Trump Insists US Has “Prevailed” On Testing, Storms Off Stage After Heated Argument With Reporter

Update (1850ET): In the face of the MSM’s relentless campaign to “get” Trump on a question about America’s admittedly less-than-ideal (some would say appallingly hamfisted) effort to roll out testing capacity, the president continued to insist that the US had “prevailed” on testing.

While the administration has come a long way since February, testing will always be remembered as the critical lapse that resulted in the virus becoming as widespread as it has.

Trump bragged about the US’s testing rate, with the CDC having counted  more than 9 million tests to date. And Trump’s testing czar, Admiral Brett Giroir, said that “everybody who needs a test can get a test,”  including those who have symptoms and those who have had contact with positive individuals.

Trump took it a step further and seemed to promise (in response to a reporter’s nagging questions) that all Americans who felt uncomfortable about returning to the workplace could be tested every day (something the US is unlikely to have the capacity to pull off any time soon).

Trump also sought to contain the fallout from the White House staffers who have tested positive (earlier, the West Wing staff were instructed to wear masks at all times except when at their desks).

The president took questions for nearly 40 minutes, but the briefing ended suddenly after Trump clashed with reporters from CBS News and CNN with whom he has previously sparred.

Weijia Jiang of CBS asked Trump, who frequently compares the United States’ testing ability and mortality rate to other countries, why the statistics surrounding the virus are a “global competition to you?”
“Well, they’re losing their lives everywhere in the world, and maybe that’s a question you should ask China,” Trump responded. “Don’t ask me, ask China that question, OK? “When you ask that question you may get a very unusual answer.”

“Why are you saying that to me specifically?” asked Jiang, who was born in China and raised in West Virginia.

“I’m not saying it specifically to anybody, I’m saying it to anybody that would ask a nasty question like that,” Trump replied, before moving on to another reporter.

Then, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins persisted in trying to ask a question, even as Trump tried to call on some one else. Trump fumbled for an excuse about why he didn’t want to call on her (does he really need one?), then abruptly walked off stage. 

Trump ends news conference amid clashes with journalists, after suggesting an Asian American reporter should “ask China” pic.twitter.com/4cmksFhfYu

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 11, 2020

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President Trump and the White House task force will deliver a press conference Monday – what could be the first real team briefing since the task force ended their regular briefings two weeks ago – to talk about aid to help the states ramp up testing efforts.

ABC News reports that Trump is “expected to push his view that there is enough testing for states to reopen, even as the White House is instituting increased testing and considering other new precautions over fears that the novel coronavirus has invaded the cramped offices of the White House West Wing.”

Watch below:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSpLulyxXJE]