Trump Admits To Ordering Virus Testing Slowed Down To Keep Cases Numbers Low – And Once Again, We Are Told He Was "Obviously Kidding", Making A Joke In "A Light Moment"

While speaking at a sparsely-attended rally in Tulsa yesterday, Donald Trump stated he had ordered coronavirus testing in the United States to be deliberately slowed down because of the rising number of cases.

In a rant about the unfairness of the media, Trump admitted:

You know testing is a double-edged sword. ... Here's the bad part ... when you do testing to that extent, you're going to find more people; you're going to find more cases. So I said to my people, slow the testing down please.

Trump: When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people. You’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people slow the testing down please. pic.twitter.com/RalPJeVH0F

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) June 21, 2020

Trump's admission was both shocking and not. It's always somewhat surprising when Trump publicly admits to abnormal and inhumane behaviour, but it happens so frequently that we have become somewhat immune to it. The longer Trump talks in public, the greater the chances are that he will say something extremely offensive or damning or inappropriate. Trump is so stupid, so self-obsessed, and so mentally damaged that he no longer understands what he should and should not say in public.

And so, once again, various flunkies were ordered to convince everyone that what they heard was not what they heard.

On Saturday night, an administration official told CNN that Trump was "obviously kidding".

On Sunday, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union": "Come on now, that was tongue in cheek. That was a light moment for him at a rally."

Navarro was lying, of course. But even assuming Trump was kidding, only a deranged sociopath would make repeated jokes about a virus that has killed more than 122,000 Americans in less than four months (due largely to the deranged sociopath's deliberate inaction).

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, speaking on CBS's "Face the Nation", said Trump was frustrated at the media's and the public's focus on the number of cases and deaths, "frustration in the sense of that we are testing ... Instead, the press and others, all they want to focus on is an increasing case count."

Yeah. Imagine that. ... People are concerned about the numbers of cases and deaths. It's telling that even Trump's close associates find that strange. Of course, Trump has said some variation of that comment numerous times over the last few months, in complete seriousness every time.

Wolf also said that Trump's recent threat to "have bombs dropped" on John Bolton was meant "from a humor standpoint, a joking standpoint".

For someone who has never shown evidence of possessing a sense of humor, Trump sure does seem to joke around a lot. If he is supposedly such a "straight-shooter" who "tells it like it is" and he has "the best words", why does he need to have everyone around him explain to the world what he actually means?

JM Rieger of the Washington Post compiled a list of 17 statements by Trump that have had to be explained as a joke or simply not serious.

Inviting Russia to find and release Hillary Clinton's emails

Praising the release of hacked emails by WikiLeaks

Shooting someone on Fifth Avenue and not losing voters

Suggesting "Second Amendment people" could stop Hillary Clinton from appointing judges

Calling former president Barack Obama the "founder of ISIS"

Asking Americans to "sit up at attention" when he speaks

Suggesting he could be "president for life"

Calling Democrats' refusal to cheer at his State of the Union address "treasonous"

Telling police officers to not "be too nice" with suspects

Praising a congressman for assaulting a reporter

Saying it would be "easy" to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act

Floating becoming more "presidential"

Touting a higher IQ than that of his secretary of state

Calling himself "the chosen one" in trade negotiations with China

Floating pardons to administration officials who break the law

Sometimes, even after officials have tried to explain the comments away, Trump, being a complete moron, undermines those claims. For example, the day he suggested pardoning aides, Trump also undercut his aides, tweeting that reports he was not serious were fake news: "The Amazon Washington Post and @CNN just did a Fake Interview on Pardons for Aids on the Wall."

In 2016, two days after calling Barack Obama the "founder" of ISIS, Trump said: "Obviously, I'm being sarcastic. But not that sarcastic, to be honest with you."

On October 3, 2019, Trump spoke on the White House South Lawn about former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter: "China should start an investigation into the Bidens, because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine."

A few Republicans struggled to defend Trump's requests for Ukraine and China to investigate Joe Biden. Others avoided saying anything. Marco Rubio was asked twice if Trump's comment was appropriate. He avoided the questions twice. Montana Senator Roy Blunt was asked three times; he dodged the question three times. Jim Jordan was asked 11 times (in 11 minutes) about Trump's request. He refused to answer 11 times.

More recently, Trump claimed he was being sarcastic when he suggested people could inject household cleaners such as bleach into their bodies to ward off the coronavirus.

Trump has "joked" about not leaving the White House, either if he loses in 2020 or after his limit of two terms are up, an incredible 30 times, including 22 times over a nine-month period last year.

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Trump supporters are really trumpeting the fact that he can hold a glass of water with one hand and successfully drink from it.

— James Surowiecki (@JamesSurowiecki) June 21, 2020