If you don’t test people for the coronavirus, does it really exist?
That seems to be the logic behind US President Donald Trump’s leading “what the?” of a gaffe-riddled pre-election rally in Oklahoma.
Mr Trump made the astute observation that if you test fewer people for COVID-19, you get fewer positive results.
“When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to … find more cases,” he said.
“So, I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please’.”
His staffers (the ones who hadn’t tested positive to the virus just hours before the rally) were quick to clean up his mess, issuing a statement saying the President was “only joking” when he made that comment.
Hand sanitiser injection, anyone?
Reading between the lines, it would appear Mr Trump is concerned the states’ mounting virus cases are looking bad for his leadership.
Health experts heartedly disagree with his joke – testing, they say, is one of the key tools in fighting the virus.
Another is social distancing, something that was easy to achieve at Mr Trump’s rally, where meek crowds barely touched the edges of the 19,000-capacity venue.
In the lead up to the rally, Mr Trump was trumpeting his popularity, saying one million people had registered to attend his first political rally in 110 days.
Big crowds and lines already forming in Tulsa. My campaign hasn’t started yet. It starts on Saturday night in Oklahoma!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2020
He even went as far as to organise overflow arena for the hordes of supporters.
Caveat: The majority of those people were trolling him, a movement stirred on by social media app TikTok, particularly K-pop fans, who registered tickets with absolutely zero intention of showing up.
We Like How You Cropped The Photos. About 990,000 Fewer Coronapalooza Goers Showed Up Than Expected, Didn't #WearAMask😷, Moved Freely In & Out The CoronaDome & Bunched Together Spreading Germs. The Overflow Was Canceled. They Were With #KPopFanspic.twitter.com/wbp53NEHfP
— Wisdom Rocks (@GetWisdomDude) June 21, 2020
For the people who did attend, they got to hear the President again refer to the coronavirus as the “kung flu” and the “Chinese virus”.
(Remember a few months ago when he said he was going to stop calling it the “Chinese virus”? It appears he lied.)
“That name gets further and further away from China, as opposed to calling it the Chinese virus,” Mr Trump said, referring to the correct medical and non-racist term of COVID-19.
View this post on InstagramHahahahaha “The Kung-Flu Kid” Thanks @americanaf 🇺🇸🤣🇺🇸🤣🇺🇸
A post shared by Donald Trump Jr. (@donaldjtrumpjr) on
Even his own team has a strong dislike for the President’s language when it comes to nicknaming the virus that has so far killed more than 120,000 people in his country.
In March, whispers circulated of a White House staffer dropping the “kung flu” term.
One of Mr Trump’s pals Kellyanne Conway, a White House counsellor, was quizzed by reporters about the slur – even she agreed it was “highly offensive”.
“Of course it’s wrong,” Ms Conway said when questioned by a journalist.
“That’s highly offensive … I’d like to know who it is.”
Coincidentally, Ms Conway’s husband George is far from a fan of Mr Trump and was one of many, many people using Twitter to point out just how ludicrous his latest speech was.
ramp water kung flu windmills dead birds Hunter Biden Obama Minneanopolis https://t.co/6R4oC5HqBY
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) June 21, 2020
