US President Donald Trump has lashed out at the “Fake News Media” over its criticism of the federal government’s COVID-19 response.
“We have a perfectly coordinated and fine-tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronVirus,” Trump tweeted on Sunday morning. “We moved VERY early to close borders to certain areas, which was a Godsend. V.P. is doing a great job,” Trump added, referring to coronavirus task force chief Mike Pence.
We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus. We moved VERY early to close borders to certain areas, which was a Godsend. V.P. is doing a great job. The Fake News Media is doing everything possible to make us look bad. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 8, 2020
In a separate tweet, Trump accused the New York Times of being “an embarrassment to journalism” and an “enemy of the people,” presumably over its coronavirus reporting.
The New York Times is an embarrassment to journalism. They were a dead paper before I went into politics, and they will be a dead paper after I leave, which will be in 5 years. Fake News is the Enemy of the people!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 8, 2020
Earlier, major anti-Trump slanted media including NYT published reports criticizing the administration’s handling of coronavirus, accusing Trump of “squandering” precious time and “losing control” of the situation.
In a bid to keep calm and reduce market fears, the Trump administration has downplayed the significance of the COVID-19 in recent weeks, with the Centers for Disease Control receiving flak for the poor availability of testing kits and the lack of testing for persons who had not visited China or come into contact with a confirmed coronavirus patient.
On Saturday, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn admitted that fewer than 6,000 Americans had been tested for coronavirus in the past two months.
Also Saturday, Trump told reporters he was “not concerned at all” over the news that one of the participants of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) where he spoke recently had tested positive for COVID-2019. The White House said it did not appear that Trump or Pence came into close personal contacted with the infected individual at the February 29 event.
On Friday, Trump signed an $8 billion emergency coronavirus funding package including $3 billion toward the development of treatments, $2.2 billion for public health measures to prevent its spread, and over $1 billion for overseas aid.
Originating in Wuhan, China in late 2019, COVID-19 has since spread to countries around the globe, infecting over 107,000 people and causing over 3,600 deaths, the vast majority of them in mainland China. China, South Korea, Iran, Italy and Germany are among the top five most-affected countries, with the US reporting some 437 infections, and 19 Americans succumbing to the virus in the states of Washington, California and Florida. 8 people have enjoyed a complete recovery.
