Trump defends holding campaign rallies amid spread of coronavirus
The president says it is still safe to have large gatherings of his supporters amid growing concerns over the coronavirus spread; Kristin Fisher reports from the White House.
President Trump boasted of his administration’s work in combating the coronavirus during a campaign rally in Charlotte, N.C. Monday evening, while laying into Democrats and his political rivals for trying to “politicize” the outbreak.
Trump promised that there will soon be a vaccine ready to deal with the deadly virus and said that his administration is working hard to contain the current outbreak in the United States.
“My administration has taken the most aggressive approach in American history to deal with coronavirus,” Trump said on stage at the Bojangles Coliseum. “We have strong borders and our tough and early actions have proven 100 percent right”
He added: “We closed our borders very early to certain countries. We took a lot of heat ... Washington Democrats are trying to politicize the coronavirus.”
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Trump’s comments came after a day of meetings with pharmaceutical company executives and his coronavirus task force, and as more infections of the virus were reported across the country. During his meeting, Trump pressed pharmaceutical executives to quickly develop a vaccine, but even the most optimistic predictions don’t see one coming to market for months.
The threat of the virus didn’t deter fans of Trump from attending Monday’s rally, where people in the stands shared buckets of chicken fingers and dunked their hands into shared vats of popcorn while they awaited the president's arrival.
The coronavirus outbreak has killed more than 3,100 people around the world and upended life for many others. In the U.S., the number of infections has surpassed 100, with six dead. Federal officials have not advised against large gatherings in the U.S., leaving that to local officials.
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In Congress, bipartisan negotiations are nearly complete on a bill that would allocate $7 billion to $8 billion in emergency funding to battle the virus, according to both Democratic and GOP aides. The measure appears on track to be unveiled as early as Tuesday, and the hope is to speed it quickly through both House and Senate by the end of the week.
During his rally, Trump also touted Monday's stock market rebound, which followed after all three indices had plummeted last week due to fears of the economic impact of the coronavirus.
“We just had the largest one day increase in the stock market in history,” he said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared nearly 1,300 points, or 5 percent, Monday as stocks roared back from a seven-day rout on hopes that central banks will take action to shield the global economy from the effects of the coronavirus outbreak. The huge gains clawed back some of the ground lost last week in a massive sell-off that gave stocks their worst stretch since the financial crisis of 2008.
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Trump opened his rally going right after his two main Democratic rivals – mocking former Vice President Joe Biden’s recent verbal flubs and labeling Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as a “radical socialist.”
“There is not a lot of enthusiasm for Biden,” Trump said. “I thought he gave up the presidency the other day because he said he was running for the Senate.”
He added: “Today he said Super Thursday.”
Trump’s jabs are in reference to comments Biden made on the stump last week in which he said he was running for the Senate, as well as Monday’s gaffe when he said “Super Thursday” instead of “Super Tuesday.”
The president did admit that Sanders’ campaign has attracted large numbers of supporters to the Vermont senator's rallies but said it was not as large as his before challenging the media’s cameras to pan around the arena in Charlotte.
“Crazy Bernie does have some enthusiasm, but not as much as we have,” he said.
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Trump’s appearance in the Tar Heel State comes on the eve of the Super Tuesday primaries and on a day when the battle for the Democratic nomination appeared to coalesce around Sanders and Biden following the departure from the race of Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg also pinning his hopes on Super Tuesday, but he trails both frontrunners in the polls.
North Carolina, a perennial swing state, is among the 14 states, along with one territory and voters abroad, that will cast their ballots Tuesday, races that represent about a third of all Democratic delegates.
Trump's rally in Charlotte follows his campaign’s pattern of churning out robust counter-programming throughout the Democratic nominating process. In recent weeks, the president has held rallies in each of the four early voting states for the presidential nomination.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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