Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Trump Is Trying To Claim That His Border Wall 'Stopped' The Virus From Entering Arizona—As Cases There Surge

Trump Is Trying To Claim That His Border Wall 'Stopped' The Virus From Entering Arizona—As Cases There Surge
Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

Donald Trump recently made a trip to visit a section of border wall in San Luis, Arizona.

He and other officials autographed the wall, with Trump proudly boasting:


"It stopped Covid. It stopped everything."

The day before that visit, Arizona topped two thousand new cases in a single day for the first time. The day of the comment, Arizona very nearly doubled that number at 3,591 new cases.

That was a record-breaking high number—the highest Arizona has had so far. The United States continues its reign as the nation with the most cases and some of the weakest protections.

The "border wall" that Trump was referring to is actually a fence made of narrow pillars spaced a few inches apart. Air, water, and small animals can all pass through the wall easily. So can viruses, bacteria and other microorganisms.

Considering those facts, it would be understandable for people to doubt that Trump meant what he said at the wall. His camp often claims he is "joking" when things like this come out.

However, Trump doubled down at a press conference the next day.

"Using our emergency public health authorities we prevented a coronavirus catastrophe on the southern border, shutting down human smuggling and swiftly returning the crossers."
"Without these public health measures the southern border would be a global epicentre of the viral transmission."

Except Arizona is a global epicentre of viral transmission.

It has been since at least the end of May. At that point, the state began to show a sharp rise in not just total number of cases, but also in the percent of tests that came back positive.

According to the Arizona Department of Health, Yuma County (where Trump made this claim and held followup speeches) has a 14.3% total positive testing rate with about five thousand cases. Right next door in Maricopa county there are almost thirty five thousand cases.

Nearby Santa Cruz county has over a 25% positive test rate. In total, Arizona has about sixty thousand official positive cases right now.

People have not stopped traveling.

In fact, Trump has encouraged more businesses to open with less restriction. He has repeatedly stated that he believes we are testing "too much" and it is making the nation look bad.

His proposed solution to the alarming spike in cases is to just stop testing. As expected, his camp came out and clarified that Trump was "kidding" when he said he wanted less testing and that he was going to pull funding for testing sites.

Trump clarified that he was absolutely serious, saying:

"I don't kid."

Nationwide, numbers have continued to climb.

It's particularly jarring when looked at compared to other nations.

Experts agree that Trump and Pence, who has started a religious-focused tour, are trying to call attention to the Border Wall as a means of moving away from the pandemic conversation. It does not seem that people are quite ready to move away from it, though.

As word of his claim about the border wall stopping COVID made its way to social media, the public response was predictably passionate.

People are absolutely not buying it.






It remains to be seen whether his camp will again claim our Comedian-In-Chief was "joking."

More from News

Bernadette Peters; Cole Escola
Rob Kim/Getty Images; TheStewartofNY/FilmMagic

Bernadette Peters Offers Hilarious Reaction To Cole Escola's Tribute To Her Iconic Gown At The Tony Awards

Awards shows always have two competitions: the actual awards, and the red carpet outside.

Cole Escola, star and playwright of the hit show Oh, Mary!, did both at the Tony Awards this year. Escola, who won the Best Leading Actor in a Play for their performance, first showed up prior to the event to show off their intricate and stunning look, an homage to actor Bernadette Peters' iconic look from the 1999 Tony Awards.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pam Bondi
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

AG Pam Bondi's Brother Blames 'Rabid Partisans' After Getting Absolutely Walloped In DC Election

MAGA Republican President Donald Trump has often bragged about his overwhelming victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, claiming he won by a landslide. But while he did manage to finally win a popular vote in 2024, something he lost in 2016 and 2020, it was hardly a landslide.

About 90 million eligible, registered voters didn't bother to vote at all in 2024, while Trump garnered only ~77 million votes, VP Harris received about ~75 million—a difference of only ~2 million which is less than the population of Trump's hometown of Queens, New York City.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kristi Noem
Alex Brandon - Pool/Getty Images

Kristi Noem's Past Views On National Guard Come Back To Bite Her After She Backs Trump Amid LA Protests

California Governor Gavin Newsom called out the hypocrisy of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after sharing a clip from last year showing she'd once criticized the Biden administration for considering deploying the National Guard when Democrats suggested it as a response to Texas' immigration crackdown at the time.

That's noteworthy because Noem has made an about-face, defending President Donald Trump's decision to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles amid ongoing protests in response to his administration's immigration raids by claiming he'd taken this drastic step "for the safety of this community ... to keep peace."

Keep ReadingShow less
Gavin Newsom; Jim Jordan
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Gavin Newsom Perfectly Calls Out Jim Jordan's Hypocrisy After Jordan Rants About What We Do 'In America'

After Ohio Representative Jim Jordan criticized Los Angeles protesters who've held Mexican flags in a symbolic move against President Donald Trump's immigration policies, California Governor Gavin Newsom called out his hypocrisy by sharing images of the January 6 insurrection.

Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Account, used the body's official X account to admonish "Democrat-run Los Angeles" by sharing a Fox News video of a protester who waved a Mexican flag as he circled a burning car on his motorcycle.

Keep ReadingShow less

People Break Down Seemingly 'Harmless' Symptoms That Require A Trip To The ER

Always pay attention to your body.

Every bump and sore can mean something.

Keep ReadingShow less