Donald Trump is slammed for boasting about 'great job' on coronavirus deaths 'if you take out the blue states' – as he blames his own public relations staff for failings
President Donald's Trump has come under fire from critics who blasted him for crassly describing the deaths of Americans using the political terminology of red states and blue states.
Trump made the comment while at a White House press conference Wednesday while pointing at a chart showing U.S. coronavirus deaths – about to hit 200,000 – compared to modeling showing they could have hit more than 2 million if the U.S. took no action.
'We're down in this territory, and that's despite the fact that the blue states had tremendous death rates,' Trump said, pointing to a chart.
'If you take the blue states out, we’re at a level that I don’t think anybody in the world would be at, we’re really at a very low level,' Trump said.
The president was immediately slammed for seeking to remove from the equation states with Democratic voting patterns or governors. In fact, of the top ten states getting hardest hit by the virus, five are run by Republican governors.
While the virus first began devastating largely Democratic cities like New York in the spring, it has since spread around the country and many of the worst gains summer gains have been in Republican-run states like Florida and Texas.
Critics immediately piled on. '“If you take the blue states out...” What a f****** a******. This needs to be seen to believe,' wrote actress and activist Alyssa Miilano, who added the hashtag '#UnitedStatesOfAmerica.'
'If you take the blue states out, we’re at a level that I don’t think anybody in the world would be at, we’re really at a very low level,' President Donald Trump said at the White House Wednesday speaking about the coronavirus
After the virus slammed urban areas during the spring, states with Republican governors faced a difficult summer
The U.S. has seen a drop in infections but still leads the world in cases
All the states hit by the virus have Republicans, Democrats, and unaffiliated voters living there
The U.S. has been slammed by the virus even without the Democratic-run states Trump spoke of taking out of the equation
Blue state lawmaker Rep. Ted Lieu blasted the comments
Half the hardest hit states have GOP governors, wrote a Joe Biden advisor
Trump used terms usually associated with political commentary when talking about mortality rates
Images A refrigerated truck parked outside Wyckoff Hospital in Bushwick, serving as turn-based morgue in an attempt to alleviate funeral homes in Brooklyn neighborhoods during the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
Wrote Joe Biden advisor Ron Klain: 'Trump said today that blue states are to blame for COVID deaths. First, it's the President's job to protect the country. The whole country. All the states. Trump failed. Second, of the six states with the most COVID deaths so far, half have Dem Govs, half have GOP Govs.'
Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California, a blue state,' Tweeted: 'Dear @realDonaldTrump: Please stop dividing us. We are not the Red States of America. Or the Blue States of America. We are the United States of America. At the end of the day, we are all Americans.'
The president has continued to praise his administration's effort against the coronavirus, brushing off questions about why the U.S. has about a quarter of global cases when it is only about 4 per cent of the world's population.
I think we did a great job with coronavirus, except at public relations,' he told Greta Van Susteren on MSNBC. 'We did a great job except public relations-wise. My people got outplayed,' Trump said.
