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Trump calls it a 'shame' US has 200,000 Covid-19 deaths, says 'we'd have 2.5M' if he hadn't done things right

When he spoke in Pennsylvania for an hour and half, Trump did not mention the death toll but blamed China for allowing it to become a pandemic

President Donald Trump has faced heavy criticism over his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic that has wreaked havoc in the US. A recent book penned by veteran journalist Bob Woodward even claimed that the president downplayed the virus despite knowing its threat thinking it would leave people panic-stricken. As the commander-in-chief faced more flak over the revelations, he came up with a reaction against America’s Covid-19 death tally which would shock many of his opponents yet again. 

On Tuesday, September 22, prior to his departure for a rally in the key state of Pennsylvania, Trump reacted to the grim milestone that the US achieved in its battle with the pandemic -- 200,000 deaths -- saying it is “a shame”. “It's a horrible thing. It should have never, ever happened,” he told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House. “It’s a shame,” he added. 

The US has 6.89 million cases of infection besides the 200,000 deaths which makes it the worst-affected nation in the world. While India stands second with more than 5.5 million cases, Brazil has the second-worst death toll at 137,000-plus. However, Trump did not yet forget to back his administration saying if it hadn’t done it “properly”, the death toll could have reached two-and-half million. “If you take a look at alternatives, you could have two and a half million deaths or something thereabouts. You could have a number that would be substantially more [...] And you saw my United Nations speech, China should have stopped it at their border. They should have never let this spread all over the world and it’s a terrible thing,” the president said, targeting China once again.

Earlier, Trump avoided a woman reporter who asked him the reason for not saying anything about the 200,000 deaths. The president looked in another direction to ask: "Go ahead. Uhhhhh. Anybody else?" 

When he spoke in Pennsylvania for an hour and half, Trump did not mention the death toll but blamed China for allowing it to become a pandemic. He promised a vaccine will be available for the people of America soon and slammed the social distancing measures that his own public health experts have advised and approved by state officials. He also mocked his Democratic opponent Joe Biden for wearing a mask. 

“You can't meet. You can’t congregate. You can't look at each other. You can't give your wife...a kiss goodnight, you gotta wear a mask. You can’t do anything!” Trump said, while asserting that his administration has done an “A-plus job” in dealing with the deadly disease. Trump became the first Republican to win Pennsylvania in a presidential election after 1988 although his victory over Hillary Clinton was by less than a percentage point. 

Trump backs his administration's Covid-19 fight

Also in an exclusive interview with FOX TV Stations on Tuesday, September 22, Trump certified his response to the pandemic as “incredible” and “tremendous”. While he said the US has done an “amazing job”, he rued that the public relations has not been as good. “I wish China would have shut down early. I wish China wouldn’t have let this virus come out. They’re the ones to blame,” he added. Trump said the same in a phone interview with Fox & Friends on Monday, September 21, which was shortly before the announcement that the US’s death toll has hit 200,000. 

Meanwhile, Dr Anthony Fauci, a top infectious diseases expert who is in the coronavirus task force team of Trump but had more moments of disagreement with the latter than agreement said in an interview with "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” on Monday, September 21, that with more than six million infections and nearly 200k deaths, “terrific” is not the word one could use. 

Trump has repeatedly claimed in recent weeks that the US is “rounding the corner” and “rounded the final turn”. On March 30, he said at the White House: “...if we can hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000 – that’s a horrible number – maybe even less, but to 100,000; so we have between 100- and 200,000 – we all, together, have done a very good job.”

Trump is also facing a challenge on the political front over his decision to appoint the successor to legendary Supreme Court judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg who passed away last week. The Democrats have slammed the move saying it was not consistent with the GOP’s own action of blocking the appointment of the successor to Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, which was also an election year. 

The president is also set for his first presidential debate with Biden on September 29.