Film director Michael Moore went on a lengthy Facebook rant triggered by the news that Donald Trump had tested positive for COVID-19, slamming the president as a 'professional liar' on Friday.
Moore, 66, offered an elaborate conspiracy theory as he dismissed the president's hospitalization, claiming that Trump was faking having contracted the novel respiratory disease.
The director of 'Fahrenheit 9/11' fame suggested that his dwindling poll numbers had forced Donald Trump to scramble for options to boost his fading popularity ahead of the November presidential elections.
Failing that, Moore alleged that Trump was seeking to have the election day pushed back from 3 November, regardless of the Constitution, which the film director insisted the president “doesn't give a f**k about”.
The anti-Trump activist asserted that the president was an “evil genius” who would cleverly “weaponized” the news regarding his coronavirus diagnosis.
“Democrats, liberals, the media and others have always been wrong to simply treat him as a buffoon and a dummy and a jackass. Yes, he is all those things. But he's also canny…He outfoxed Comey. He outfoxed Mueller. He outfoxed 20 Republicans in the GOP primary and then did the same to the Democrats, winning the White House despite receiving fewer votes than his opponent,” wrote Moore.
‘Serial Liar’
Moore claimed that the White House and Trump were concealing the truth about his condition, which was hardly a surprise, considering that the president was “guilty of too many lies”.
“There is one absolute truth about Trump: He is a consistent, absolute, unrelenting, fearless, and professional liar. A serial liar. A factually proven liar,” wrote Moore.
As Moore lambasted the president for lying before about his health and possible medical issues, he queried:
“Why on earth would we believe him today? Has he earned your trust now?”
To prove his point, the film director, known to espouse leftist views, referred to Trump’s longtime New York doctor, Dr Bornstein, as having alleged in 2018 that Trump dictated his letter attesting to his “extraordinary” health during the 2016 campaign.
In another instance mentioned by Moore, White House physician Dr Ronny Jackson said in 2018 while presenting the outcome of Trump’s medical fitness that the US President could live until the age of 200 if he had maintained a healthier diet over the past 20 years, as he touted his “incredible genes”.
Backpedaling somewhat on his own claims, Moore wound up by saying that Trump 'probably does' have COVID-19, but needed to recover to be able to subsequently answer for his “mishandling” of the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Finally, on a personal note: Stay alive Mr. President. Your exit from public life must happen in the right and decent way,” Moore wrote.
Donald Trump, 74, and First Lady Melania Trump announced that they had tested COVID-positive on Twitter in the early hours Friday morning. Subsequently, the president, who was experiencing mild symptoms, according to the White House, was admitted to Walter Reed Military Medical Center for COVID-19 treatment.
Trump was said to be in good spirits and ready to continue to work until the presidential election in November.