'It's going to disappear': A timeline of Trump's claims that Covid-19 will vanish

[Bill]

'It's going to disappear':
A timeline of Trump's claims that Covid-19 will vanish

By Daniel Wolfe and Daniel Dale, CNN
Last updated October 20, 2020 at 4:43 p.m. ET
In his first speech after his hospitalization for Covid-19, President Donald Trump stood on a White House balcony on October 10 and made a grand declaration about the coronavirus: “It’s going to disappear. It is disappearing.”

His words might have sounded more dramatic had he not been saying the same thing for eight months.

Trump has stuck to the refrain no matter what has been happening with the pandemic. Since February, the President has declared at least 38 times that Covid-19 is either going to disappear or is currently disappearing.

His proclamations have been wildly inaccurate. When Trump first started making the claim in February, it was about the time the US had just suffered its very first known Covid-19 death. More than 220,000 deaths later, Trump continues to falsely claim that the virus will somehow just go away — even as the US experiences yet another surge in cases and hospitalizations.

February
You know, a lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat — as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April.

President Trump
February, 10 2020
US cases begin to rise
February 25, 2020

0 average daily new cases

You know, a lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat — as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April.

President Trump
February 10, 2020
China is working very, very hard. I have spoken to President Xi, and they’re working very hard. And if you know anything about him, I think he’ll be in pretty good shape. They’re — they’ve had a rough patch, and I think right now they have it — it looks like they’re getting it under control more and more. They’re getting it more and more under control. So I think that’s a problem that’s going to go away.

President Trump
February 25, 2020
…when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.

President Trump
February 26, 2020
It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear. And from our shores, we — you know, it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We’ll see what happens. Nobody really knows.

President Trump
February 27, 2020
I don’t think people are panicking. I said last night — we did an interview on Fox last night, a town hall. I think it was very good. And I said, ‘Calm. You have to be calm.’ It’ll go away.

President Trump
March 6, 2020
We’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.

President Trump
March 10, 2020
You know, we need a little a separation until such time as this goes away. It’s going to go away. It’s going to go away.

President Trump
March 12, 2020
Stay calm. It will go away. You know it — you know it is going away, and it will go away. And we’re going to have a great victory.

President Trump
March 30, 2020
It’s going to go away, hopefully at the end of the month. And, if not, hopefully it will be soon after that.

President Trump
March 31, 2020
It is going to go away. It is going away.

President Trump
April 3, 2020
It did go — it will go away.

President Trump
April 7, 2020
But a lot of movement and a lot of progress has been made in a vaccine. But I think what happens is it’s going to go away. This is going to go away. And whether it comes back in a modified form in the fall, we’ll be able to handle it.

President Trump
April 28, 2020
It’s going to go. It’s going to leave. It’s going to be gone. It’s going to be eradicated. And it might take longer. It might be in smaller sections. It’ll be — it won’t be what we had. And we also learned a lot.

President Trump
April 29, 2020
And I think we’re doing very well on the vaccines but, with or without a vaccine, it’s going to pass, and we’re going to be back to normal.

President Trump
May 5, 2020
Because, you know, this virus is going to disappear. It’s a question of when. Will it come back in a small way? Will it come back in a fairly large way? But we know how to deal with it now much better. You know, nobody knew anything about it, initially. Now we know we can put out fires.

President Trump
May 6, 2020
Well, I feel about vaccines like I feel about tests. This is going to go away without a vaccine. It’s going to go away, and it’s — we’re not going to see it again, hopefully, after a period of time. You may have some — some flare-ups and I guess, you know, I would expect that. Sometime in the fall, you’ll have flare-ups maybe. Maybe not. But according to what a lot of people say, you probably will. We’ll be able to put them out. You may have some flare-ups next year, but eventually, it’s going to be gone. I mean, it’s going to be gone.

President Trump
May 8, 2020
We think we’re going to have a vaccine in the pretty near future. And if we do, we’re going to really be a big step ahead. And if we don’t, we’re going to be like so many other cases, where you had a problem come in, it’ll go away — at some point, it’ll go away. It may flare up, and it may not flare up. We’ll have to see what happens.

President Trump
May 15, 2020
So I think that’s — but even without that [a vaccine or therapeutics], you know, at some point this stuff goes away and it’s going away.

President Trump
June 15, 2020
I always say, even without it [a vaccine], it goes away.

President Trump
June 16, 2020
…if you look, the numbers are very minuscule compared to what it was. It’s dying out.

President Trump
June 17, 2020
But I will tell you, we’re very close to a vaccine, and we’re very close to therapeutics, really good therapeutics. And — but even without that — I don’t even like to talk about that, because it’s fading away. It’s going to fade away.

President Trump
June 17, 2020
And it is dying out. The numbers are starting to get very good.

President Trump
June 18, 2020
And I think we are going to be very good with the coronavirus. I think that, at some point, that’s going to sort of just disappear, I hope.

President Trump
July 1, 2020
I’ll be right eventually. I will be right eventually. You know I said, ‘It’s going to disappear.’ I’ll say it again. It’s going to disappear, and I’ll be right.

President Trump
July 19, 2020
Well, the virus will disappear. It will disappear.

President Trump
July 21, 2020
We’re gonna beat it, yeah. We’re going to beat it. And with time, you’re going to be it — time. You know, I say, it’s going to disappear. And they say, ‘Oh, that’s terrible.’ He said — well, it’s true. I mean, it’s going to disappear. Before it disappears, I think we can knock it out before it disappears.

President Trump
July 22, 2020
This thing’s going away. It will go away like things go away…

President Trump
August 5, 2020
It’s going away. No, it’ll go away like things go away. Absolutely. No question in my mind. It will go away. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

President Trump
August 5, 2020
And we’re getting them [manufacturing jobs] even in a pandemic — which is disappearing; it’s going to disappear.

President Trump
August 7, 2020
And frankly, you know, we’ve had a tremendous — a tremendous market, you and I have talked about that, the stock market. Think of it, we’re almost back to where we were, and we’re still in the pandemic, which will be going away, as I say, it’ll be going away. And they scream, how you can you say that? I said, because it’s gonna be going away.

President Trump
August 13, 2020
…And the China Plague will fade.

President Trump
August 17, 2020
And as soon as the plague is gone — we have vaccines coming, we have therapeutics coming, and it’s going to be gone. And it’s gonna be gone soon.

President Trump
August 17, 2020
It’s all coming back so fast and you’ll see it, and the pandemic goes away. The vaccines are going to be, I believe, announced very soon.

President Trump
August 24, 2020
Well, once you get to a certain number — you know, we use the word herd, right. Once you get to a certain number, it’s going to go away.

President Trump
August 31, 2020
It is gonna disappear. It’s gonna disappear. I still say it.

President Trump
September 15, 2020
But it’s going to disappear. It is disappearing. And vaccines are going to help, and the therapeutics are going to help a lot.

President Trump
October 10, 2020
The vaccine will end the pandemic. But it’s ending anyway. I mean, they go crazy when I say it. It’s going to peter out and it’s going to end. But we’re going to help the end and we’re gonna make it a lot faster with the vaccine and with the therapeutics and frankly with the cures.

President Trump
October 15, 2020
Even without the vaccine, the pandemic’s going to end. It’s gonna run its course. It’s gonna end. They’ll go crazy. He said ‘without the vaccine’ — watch, it’ll be a headline tomorrow. These people are crazy. No, it’s running its course.


Through Oct. 19, more than 220,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the US. With most states experiencing an alarming rise in new daily cases in recent weeks, health experts worry about a new wave hitting just as the fall flu season gets underway. Despite Trump’s claims, the pandemic shows no signs of disappearing.

[ThatOwlWoman]

60,000 new cases today in the U.S., 906 deaths. Yep, almost gone. Turning the corner. Disappear any second now.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

[Bill]

yep, endless lies & rationalizations..............

He just wants to be reelected & he does not care one bit if downplaying is killing ppl, that is not what is important-TO HIM......

[Minister of Truth]

yep, endless lies & rationalizations..............

He just wants to be reelected & he does not care one bit if downplaying is killing ppl, that is not what is important-TO HIM......

We could just lock down and accomplish absolutely nothing.

[Bill]

We could just lock down and accomplish absolutely nothing.

I guess those are the only alternatives in your world.......

[Minister of Truth]

I guess those are the only alternatives in your world.......

Locking down serves the dual evil of crashing the economy and prolonging the duration of the pandemic.

[Nordberg]

Ambiguous antecedent. He meant Trump would disappear. Trump just 5th graded it into something wrong.

[Bill]

He will if he loses the election......