NBC’s Todd: Trump Is Continuing to ‘Deny, Dismiss and Distract’ During ‘Health Crisis’

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” anchor Chuck Todd said President Donald Trump has continued to “deny, dismiss and distract” in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Todd said, “It’s easy, even dangerous, to become numb to the scope of the coronavirus tragedy that’s all around us. Yesterday the united states hit a total of 5 million cases. That is 2 million more than Brazil, which is second in the world in cases. We’ve also passed 160,000 deaths, 163,028 this morning, and the University of Washington’s model projects the toll could roughly double to 300,000 by the first of December. Let’s put that 160,000 figure into a little bit of perspective. That’s about 40 percent more than the number of Americans killed in World War I. It’s nearly triple the number killed from Vietnam. And if that University of Washington figure is correct, by December, we will have passed the number of U.S. battle deaths from World War II.”

He continued, “Here’s another perspective. Over the past two weeks, we’ve suffered one death from COVID-19 every 77 seconds. President Trump continues to insist as he put it, it will go away like things go away, and when pressed in an interview recently, Mr. Trump added, ‘They are dying, that’s true. It is what it is.’ Yes, it is what it is. And what it is is a once-in-a-century health crisis made worse by partisan politics, testing mistakes, evolving advice, a public too quick to ignore safety guidelines, and a president who has chosen to deny, dismiss and distract for far too long.”

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