Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Trump says Spanish Flu of 1918 ended WWII – a conflict that didn’t start until two decades later

President also got year pandemic started wrong


Matt Mathers @MattEm90

Donald Trump has inaccurately claimed that the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 ended WWII – a conflict that did not begin until two decades later.

Speaking at a White House press briefing on Monday evening, the president also got the year the pandemic started wrong.


“The closest thing is in 1917, they say, the great pandemic,” Mr Trump told reporters.
“It certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million people, probably ended the Second World War,” he added.




The Spanish Flu began in 1918, with the first infections recorded around March that year.
Watch more

\Trump repeats false claim children are ‘immune’ to Covid-19

The pandemic lasted until 1920 and did, as Mr Trump alluded to, kill millions of people.

But WWII did not break out until 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war two days later, sparking a conflict that would last six years.

The war ended in 1945 when the Axis powers surrendered.

Japan surrendered unconditionally in August 1945 after the US had dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.


White House officials said that the president misspoke and had, in fact, been referring to WWI which began in 1914 and ended in 1918.

According to Peter C Wever and Leo van Bergen, the Spanish Flu greatly affected all sides during WW1, claiming thousands of lives.

Read more
100 years on from the Spanish Flu, we are facing another pandemic

“The disease had a profound impact, both for the military apparatus and for the individual soldier,” the pair wrote in a paper published in the Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses journal.

However, Wever and van Bergen are reluctant to conclude that the pandemic brought and to or changed the course of the war.

“It struck all the armies and might have claimed toward 100,000 fatalities among soldiers overall during the conflict while rendering millions ineffective,” they added.

“Yet, it remains unclear whether 1918 pandemic influenza had an impact on the course of the First World War.”

Monday’s error was the second verbal blunder the president has had in a matter of days.

Last week, Mr Trump pronounced Thailand and “Thighland” when delivering a speech at Whirlpool factory in Ohio.

AND HE CANNOT PRONOUNCE ORIGIN 
HE PRONOUNCES IT ORANGE 



Trump Schooled Online 

After Claiming '1917' Flu Pandemic 'Probably Ended' WWII;


World War II began in 1939, 


And the Spanish flu pandemic began in 1918.

By Josephine Harvey, HuffPost US 


President Donald Trump got history wrong on multiple counts Monday when he claimed that the “1917” Spanish flu pandemic likely led to the end of World War II ― which began more than two decades later.

“The closest thing is in 1917, they say, the great pandemic. It certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million people,” Trump said during his White House press briefing. “Probably ended the Second World War, all the soldiers were sick.”

Leading up to that comment, Trump had been praising his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 160,000 people in the U.S., claiming without evidence that without his ban on foreign travelers, millions more would be dead.

Trump has incorrectly referred to the year of the 1918 pandemic dozens of times, even though his own grandfather Frederick Trump died of it in New York City in 1918.


The President says the “1917 pandemic” ended the Second World War pic.twitter.com/jSltuSYim2
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) August 10, 2020


The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1919 overlapped with the final months of World War I, which is ostensibly what the president intended to refer to. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it was first identified in military personnel in the spring of 1918 before spreading to an estimated 500 million people worldwide. It continued until the following year. The spread was likely exacerbated by the widespread deployment of troops, crowded wartime living conditions and other effects of the war, the CDC states.


World War II began in 1939.

Given the Trump campaign’s repeated efforts to frame presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as lacking mental acuity, Twitter users did not allow Trump’s gaffe to slide.

Critics, including Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), former White House ethics chief Walter Shaub and conservative group The Lincoln Project joined the fray:

The Second World War ended in 1945. It’s cruel for @DonaldJTrumpJr and family to let @realDonaldTrump stand out there like this. https://t.co/E0v9VAcBWX
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) August 10, 2020

The President of the United States of America is the stupidest man in the world. https://t.co/O1CSD5eAIy
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) August 11, 2020


Trump: In 1917, the great pandemic, where they lost 50 to 100 million people, probably ended the Second World War.

1. The pandemic happened in 1918, not 1917.

2. About 37 million people died in WWI, not 50 to 100 million.

3. The Second World War ended in 1945, not in 1917. https://t.co/EEsnVUkXcE
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) August 10, 2020

A significant part of Trump’s (and the Trump campaign’s) message against Biden has been that Biden gets confused and makes speaking mistakes. https://t.co/pfNGzsQYt2
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 11, 2020

The president thinks the Spanish Flu probably ended World War Two (!) because “all the soldiers were sick.”]\

The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki fell 75 years ago yesterday, bringing a long and devastating war to a shattering, violent end.
Remember history. Don’t distort it.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) August 10, 2020

By the way the 1918 flu pandemic started in 1918, not 1917.
World War 2 ended in 1945
And for some reason it's the Trump Campaign that's trying to run on mental fitness.
— The Lincoln Project 🏴‍☠️ (@ProjectLincoln) August 11, 2020

The republicans are worried about Joe Biden’s mental acuity https://t.co/NpmQGSqcjp
— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) August 10, 2020

If anyone says anything about Joe Biden flubbing a line ever again, just post the clip of Trump saying the 1917 pandemic ended the Second World War over and over again.
— Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) August 11, 2020

Trump says the Spanish Flu in 1917 "probably" ended the Second World War.
The Spanish Flu was in 1918 and WWII ended in 1945. It's "probably" a good thing the Secret Service cut that press conference short. pic.twitter.com/sHQj2Uqov6
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) August 10, 2020

"The closest thing is, uh, in 1917, they say, uh, The Great- the Great Pandemic; & it certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million ppl; probably ended the Second World War, all the soldiers were sick."
-The US President just spoke this sentence
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) August 10, 2020


The genius MAGA crowd who worships and defends the guy who can’t pronounce “Yosemite” or “Thailand” and says the 1917 pandemic probably ended WW2 thinks Joe Biden is mentally compromised. https://t.co/xt2KY8l1kQ
— Richard Marx (@richardmarx) August 11, 2020


Obama fought WWII but was forced to concede defeat because of the pandemic of 1917 and since then the cupboards have been bare. They couldn't even test for it because there weren't any tests. All the while our soldiers didn't have any bullets. No bullets. Could you imagine? No bu
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) August 11, 2020


If you were wondering why President Drink Bleach has botched the response for 7 straight months:
In 1917 "the great pandemic certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 150 million people. Probably ended the second world war. All the soldiers were sick." pic.twitter.com/R9YRAcvCZj
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewBatesNC) August 10, 2020


How is this not an example of some sort of brain problem or dementia? He has repeatedly, on numerous occasions, claimed the Spanish flu was in 1917, not 1918. He must have been corrected dozens of times. He still says 1917. It’s not some sort of politically useful lie. Why do it? https://t.co/EEFifIJxjg
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) August 10, 2020

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