Even with nearly 250 thousand dead and record high new case numbers, President Donald Trump and his allies continue to minimize or outrightly dismiss the threat posed by the virus that's upended daily life in the United States.
Trump's son and Trump Organization executive, Donald Trump Jr., continued that pattern on far-right Fox News host Laura Ingraham's show, where he made statements at odds with reality.
Watch below.
Jr. claims Coronavirus death numbers are down to “almost nothing" pic.twitter.com/NGMDLYkdsD
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) October 30, 2020
The President's son assured that deaths from the virus were at an acceptable level, saying:
"I went through the CDC data cause I kept hearing about new infections, but I was like 'Well, why aren't they talking about this?' Because the number is almost nothing. Because we've gotten control of this thing."
Not only does the United States have the highest death toll from the virus in the world, but it's also seeing record spikes in single-day new cases while hospitalizations rise as well.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper issued a sobering fact check to Trump Jr. on Twitter.
“The number (of deaths) is almost nothing, because we've gotten control of this," Don Jr says.
So far today, Johns Hopkins has reported 87,164 new cases and 951 reported deaths.
TODAY.
With a total of 228,636 deaths.
Lie after lie after lie after lie. https://t.co/UVz6TDBbKy
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 30, 2020
No news media organization is perfect or infallible but the number of sheer lies continuously told on Fox downplaying this pandemic — with zero pushback — is shocking.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 30, 2020
Tapper also took Fox News to task for promulgating numerous lies about the virus on behalf of the President, whose constant dismissal of it has informed the approach of conservative media outlets' reporting.
People largely agreed with Tapper.
They suck, Jake.
— Jo (@JoJoFromJerz) October 30, 2020
I looked at his Instagram. It's an ongoing misunderstanding. The CDC counts deaths on the death date (instead of the date the paperwork is filed). So they are constantly adding to previous days. That makes it always look like it's going down to nothing.
— Eric Nelson (@literaryeric) October 30, 2020
How does 1,000-odd deaths from COVID-19 per day equate to, "almost nothing?" 🤔
— Why is it always Bob (@arjaizen) October 30, 2020
It's worse that that: 92,016 cases today —a new daily record. And the third day in a row with over 1,000 new deaths. "Gotten control"…!?! It's a train wreck! pic.twitter.com/sNbqXaUIsU
— Mark Larsen (@yanquetino) October 30, 2020
Tapper wasn't the only one to call out Trump Jr. and the broader lie from the Trump circle that we're rounding the corner on the virus.
1016 Americans died of coronavirus today. https://t.co/qRkzChXUzo
— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) October 30, 2020
Haven't 1000 people per day died this week? https://t.co/rSPH2QdPPv
— David Pakman (@dpakman) October 30, 2020
I know the messaging they are trying to push. But this is, in any other circumstance, the type of utterance that would kill a normal campaign. We've had around 1,000k deaths each of the last two days and the president's son and top campaign surrogate calls it “almost nothing" https://t.co/iuDgYjkegI
— Sam Stein (@samstein) October 30, 2020
Don Jr., who once again sounds like he's on 50 cups of coffee, claims practically no one dies in the US anymore from Covid. In fact, 1,049 people died yesterday. That's three airplane crashes or 262 Benghazis — every single day. https://t.co/WiOaF9p9Vc
— John Aravosis 🇺🇸🇬🇷🏳️🌈 (@aravosis) October 30, 2020
