Trump says he tested 'positively toward negative' for Covid-19, Twitter goes berserk: 'Tested for dementia, too?'
President Donald Trump seems to be really proud that he has not contracted the coronavirus, so much that he put a rather humorous spin to his most recent test results.
The 73-year-old commander-in-chief was talking to reporters on May 21 when he briefly claimed he tested "positively" for the virus, before explaining that "positive" actually means "negative"
“And I tested very positively in another sense,” Trump boasted about his Covid-19 test. “So this morning, I tested positively toward negative, right? So no, I tested perfectly this morning. Meaning I tested negative. But that’s a way of saying it: Positively toward the negative.”
The president's remarks set off a flurry of jokes on Twitter.
"He’s such a great president and by great I mean the opposite of great which is terrible so all in all I have a pretty positive feeling towards how much I hate Trump but that’s also a good negative feeling to have and I’m positive that he tests perfectly for Dementia," one user wrote.
"Trump is like a one-man Abbott & Costello routine: 'I got my Coronavirus test back. It's positive!' 'Oh man.' 'It was negative.' 'Yeah, it is bad. Sorry.' 'No, the results were negative.' 'Are you positive?' 'I am.' 'Did you test for dementia, too?'" another added.
"It wasn’t really a test. An exam. More of a screening than anything else. I felt pretty positive before going in. Then I tested negative so I felt positive for the rest of the day. The media are house cats and Trump has a laser pointer," a third quipped.
"BREAKING NEWS- Donald Trump tested negative for Coronavirus but positive for being a humongous dumbass. He will be injecting himself with bleach for four weeks," a fourth chimed in.
"Trump is a mystery. He can’t be an electron because, although he is negative, Trump has a large mass. He might be a Higgs boson, which is very unstable. Tho he says he’s also positive so he might be a proton. I think he’s a Muon: Greater mass and no sub-structure," another joked.
Trump also revealed he had "another day" left from his two-week regimen of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which he is reportedly taking as a "line of defense" against the deadly virus.
The president has, for weeks, been touting the drug as a potential cure for Covid-19. While there is no official consensus on its efficacy or safety, Dr Sean Conley, the president's physician, has said the potential benefits outweigh the "relative risks".
"After numerous discussions he and I had about regarding the evidence for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks," the doctor said.
Meanwhile, Trump also joked that he'd like to launch reporters into outer space.
The president was talking about the highly anticipated NASA and SpaceX rocket launch, which would mark NASA's first manned mission since 2011, in Florida on May 20. "I’m thinking about going, that’ll be next week, to the rocket launch," Trump said when asked about the historical launch. "I hope you’re all going to join me. I’d like to put you in the rocket and get rid of you for a while," he quipped.