coming to the United States. I stopped Europe from coming into the United States long before the March date that you’re talking about. So people should say I acted very early. That was a very hard thing to do. Doing that was a very hard thing. I didn’t want do that. But I did it because I though — and Dr. Fauci said that by doing it, President Trump saved tens of thousands of lives, so I did take it very seriously.
ALCINDOR: You held rallies in February and in March, and there are some Americans saying –Â
TRUMP: I don’t know about rallies. I really don’t know about rallies. I know one thing: I haven’t left the White House in months, except for a brief moment to give a wonderful ship, the Comfort.
ALCINDOR: You held a rally in March in North Carolina.
TRUMP: I don’t know. Did I hold a rally? I’m sorry. I hold a rally. Did I hold a rally?
Trump knows he acted too late, so he’s trying to rewrite history
Donald Trump knows that he acted too late to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the United States, and he seems to understand that the American people know it, too.
According to a new poll, 65 percent of the country believes the president was too slow in responding to the pandemic.
With tens of thousands of Americans dying and the economy collapsing, Donald Trump knows his response has been widely viewed as a failure and he’s desperately trying to lie his way out of it.
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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.
