Trump Jr.: Only 'morons' worry about the virus because deaths are 'almost nothing'

Donald Trump Jr. on Thursday night said coronavirus deaths are “almost nothing,” even though the virus is still killing hundreds of people in the United States every day.

“The reality is this: If you look, I put it up on my Instagram a couple days ago because I went through the CDC data, because I kept hearing about new infections but I was like, ‘Why aren’t they talking about deaths?’ Oh, because the number is almost nothing,” Trump Jr. said in an appearance on Fox News, after calling those worried about the coronavirus “morons.”

Of course, coronavirus deaths are not “almost nothing.”

The same day Trump Jr. made the comment, 1,004 people died of the coronavirus, according to data from the New York Times. That marks a 16% increase in the 14-day average of deaths.

That brings the total number of people who have died from the coronavirus in the country to 228,701.

Trump Jr.’s attempt to brush aside more than 1,000 deaths in a single day is unlikely to help his father’s campaign in the final stretch.

But it’s part of a pattern in which Donald Trump and his allies have complained about the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic — and the Trump administration’s failure to contain it — is dominating the news coverage and threatening to sink Trump’s reelection bid.

On Wednesday, Trump campaign spokesperson Hogan Gidley complained that the media won’t report on the “positive” things about the pandemic.

And Trump himself has said the media shouldn’t be reporting on the pandemic at all, saying it should be illegal to cover the virus.

Polls show voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the pandemic.

And the skyrocketing number cases in the final days of the election, including in critical swing states like Wisconsin — where a surge in the virus could lead to a shortage in hospital beds — could cement Trump’s fortunes as a loser.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.