Completion Date: 18 March 2020
Medium: Paint on cardboard
Dimensions: 16 X 20 inches
President Donald Trump on Tuesday 17 February 2020 insisted that he had never underestimated or under-appreciated the seriousness of coronavirus. But for two months, he and some members of his administration downplayed the global threat even as world events and government and outside experts made clear that the health and economic impacts of this disease would be dire.
Here are some of those comments:
JAN 22: “We have it totally under control. … It’s going to be just fine.”
JAN 30: “We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five. And those people are all recuperating successfully. But we’re working very closely with China and other countries, and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for it. So that I can assure you.”
FEB 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. … Stock market starting to look very good to me”
FEB 25: “You may ask about the coronavirus, which is very well under control in our country. We have very few people with it, and the people that have it are … getting better. They’re all getting better. … As far as what we’re doing with the new virus, I think that we’re doing a great job.”
FEB 26: “And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”
FEB 28: “It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
MARCH 2: “We had a great meeting today with a lot of the great companies and they’re going to have vaccines, I think relatively soon.”
MARCH 6: “Anybody that needs a test, gets a test. They’re there. They have the tests. And the tests are beautiful.”
MARCH 6: [Holding rallies] “doesn’t bother me at all.”
MARCH 9: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on.”
