On the same
day Joe Biden opened up new attacks on Trump's COVID-19 response, the president
struggled with some tough questions by voters at an ABC News town hall. Philip
Rucker of The Washington Post reacts. Aired on 09/15/2020
WHITE HOUSE
Trump tells town hall he ‘up-played’ the
coronavirus pandemic
Despite recordings in which he admitted downplaying
the seriousness of Covid-19 early on, the president defended his response to
the crisis.
By MATTHEW
CHOI
09/15/2020
09:52 PM EDT
Updated:
09/15/2020 10:25 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/15/trump-coronavirus-town-hall-abc-415633
President
Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday to have “up-played” the threat of coronavirus
early in the pandemic, contradicting his own remarks to the journalist Bob
Woodward that he wanted to minimize the disease to avoid panic.
Speaking at
an ABC News town hall moderated by George Stephanopoulos, Trump rebutted a
student who asked why he had downplayed “a pandemic that is known to
disproportionately harm low-income families and minority communities.” Trump
defended his response to the health crisis by citing an early travel ban on
foreign nationals from China from entering the U.S. in order to curb the spread
of the virus.
“Well, I
didn’t downplay it,” the president responded. “I actually, in many ways, I
up-played in terms of action. My action was very strong.”
The student
interjected: “Did you not admit to it yourself?”
“With
China, I put a ban on. With Europe, I put a ban on. We would have lost
thousands of more people had I not put the ban on,” Trump said. “We did a very,
very good job when we put that ban on — whether you call it talent or luck, it
was very important.”
Back in
February, Trump admitted to Woodward that he wanted to minimize the threat
posed by coronavirus to avoid panic, even though he acknowledged to the veteran
Washington Post journalist the lethal effects of the virus and easy contagion.
The Post earlier this month published excerpts from recordings of more than a
dozen interviews between the two.
Since
February, Trump has publicly cast doubt on recommendations from his own health
experts, comparing the disease to the seasonal flu. For months, he declined to
wear a mask in public events and has recently restarted campaign rallies in
enclosed spaces — much to health experts’ chagrin.
Trump has
also called for reopening vast swaths of the country, contending that keeping
people in lockdown was a greater risk than the virus that has claimed the lives
of almost 200,000 people in the U.S. The pandemic has disproportionately
affected Black and Latino Americans.
Trump’s
pivot to his early travel ban from China and parts of Europe has become his
default defense when faced with criticism of his coronavirus response. When
pressed by Stephanopoulos on whether he regretted any part of his handling of
the pandemic, Trump said: “No. I think we did a great job.“
Another
town hall participant confronted Trump on his “Make America Great Again” motto,
pointing out that for many African Americans who have historically faced
injustices because of racism, “we cannot identify with such greatness.” He
confronted the president for declining to acknowledge that there is a “race
problem in America,” a remark that caused the president to pause.
“Well, I
hope there’s not a race problem,” Trump said. “I can tell you there’s none with
me, because I have great respect for all races.”
Trump then
repeated familiar lines on race issues, saying that under his administration,
African Americans have had the lowest unemployments rates in history.
Both the
participant and Stephanopoulos pointed out that income inequality has been
growing during his presidency, and that many Black workers have been earning
less than a living wage. But Trump refused to concede the point, blaming the
coronavirus pandemic for the growing inequality.
“Had we not
been hit by this horrible disease that came into our land, and all over the
world by the way,” Trump said, “we would be in a position where I think income
inequality would be different. It was really getting there. We were really
driving it down.”
The
president also responded to questions on police reform, particularly in light
of anti-racism protests that have sprung up in cities across the nation
following numerous high-profile episodes of police brutality this year. Trump
squarely repeated his platform of support for the police, excoriating what he
called “Democrat cities“ for not standing by their law enforcement agencies.
Trump has
often dismissed violent clashes between protesters and police in several large
cities as the fault of local leadership, deriding officials in Chicago, New
York and Portland, Ore. After a string of attacks against the large cities
during his town hall, Stephanopoulos reminded Trump that he was president of
the entire country — including its blue urban centers.
“Why do you
keep talking about Democrat states, Democrat states?“ Stephanopoulos said.
“They‘re American states, American states.“
“They have
things that the Republicans don't have,” Trump responded. “So they are — I
mean, I don‘t want to say — look, I‘m the president of everybody, but — I don‘t
want to say it, but they‘re Democrat-run cities. It is what it is.“
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