There’s a viral clip flying around this morning of President Trump’s interview with Sean Hannity last night which accuses him of telling people with coronavirus that’s it safe to go to work.
The problem with the clip, however, is that it’s just not true. From President Trump:
I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work. This is just more Fake News and disinformation put out by the Democrats, in particular MSDNC. Comcast covers the CoronaVirus situation horribly, only looking to do harm to the incredible & successful effort being made!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2020
Here’s the clip via Vox’s Aaron Rupar where the president says:
What the president said:
"Because a lot of people will have this and it's very mild. … So if, you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better, just by you know, sitting around and even going to work, some of them go to work, but they get better." https://t.co/1L01LRc8ni
— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) March 5, 2020
Now, that’s entirely different than what Rupar tweets: “Suggests it’s fine for people w/Covid-19 to work.”
It’s “some of them go to work” with the virus vs. “it’s fine for people” to go to work. You may hate the president’s impreciseness, but that’s not the same thing. Watch for yourself:
In this clip, Trump:
1. Denies WHO's coronavirus death rate based on “hunch"
2. Calls coronavirus "corona flu"
3. Suggests it's fine for people w/ Covid-19 to go to work
4. Compares coronavirus to "the regular flu," indicating he doesn't get the difference pic.twitter.com/uC9c03zX31— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 5, 2020
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So, even though President Trump didn’t say it was safe to go to work, he’s still wrong?
He sure didn’t say they SHOULDN’T go to work https://t.co/Nw8zvMQxg6 https://t.co/NP20IMY4qF
— Dan Froomkin/PressWatchers.org (@froomkin) March 5, 2020
They even admit Trump is right:
No, not exactly, but…From the transcript of the interview on “Hannity” last night: “If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better…” More… https://t.co/B6xZXCeNbV
— Paul Farhi (@farhip) March 5, 2020
Do better, media:
THIS is what I was JUST saying on the Brian @kilmeade Show… https://t.co/7z4ZyZiIHy
— Joe Kelley (@talkradiojoe) March 5, 2020
But we will note that people who have defended the president in the past like Geraldo Rivera and Piers Morgan were not happy with how he phrased it with Hannity:
God I hope that’s not true. If you’re sick, stay home. Wash your hands. Delay spread as long as possible and offer huge rewards for first to find effective vaccine https://t.co/XH6ayUwh9d
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 5, 2020
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Editor’s note: This post has been updated with an additional tweet.
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