‘I’m going to win in a LANDSLIDE!’ Donald Trump claims his coronavirus response will win him the election saying ‘people love Trump’ then attacks ‘hostile’ media and complains his poll ratings should be higher
- President Trump said Monday he was likely to win re-election by a ‘landslide,’ and suggested the poll numbers for the coronavirus response should be higher
- ‘A lot of people love Trump right? A lot of people love me,’ he said when asked a question about whether downplaying the virus got Americans sick
- Trump continued to point to his travel ban policies with China and Europe to prove he’d done enough to combat the disease in the early weeks
- Reminded that he was holding political rallies until early March, he wouldn’t admit that was the case
- During the briefing, Trump also said he thought his team should get a ’95’ per cent approval rating on the job they had done combating the pandemic
- Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
President Trump said Monday he was likely to win re-election by a ‘landslide,’ while complaining that the poll numbers for his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic should be higher.
‘A lot of people love Trump right? A lot of people love me. You see them all the time. I guess I’m here for a reason, you know. To the best of my knowledge I won. And I think we’re going to win again, I think we’re going to win in a landslide,’ Trump said.
The president had been asked by PBS Newshour’s Yamiche Alcindor if by downplaying the virus – for example, not wearing a mask – he got some people sick.
President Trump said Monday that he believed he would win re-election ‘in a landslide’ after a reporter asked him if initially downplaying the coronavirus threat got some Americans sick
Trump continued to hold campaign rallies through February and into early March. The president continued to point to his travel bans with China and Europe as proof that he did enough
Alcindor spoke of an interview she had conducted with a person who said his family got sick ‘because they listened to you’ and didn’t take enough precautions.
Instead of answering the question head-on, Trump talked about his supporters and then pointed to his initial action on the coronavirus, a late-January travel ban from China, which excluded American citizens.
‘And yet in January, a certain date – you know the date better than I do – we put on a ban of China, where China can’t come in and before March we put on a ban of Europe, where Europe can’t come in,’ Trump said.
In February and March the president made a number of questionable statements about the spreading coronavirus and also continued actively campaigning through early March.
When Alcindor pointed out that the president was still holding campaign rallies – such as a March 2 rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, he wouldn’t admit that was the case.
‘I really don’t know about rallies. I really don’t know about rallies,’ he said when she insisted he was still campaigning in March. ‘I know one thing I haven’t left the White House in months,’ he said, adding that the one time he did leave the White House was for a trip to Norfolk, Virginia on March 28 to bid adieu to the USNS Comfort – the hospital ship heading to New York.
At another point in the briefing, Trump complained that poll numbers for his team’s coronavirus response weren’t higher.
‘Look, I don’t understand, when I see, uh, polling and approval ratings for the job,’ he said. ‘This group should get a 95, it really should. And we’re really helping the governors a lot.’
The Real Clear Politics polling average says that 47 per cent approve of the president’s handling of the coronavirus crisis with a slightly higher amount – 50.7 – disapproving of his actions.
The president suggested one problem was that ‘the media foments a lot of anger.’
‘For instance, I’ll be asked a tremendously hostile question from somebody and then I’ll answer it in a hostile way, which is appropriate otherwise you look foolish,’ the president explained. ‘Other it looks like you walk off the stage and bow your head.’
‘I can’t do that,’ he said.