Name: Trump's tendency to deny his past statements has become more glaring during coronavirus
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Trump's tendency to deny his past statements has become more glaring during coronavirus

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Key PointsIt's a move:&nbsp;President &nbsp;says one thing, and then later on — sometimes after a few hours, sometimes after years — he denies he ever said it or suggests that his original quote is not what it appears to be.But as he has seized more and more of the spotlight during the country's response to the coronavirus, Trump's malleable approach to his own record could carry more serious consequences.Two recent examples came within the past week.At a White House press briefing on the virus April 23, for Covid-19."I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute. One minute," Trump said. "Is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets inside the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that."The president's comments sparked fierce pushback from health experts and prompted the maker of household cleaner Lysol to issue a statement .The following day, Trump ."I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen," Trump said Friday. He added that it was a "very sarcastic question to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside." When he made the original remarks, however, there was no indication he was being sarcastic.The White House said in a statement earlier that day that he had "repeatedly said" Americans should consult their doctors about coronavirus treatment. That statement accused journalists of taking the president's comments out of context.Pres. Trump's suggests studying UV light, disinfectants to treat Covid-19On Tuesday, Trump made a bold new claim about the government's ongoing efforts to ramp up coronavirus testing — a key component of White House economic reopening guidelines.Asked by a reporter whether the U.S. can reach a benchmark of 5 million tests per day, as some health experts recommend — leaps and bounds above the current testing rate — Trump responded, ".""When tens of millions of families are having difficulty and experiencing personal pain, you can't tell them the sky is blue when it's green."William GalstonSenior fellow in governance at the Brookings InstitutionWhen the reporter followed up to clarify that Trump was confident the U.S. can soon surpass 5 million tests daily, Trump again said that he was: "We're going to be there very soon. If you look at the numbers, it could be that we're getting very close."The U.S. is nowhere close to testing that many people each day. Adm. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of health who is in charge of the government's testing response, said as much in a interview published Tuesday evening.", that we can do 20 million tests a day, or even 5 million tests a day," Giroir said in the interview, which was actually conducted before Trump's remarks that day.On Wednesday, Trump denied saying there will be 5 million tests a day — but then added that he believes the U.S. will reach that figure."Somebody came out with a study of 5 million people. Do I think we will? I think we will, but I never said it," Trump claimed during an event at the White House on Wednesday. "Somebody started throwing around 5 million. I didn't say 5 million," the president said, adding, "We will be there. But I didn't say it. I didn't say it."While Trump himself did not use the words "5 million" on Tuesday, he did, in fact, say that the U.S. would surpass that number of tests "in the very near future."White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany did not comment at the time on whether the U.S. would soon be able to run 5 million tests a day, but noted in a statement that "the United States has done double the number of tests of any country in the world."Trump: U.S. coronavirus testing will go up 'exponentially'The White House did not immediately respond when CNBC reached out for comment about the president's remarks.These are not the only examples of the president denying his own remarks during the coronavirus crisis, as other outlets have reported:Before leaving the White House for Camp David on Friday afternoon, Trump offered yet another denial – this time about his past remarks about Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia.Trump said that "I wasn't happy with" Kemp after the governor announced he would reopen certain businesses more quickly than the White House guidelines recommend.But when asked about those remarks Friday, Trump said, "I didn't say that." The president instead claimed he "didn't like the particular places – a spa,&nbsp;a tattoo parlor," but said states opening up is "wonderful" and that he wants states to open "safely." Trump added that he wasn't "thrilled" about spas and tattoo parlors reopening but had said "nothing about Georgia other than that."With the number of , protests and for light at the end of the tunnel, Trump's words may hold more weight now than at any other time in his presidency.Trump, in turn, has positioned himself as the leader of the response to the crisis. While he declined to issue any nationwide lockdown measures, he has .&nbsp;But his role as lead messenger on coronavirus health updates has proven difficult to reconcile with his political concerns, which are increasing as the 2020 election nears.Trump's rhetoric has always stood apart from his contemporaries and continues to do so amid the pandemic. But in moments of crisis, it's "exceptionally atypical to have any president continue to draw this much attention to themselves," said Vanessa Beasley, a presidential rhetoric expert and associate professor of communications studies at Vanderbilt University."I do think the stakes are higher, because both the economy and people's health are the most material conditions you can experience in your own life," Beasley said. "There is an emotional component to the way the economy works, and we're not hearing a message that we would always have heard in the past."Trump regularly touts the progress his administration is making as it combats the crisis — and as some of the nation's Covid-19 hot spots start to see measures of the crisis on the decline, .More states are starting to "reopen" the industries that were shut down as part of strict social distancing efforts, fueling Trump to emphasize that a reinvigorated economy and a return to normalcy are on the horizon.&nbsp;But his rhetorical inconsistencies may be undercutting his message."Trump has to be careful now not to say things that contradict the evidence of ordinary people's experiences, what's right in front of them every day," said William Galston, a senior fellow in governance at the Brookings Institution, in a March interview with CNBC."When tens of millions of families are having difficulty and experiencing personal pain, you can't tell them the sky is blue when it's green," he said.In late March, for instance, Trump said he has "always known" that Covid-19 "is a pandemic," claiming he felt that way . "I always viewed it as very serious," Trump said.But Trump never described the outbreak as a pandemic prior to the World Health Organization declaring it as such on March 11, . And when , Trump said,&nbsp;"No. Not at all. And — we're — we have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine."President Trump on the coronavirus: We have it totally under controlWhen Trump contradicted his own words in the past, any consequences he suffered mostly took the form of critical headlines and condemnations from his opponents.Some examples include:Compared with those of other modern presidents, Trump's approval ratings have throughout his first term in office.But with the election against the apparent Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, about six months away, his support among key demographics has begun to erode, . The Trump campaign's internal polling indicates that the president's decline has been related to his performance at the White House coronavirus task force briefings, the Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the results.Those briefings, which could run more than two hours and often featured lengthy, combative exchanges between Trump and reporters, appear to have been scrapped in the last week. But Trump has still held press events nearly every day since."This is a different kind of political crisis, not just in its own unprecedented nature but also in terms of the widespread implications for the economy, for people's families," Vanderbilt's Beasley said. "It definitely hits people where they live."In this new environment, Trump's old strategy of asserting he alone can fix the nation's problems may further undermine him.&nbsp;"The more he does that, the more the contradiction ... between people who said before, 'Oh, I wanted him to be the one to fix it,' and then we don't seem to be seeing the fixing,&nbsp;we just see the him," Beasley said.

Key PointsIt's a move:&nbsp;President &nbsp;says one thing, and then later on — sometimes after a few hours, sometimes after years — he denies he ever said it or suggests that his original quote is not what it appears to be.But as he has seized more and more of the spotlight during the country's response to the coronavirus, Trump's malleable approach to his own record could carry more serious consequences.Two recent examples came within the past week.At a White House press briefing on the virus April 23, for Covid-19."I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute. One minute," Trump...

Trump's tendency to deny his past statements has become more glaring during coronavirus

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