Philip Bump: “It was exactly six months ago Wednesday when the spread of the coronavirus in the United States had become too significant for President Trump to wave away. He and several members of the team planning the administration’s response held a press briefing designed to inform the public about the virus and, more importantly, to allay concerns.”
“This was the briefing in which Trump made one of his most wildly incorrect assertions about what the country could expect. ‘The level that we’ve had in our country is very low,’ Trump said, referring to new confirmed infections, ‘and those people are getting better, or we think that in almost all cases they’re better, or getting. We have a total of 15. We took in some from Japan — you heard about that — because they’re American citizens, and they’re in quarantine.'”