Trump says U.S. economy could take hit from coronavirus

By Steve Holland

 

U.S. President Donald Trump waves to reporters as he departs for travel to Scranton, Pennsylvania from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 5, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

 

SCRANTON, Pa. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday the U.S. economy might take a hit from the coronavirus outbreak but he predicted the challenge would eventually pass and defended his handling of the crisis.

 

Trump appeared at his first town hall meeting of the 2020 election season, an event conducted by Fox News Channel before an audience in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a battleground state that helped propel the Republican to the White House in 2016.

 

During the program, Trump weighed in on the race for the Democratic nomination to face him in the Nov. 3 election and dismissed a question as to whether his polarizing style deepens America's political divide.

 

The spreading coronavirus has led to a steep downturn in the stock market and fanned fears of an economic dip just as the Republican president asks Americans for a second term.

 

Asked if the coronavirus outbreak hurt the economy, Trump said: “It certainly might have an impact. At the same time, I have to say people are now staying in the United States spending their money in the U.S., and I like that.”

 

“It’s going to all work out. Everybody has to be calm," he said. "We have plans for every single possibility and I think that's what we have to do. We hope it doesn't last too long."

 

Trump repeated his assertion that the travel restrictions he imposed on China early in the crisis had helped limit the outbreak in the United States. The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus rose to 12 on Thursday and 53 new cases broke out across the country.

 

Trump has faced criticism from Democrats for not having the country properly prepared for the possibility of a pandemic.

 

"I think people are viewing us as having done a very good job. What we have to do is do a professional job. Nobody is blaming us for the virus," he said. "This started in China."

 

Trump's town hall took place just days after the Democratic presidential race took a sharp turn on Super Tuesday, with former Vice President Joe Biden surging ahead of Senator Bernie Sanders in what has become a two-man battle.

 

"I was all set for Bernie," Trump said, adding that Sanders would have benefited if fellow liberal Senator Elizabeth Warren had dropped out sooner. She withdrew from the race on Thursday. 

 

As for his divisive rhetoric, Trump defended how he conducted his personal messaging through tweeting and the like.

 

"When they hit us, we have to hit back. I really feel that. ... I wouldn't be here if I had turned the other cheek," he said.

 

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Eric Beech in Washington)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-06

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And the one million test kits that Trump's CDC promised for this week?  Pence now says 75,000. Maybe. This is a total fiasco. Remember these words from Trump '“We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China,” Trump said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." “It’s going to be just fine.”' 

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/22/trump-chinese-coronavirus-totally-under-control-102054 The US is actually handling this emergency worse than Thailand. America would be better off with Prayuth in charge than Trump. How's that for a reality check.

It will Donald,and it's not going away like you said.

regards Worgeordie

Waste of time. Nothing he said will be factual and truthful. 

Duhhhhh that’s the best the very stable genius could come up with?just pathetic 

The photo says it all , talk to the hand it has more brains than i do .

In the US it should be called The Hoax Virus.

 

Let's see if he keeps doing his rallies while this is going on.

 

 

Edited March 6, 20206 yr by bendejo

When Trump says he has plans,  we have all reasons to be worried....

4 hours ago, webfact said:

It’s going to all work out. Everybody has to be calm," he said. "We have plans for every single possibility

 Really?

 

Coronavirus: White House concedes US lacks enough test kits https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-51761435

A post using a video from a late night comedy show has been removed as a late night comedy show  is not a credible source of news. 

 

A post containing an unattributed headline has been removed. 

Trump isn’t simply talking rubbish, he’s talking dangerous rubbish.

 

He could make carefully prepared statements that are vetted by health experts, but no, he runs his mouth off with dangerous speculation and confused messages:

 

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5e608bd2c5b69d641c0aa3dc

5 hours ago, webfact said:

"I think people are viewing us as having done a very good job. What we have to do is do a professional job. Nobody is blaming us for the virus," he said. "This started in China."

the Chinese are having fun seeing the US struggling with the virus ......

 

State news outlet Xinhua (link in Chinese) went even further, re-publishing an analysis from an independent blogger’s WeChat account, which said, “The US owes China an apology, the world owes China thanks.”

 

https://qz.com/1813181/china-is-taking-pleasure-in-us-mishandling-of-coronavirus/?utm_source=YPL&yptr=yahoo

Edited March 6, 20206 yr by Mavideol

Blame a virus rather than scumbag monetary policy and Wall Street  thieves for the inevitable derailing of the debt Bomb economy.

Just now, Brickbat said:

Blame a virus rather than scumbag monetary policy and Wall Street  thieves for the inevitable derailing of the debt Bomb economy.

Once the economy slides then the 2020 dream Donny; is gone.

Dude, grab China by the balls and initiate returning the factories from China back to West, now is the time to go for the jugular.

Edited March 6, 20206 yr by DrTuner

Clueless, doubts W.H.O. figures on a “hunch”

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/05/trump-coronavirus-who-global-death-rate-false-number?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Idiot CNBC reporter (and Trump supporter) wants to give every American the coronavirus in order to save the economy. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cnbcs-rick-santelli-suggests-giving-everyone-coronavirus-to-spare-the-economy-2020-03-05?mod=home-page

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Trump says U.S. economy could take hit from coronavirus

The first and only time he MIGHT not lie ???? For sure, no american came to that conclusion already, he must be a true genius... ????

8 hours ago, webfact said:

It’s going to all work out. Everybody has to be calm," he said. "

No it’s not as the death rate just rose to 14 and another 59 people have been positively tested for corona virus just today. He is giving wrong signal to the people to let down their guards. Everyday we see his mishandling of this crisis magnified by more infection and deaths. He should just shut his trap and let the professionals handle this. 

1 hour ago, Boon Mee said:

Indeed 

Heavily biased Fake News 

What we're seeing here is a prime example of Trump hatred influencing otherwise rational thought. 

Trump could come up with a cure for Cancer and the haters would castigate him for putting doctors out of work. 

 

MAGA 

But but but.... I saw it on Fox.... I heard the trumps voice... have those blurry lefties started doctoring videos to deceive the peoples, like the trumps propaganda department has done?

 

A post containing content without a link to the specific article has been removed:

 

15) Any links posted must lead to the website the link indicates. Links that are misleading or direct to a site different than the one indicated are not allowed.

 

Some troll posts and replies have been removed. 

7 hours ago, keith101 said:

The photo says it all , talk to the hand it has more brains than i do .

But its quite tricky to see the hand as its so dainty and tiny.

2 hours ago, DrTuner said:

Dude, grab China by the balls and initiate returning the factories from China back to West, now is the time to go for the jugular.

Just the simple job of getting US workers to work for $1/hour 60 hours a week in these factories. Isn't that why they went there in the first place?

Banging a gong is much cheaper than paying a living wage.

Sadly the lack of socialised medicine and with a CinC who is few cents short of a dollar the US is going to experience its greatest trauma of this century by far and the some. China by contrast is showing how to slow this down (and it's very brutal) and may emerge the eventual partial 'victor' in this 'war' on the virus. I also expect many of the rich and famous will go to ground whilst they weather the storm and normal American folk will see that many of their emperors have no clothes. Buy when the Dow falls 50% from peak which I fully expect it to do. This is the vicious , nasty logic of the virus and I wish it weren't so. 

9 hours ago, zydeco said:

And the one million test kits that Trump's CDC promised for this week?  Pence now says 75,000. Maybe. This is a total fiasco. Remember these words from Trump '“We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China,” Trump said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." “It’s going to be just fine.”' 

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/22/trump-chinese-coronavirus-totally-under-control-102054 The US is actually handling this emergency worse than Thailand. America would be better off with Prayuth in charge than Trump. How's that for a reality check.

17 minutes ago, earlinclaifornia said:

To be fair Groucho Marx was funnier and I'm sure he would have been a better President than The Real(tor) Donald J. Trump and he knew his bananas. That Pandemic organization that Trump axed as a cost saver may end up costing many thousands of American lives sadly. But hey ho democracy and all that who needs experts when you have a sharpie. 

 

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies. (Groucho) 

Edited March 6, 20206 yr by URMySunshine

56 minutes ago, mrfill said:

Just the simple job of getting US workers to work for $1/hour 60 hours a week in these factories. Isn't that why they went there in the first place?

Banging a gong is much cheaper than paying a living wage.

Automation, automation and even more automation. We're in the middle of the 4th industrial revolution. Put that on steroids.

Hellooo Donald. The hit is already here, and it's going to get worse. What are you going to do when you can't get antibiotics from China anymore?

6 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Hellooo Donald. The hit is already here, and it's going to get worse. What are you going to do when you can't get antibiotics from China anymore?

We all know he is a germaphobe when the reality hits him which it will sooner rather than later with sledgehammer ferocity he will go to ground and the US will need to do a '25th' on him. Thing is it will have to be a Trump/Pence double hit. No name rich folk get to hunker down in their isolated full prepped med log cabins and wait for a vaccine. After all what is the point in being rich if you die. 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/10/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-epidemic.html

Edited March 6, 20206 yr by URMySunshine

He said that he saw more safety precautions being taken in China than in the US and that officials understood the gravity of the situation.
Seeing how differently the Chinese and US governments handled the outbreak convinced him that he felt safer in China than he does on American soil.

 

Time to call Time on Trump. 

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-outbreak-covid19-self-quarantine-us-safer-china-2020-3?r=US&IR=T