Trump blames Pelosi for virus deaths, falsely accuses her of deleting video
COVID-19 has claimed the lives of at least 31,000 Americans and infected over 600,000 others so far and still President Trump proves incapable of focusing on the matters at hand. Instead of spending every waking hour working to ensure that medical professionals have the supplies they need and state leaders the support they require, he’s wasting time engaging in his usual petty, partisan feuds.
Today’s incredible inappropriate and poorly timed tweet was aimed at the president’s arch-nemesis, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Using his characteristically lazy moniker “Crazy Nancy Pelosi,” he shared an old video of Pelosi from February. Not surprisingly, our infamously mendacious president twisted the meaning of Pelosi’s remarks in an effort to unfairly smear her as reckless.
Trump accused Pelosi of wanting “everyone to pack into Chinatown” and claimed she’s responsible for coronavirus deaths. He also childishly called her an “incompetent, third-rate politician” which is frankly a far better description of Trump himself than the incredibly accomplished Speaker.
Pelosi was not urging “everyone to pack into Chinatown” in February. Rather, she was trying to stem the tide of anti-Chinese bigotry that the pandemic, coupled with Trump’s racist rhetoric, has unleashed. She didn’t want Asian businesses to suffer unfairly. The virus may have started in Wuhan, China but that doesn’t mean that Chinese Americans became suddenly and magically infected just because of their ancestry as the president seems to be implying.
The president’s claim that Pelosi tweeted and deleted the video also appears to be untrue. Josh Wingrove writes in Bloomberg News:
“Trump also accused Pelosi of deleting footage from her Twitter account, but did not provide any evidence of that. Her office said it’s a news clip and that they had never tweeted it or deleted it. A database of deleted tweets, Politwoops, shows no evidence Pelosi posted and deleted the video. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.”
It’s worth noting Pelosi made her remarks a full three weeks before San Francisco residents were told to shelter in place. In fact, the day after the clip came out Trump actively downplayed the virus by saying “people are getting better” and that the country would be in “very good shape very, very soon.”
Trump’s attack on her is the epitome of hypocrisy. He himself dismissed the coronavirus outbreak as a Democratic “hoax” and repeatedly downplayed the risks involved, leading many of his followers to believe the virus was something that would quickly and easily fizzle out. The only reckless one here is the president.
Crazy Nancy Pelosi deleted this from her Twitter account. She wanted everyone to pack into Chinatown long after I closed the BORDER TO CHINA. Based on her statement, she is responsible for many deaths. She’s an incompetent, third-rate politician! pic.twitter.com/uWNI7DCG3o
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2020
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