President Trump has spent Saturday morning on Twitter, blasting fake news, boasting about the number of COVID-19 tests performed in the United States and saying it was ‘honor’ to send ventilators to Colordao.
The Commander-in-chief sent out the string of tweets – including another in which he promised to send ventilators to Ethiopia – the morning after he abruptly exited his daily coronavirus press briefing without taking any questions.
Trump has been ridiculed after suggesting Thursday that COVID-19 patients may be treated with the injection of disinfectants. White House officials are now reportedly discussing ways to curtail his public appearances.
But the President appears unable to stay away from his beloved Twitter account, sending out his first Saturday tweet at 8.20am.
Trump kicked off his morning by tweeting out that WWE star Triple H ‘is a total winner’, before he turned to address the coronavirus pandemic.
‘Thank you to the people of Colorado for the warm and gracious notes and letters sent to me for all of the Ventilators we got for you. It was my great honor! @SenCoryGardner’ he wrote in a second post at 8.45am.
President Trump has spent Saturday morning on Twitter, after he abruptly left Friday’s coronavirus press briefing (pictured) without taking questions
Trump sent out the string of tweets addressing testing and ventilators
On Thursday, the federal government delivered 100 ventilators to 11 different Colorado hospital,, following a request from Republican Senator Cory Gardner.
According to The Colorado Gazette, Gardner has ‘touted the success of his personal connections’ in securing supplies to battle coronavirus. Some critics of Trump have claimed that he ‘demands praise in exchange for aid’.
14 minutes later, Trump sent out his third tweet of the morning, in which he boasted about the number of COVID-19 tests that have been performed across the country.
‘Many testing sites are, and have been, open & available. Just passed 5 Million Tests, far more than any other country in the world. In fact, more than all other major countries combined! Don’t believe the Fake News!’ he wrote.
Last week, journalist Steve Kornacki told MSNBC that, whilst the US may have administered more tests than other western countries, they also have a far larger population.
He showed data that claimed the US still trailing behind Italy, Germany and Spain in terms of testing per capita.
Later on Saturday morning, Trump tweeted about the supply of ventilators, and appeared to indicate that the COVID-19 outbreak was coming to an end in the US.
‘It is a wonderful feeling to know that our States are loaded up with Ventilators, many brand new and high quality just off of our production lines, and that we are now in a position to help other countries that so desperately need them. Every person needing a Ventilator got one!’ he wrote.
He then promised to help Ethiopia with its COVID-19 outbreak, writing: ‘Just spoke to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali of Ethiopia. His Country needs Ventilators, and the U.S. is in good position to help him. We will!’
Trump later turned to attack his political opponents, sending another tweet which stated: ‘The Do Nothing Democrats are spending much of their money on Fake Ads. I never said that the CoronaVirus is a ‘Hoax’, I said that the Democrats, and the way they lied about it, are a Hoax. Also, it did start with ‘one person from China’, and then grew, & will be a ‘Miracle’ end!’
It comes despite new data Saturday morning which showed the number of COVID-19 cases in the US has skyrocketed to more than 927,000. More than 52,400 Americans have died from the virus.
The President’s busy morning on Twitter came after an unusually short appearance at his Friday coronavirus press briefing, which lasted just 22 minutes
The President’s busy morning on Twitter came after an unusually short appearance at his Friday coronavirus press briefing, which lasted just 22 minutes.
Trump usually holds court for more than two hours, but has been under fire for comments made during his briefing on Thursday.
While speaking into the microphone, the President proposed treating coronavirus patients by injecting them with disinfectant.
The presumptive 2020 Democratic nominee for President, Joe Biden – who is all but certain to go head-to-head against Trump in re-election – mocked the President for the claim on Twitter.
Social media users also created a flurry of memes, and disinfectant maker Lysol was prompted to release a statement telling customers not to ingest their products.
Trump later claimed he was being ‘sarcastic’ when he made the comments.
Trump’s challenger in the upcoming 2020 election Joe Biden also chimed in, advising the president to focus on testing and PPE rather than spouting wild theories
