IT ‘Would be comical if it didn’t involve real lives’: Trump interview spotlights deadly failure of his COVID-19 response

August 4, 2020 By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams

“If you wrote this as grotesque farce” for a movie script, wrote actor and progressive activist John Cusack, “no one would believe it.”

In an interview with Jonathan Swan of Axios that aired late Monday, President Donald Trump sputtered, declared “You can’t do that,” and continued trying to downplay the massive and rising coronavirus death toll when confronted with the fact the U.S. has a higher mortality rate by percentage of population than major countries like South Korea and Germany.

“It’s crushing to watch the president sift through printed out graphs that somehow spin the U.S. response he has presided over as anything other than a national humiliation.”
—Elliot Hannon, Slate

While many observers ridiculed Trump’s unhinged performance and likened the Axios interview to an episode of the HBO comedy show “Veep,” Slate‘s Elliot Hannon wrote Tuesday morning that the president’s back-and-forth with Swan “would be comical, if it didn’t involve real lives.”

“Instead, it’s crushing,” Hannon added. “It’s crushing to watch the president sift through printed out graphs that somehow spin the U.S. response he has presided over as anything other than a national humiliation.”

After Swan noted that U.S. coronavirus deaths are on the rise, Trump brandished several colorful print-out charts purporting to show that the U.S. death rate as a percentage of cases is lower than that of other nations.

“You’re doing deaths as a proportion of cases,” Swan said after examining the charts. “I’m talking about death as a proportion of population.”

“You can’t, you can’t do that,” Trump responded. “You have to go by, you have to go by where, look… You have to go by the cases.”

Swan insisted that it’s “surely a relevant statistic say if the U.S. has X population and X percentage of death of that population vs. South Korea.”

“Look at South Korea, for example,” Swan said as Trump continued to protest. “Fifty one million population, 300 deaths.”
In response, Trump suggested that South Korea may be distorting its coronavirus statistics and falsely claimed that the U.S. only has more Covid-19 cases because it tests more than other countries.


Watch:
@jonathanvswan: “Oh, you’re doing death as a proportion of cases. I’m talking about death as a proportion of population. That’s where the U.S. is really bad. Much worse than South Korea, Germany, etc.”@realdonaldtrump: “You can’t do that.”
Swan: “Why can’t I do that?” pic.twitter.com/MStySfkV39
— Axios (@axios) August 4, 2020


The clip of the exchange, which was filmed on July 28, quickly went viral on social media, with critics voicing alarm and disgust at Trump’s ignorance and politically motivated efforts to downplay the severity of a pandemic that has killed more than 155,000 people in the U.S.

“If you wrote this as grotesque farce” for a movie script, wrote actor and progressive activist John Cusack, “no one would believe it.”

Rob Flaherty, digital director for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, tweeted that “you really gotta step back realize that as one thousand Americans die per day, the White House is printing out kindergarten charts for the president to prove that things are actually great.”

Watch the full interview:

Internet explodes watching Trump reduced to ‘global laughingstock’ in ‘soul-crushing’ interview

on August 4, 2020 By David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement- Commentary



Axios reporter Jonathan Swan interviewed President Donald Trump and it did not go well for the president. The internet is ablaze with astonishment over how the Australian journalist decimated Trump, as the clip below demonstrates.

“We’re going to look at some of these charts,” Trump, who is sitting in a very low chair, says to Swan.

“I’d like to,” Swan replies.

Trump is fumbling with color printouts of charts that look like they were made for an elementary school class.


Rather than admit Americans are dying at a rate of one every minute, Trump tries to convince Swan to “go by the cases,” meaning, to look at how many people are dying as a percentage of how many people are infected.

Swan, without hesitation, says, “I’m talking about death as a percentage of population – that’s where the U.S. is really bad.”

Trump is reduced to babbling.

Republican turned Libertarian Congressman Justin Amash weighed in, calling it, “like an episode of Veep but real.”

Watch the clip, which has been viewed nearly 14 million times in 8 and a half hours.

.@jonathanvswan: “Oh, you’re doing death as a proportion of cases. I’m talking about death as a proportion of population. That’s where the U.S. is really bad. Much worse than South Korea, Germany, etc.”@realdonaldtrump: “You can’t do that.”
Swan: “Why can’t I do that?” pic.twitter.com/MStySfkV39
— Axios (@axios) August 4, 2020

Here’s what some are saying:

I need everyone to watch this. pic.twitter.com/eRPk7Dr1q5
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) August 4, 2020

Frankly, there should be several TV news anchors/broadcasters out there who have interviewed Trump who should be rather embarrassed watching Swan school them on how to properly do their jobs.
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) August 4, 2020

.@jonathanvswan’s interview of @realDonaldTrump nicely illustrates why Trump is a global laughingstock.
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) August 4, 2020

It’s honestly hilarious that this is the guy who supposedly wants MORE debates https://t.co/uB0rsZVPFr
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) August 4, 2020



This is utterly devastating. Soul-crushing devastating.
A President, ignoring reality and responsibility, trying to find a way that pandemic numbers can look good for him. https://t.co/HSiHQHO4CH
— Brian Nosek (@BrianNosek) August 4, 2020

OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S SO DUMB
OMG HE’S S
— MEMORYY (@MemoryyMusic) August 4, 2020

Is it scarier that he doesn’t understand or that they are clearly gaming the info so that he’s happy?
— Clint Sears (@clintisawesome) August 4, 2020

I see a president who doesn’t get the gravity of the crisis but also a staff willing to supply him with numbers and graphs that he believes support his view. https://t.co/Zt4TdhSLBl
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) August 4, 2020

Trump is so fucking stupid, it’s painful.
— Pé (@4everNeverTrump) August 4, 2020

Laughable and funny on the face of it.
Going further, it’s absolutely embarrassing to the entire rest of the world and horrific that this person is the head of the United States.
— Ignoble Savage (@drayzze) August 4, 2020

the president of the United States is not in touch with reality https://t.co/aTgio8yt6M
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) August 4, 2020

Trump is a profound idiot.
That has only been masked by journalists inability to press him on topics.
If the WH press pool teamed up to follow up on each other’s questions, every press appearance would be like this. https://t.co/INPgI7Blpv
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) August 4, 2020

This @jonathanvswan interview left Trump in tatters.
If you still support him, just listen to the interview and ask yourself:
Is this a guy I’d trust with, say, my child’s future?
Heck, is he someone I’d trust to pick up my laundry? https://t.co/KCPRQ19ULC
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) August 4, 2020


Trump is responsible for many of these deaths. As are his enablers: Republicans in Congress, the people who work for him, Fox News, conservative media, evangelical supporters, and Trump voters. They are all putting the nation at the mercy of an ignorant egotist. https://t.co/dLDMqj9Q9j
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) August 4, 2020


truly as bonkers as everyone is making it out to be. remarkable to watch someone clueless stall and flail in real time. but then also terrifying to think thousands more will die because of it https://t.co/tRMyIhJSjJ
— David Mack (@davidmackau) August 4, 2020