Donald Trump values ratings over lives, and he always has. As the nation has battled a pandemic that has already killed over 122,000 Americans, Trump has repeatedly—and falsely—blamed an increase in new cases on increased testing. Trump has even suggested that if testing stopped, there would be no more cases. All of these claims aren’t just ridiculous, they’re inviting disease. They’re inviting states to take the best tool available off the table in the fight against the pandemic and throw it in the trash.
But at his poorly attended Tulsa rally, Trump went beyond suggesting that states should reduce testing. Among his rambling statements, Trump said: “When you do testing to that extent, you're going to find more people; you're going to find more cases. So I said to my people, ‘slow the testing down please.’” White House officials passed it off as a joke immediately after the speech, and on Monday Trump seemed to dodge the question. But on Tuesday, he owned that statement.
When Trump was asked about the statement on Monday, Trump responded with a lengthy “uhhhhh” before giving an endorsement of slowing testing that didn’t actually admit that he directly asked for it to be slowed. “If it did slow down,” said Trump, “frankly, I think we’re way ahead of ourselves, if you wanna know the truth. We’ve done too good of a job.” 122,000 Americans are dead. That’s “too good of a job” as far as Trump is concerned.
White House officials had a different explanation. "Come on now, that was tongue in cheek," said trade adviser Peter Navarro. "That was a light moment for him at a rally." Because tens of thousands of Americans dying is a traditional laughing matter at the White House. That’s also the line that Ivanka stand-in Kayleigh McEnany took on Monday. "No, he has not directed that," claimed McEnany. "It was a comment that he made in jest.”
But on Tuesday, Trump appeared to make liars out of his staff and confirm that he had demanded reduced testing. Asked by CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang if he was really kidding when he asked his people to slow down testing, Trump’s reply was succinct: “I don’t kid.”
From the beginning of the pandemic, it’s been clear that testing and isolation are the best tools against COVID-19, just as they are with almost every infectious disease. Nations that successfully deployed these tools have been able to both contain the disease and protect their economies. Reducing testing means deliberately putting the health of the American public at risk.
But then … Donald Trump values ratings over lives. He’d rather be able to point to good—but false—numbers than to have the actual information needed to protect American lives.
If Trump was joking, then it’s among the worst jokes in history. If Trump wasn’t joking, it’s nothing less than negligent homicide … 122,000 counts. And climbing.