Trump hits the golf course as he continues to downplay coronavirus threat

As reported cases of coronavirus shot up over the weekend, Donald Trump spent his time golfing with Major League Baseball players instead of continuing work on the administration’s response to the outbreak.

Trump hit the links at one of his properties in Florida with World Series-winning players from the Washington Nationals, according to photos the players posted to their Instagram accounts.

https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1236846410202562561

Trump criticized former President Barack Obama back in 2014 for golfing while patients were being treated for Ebola.

“President Obama has a major meeting on the N.Y.C. Ebola outbreak, with people flying in from all over the country, but decided to play golf!” Trump tweeted at the time.

Of course, the Ebola scare was nothing like the possible pandemic the World Health Organization fears the coronavirus might cause.

There were only 11 cases of Ebola treated in the United States in 2014. Just two of the cases were from people who contracted the disease inside the United States and they were people who had taken care of Ebola patients. Just two people died.

Trump and other Republicans managed to successfully use fears of Ebola to win seats in the 2014 midterm elections.

Now, the novel coronavirus has impacted hundreds of people in the United States, with more than 500 people diagnosed and 22 people dead, the New York Times reported.

It’s possible many more people have COVID-19 — the disease caused by the virus — yet haven’t been tested.

Yet Trump is trying to downplay the impacts of the virus as fears grow, downplaying the number of deaths.

“So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu,” Trump tweeted Monday morning. “It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.