Donald Trump One Year Ago Today: Coronavirus “Will Go Away”

“Just stay calm.” Watch.

Trump on March 10, 2020Ron Sachs/CNP/Zuma

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By March 10, 2020, the novel coronavirus was already spreading unchecked in the United States. Six hundred cases of COVID-19 were confirmed, and 26 people had died—numbers that would rise precipitously in the following days.

When asked about the potential economic impact of the virus, Trump responded, “We’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”

As for testing, which the administration struggled to scale up in the early weeks of the outbreak, Trump said, “The testing has gone very well.  And when people need a test, they can get a test.”

At the beginning of what would turn out to be the most dreadful year in recent memory, Trump concluded, “A lot of good things are going to happen.”

Watch the video:

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GREAT JOURNALISM, SLOW FUNDRAISING

Our team has been on fire lately—publishing sweeping, one-of-a-kind investigations, ambitious, groundbreaking projects, and even releasing “the holy shit documentary of the year.” And that’s on top of protecting free and fair elections and standing up to bullies and BS when others in the media don’t.

Yet, we just came up pretty short on our first big fundraising campaign since Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting joined forces.

So, two things:

1) If you value the journalism we do but haven’t pitched in over the last few months, please consider doing so now—we urgently need a lot of help to make up for lost ground.

2) If you’re not ready to donate but you’re interested enough in our work to be reading this, please consider signing up for our free Mother Jones Daily newsletter to get to know us and our reporting better. Maybe once you do, you’ll see it’s something worth supporting.

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