Trump Claims "We've Stopped" The Spread Of The Virus. "Take It Easy, We're Doing Great." Scientists Expect Between Tens Of Millions And 215 Million Americans Will Be Infected, With A Possible Death Toll As High As 1.7 Million. "I'm Not Concerned, OK?"

Donald Trump said these words on Sunday, March 15:

Take it easy, just relax. We're doing great, it all will pass. ...

Let's put it this way, I'm not concerned, OK? ... You see what's going on. ... We've stopped it. ...

I used to be in the real estate business, as you've probably heard. ... I built beautiful buildings ... The Democrats won't be having rallies, but nobody showed up to their rallies anyway ... My rallies are very big. They're very big rallies ... We have a big one in Tampa ... We had over 100,000 requests for tickets. ...

People have -- you know, we call it cases, how many cases do you have. ... We have very strong emergency powers under the Stafford Act. ... I have it memorized, practically, as to the powers in that act. ... You have to remember, the stock market is still much higher than when I got here. ... I don't want people dying. That's what I'm all about. ...

I think it's going to work out very well for everybody.

What do you say after hearing something like that? What can you say? Trump's news conference was a dung heap of nonsense and lies, when he wasn't praising himself for doing such a great job (but those were lies, too). He also had no clue how many deaths there have been in the US.

On a day numerous American cities announced severe and unprecedented restrictions, as the cases and deaths from Covid-19 increased drastically around the world, Donald Trump again showed that it is impossible to over-estimate what a clueless, classless, uncaring and uncomprehending moron he is, has been, and always will be.

"The country of 350,000,000 people has next-to-zero tests because I deliberately refused to make them a priority over two months ago and thus allowed this virus to spread wildly as I lied every day and insisted it was merely a plot to bring me down, but, hey, now that things have gotten completely out of control, take it easy, just relax. It's gonna work out great for everybody! Well, not the dead people (blame Obama for that), but everybody else."

On January 22, 2020, when Trump first publicly mentioned the virus, its severity, having spread to five countries at that point, was well-known. The Very Stable Genius (with the big abrain) brushed it aside: "It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine."

David Leonhardt of the New York Times writes:

In the weeks that followed, Trump faced a series of choices. He could have taken aggressive measures to slow the spread of the virus. He could have insisted that the United States ramp up efforts to produce test kits. He could have emphasized the risks that the virus presented and urged Americans to take precautions if they had reason to believe they were sick. He could have used the powers of the presidency to reduce the number of people who would ultimately get sick.

He did none of those things.

I've reviewed all of his public statements and actions on coronavirus over the last two months, and they show a president who put almost no priority on public health. Trump's priorities were different: Making the virus sound like a minor nuisance. Exaggerating his administration's response. Blaming foreigners and, anachronistically, the Obama administration. Claiming incorrectly that the situation was improving. Trying to cheer up stock market investors. ...

Now that the severity of the virus is undeniable, Trump is already trying to present an alternate history of the last two months. ...

Trump now seems to understand that coronavirus isn't going away anytime soon. But he also seems to view it mostly as a public-relations emergency for himself rather than a public-health emergency for the country. ...

Around the world, the official virus count has climbed above 142,000. In the United States, scientists expect that between tens of millions and 215 million Americans will ultimately be infected, and the death toll could range from the tens of thousands to 1.7 million.

At every point, experts have emphasized that the country could reduce those terrible numbers by taking action. And at almost every point, the president has ignored their advice and insisted, "It's going to be just fine."

On February 25, Trump said: "There's a very good chance you're not going to die."

Those words were not reassuring then and they are even less so now. As a direct result of Trump's ignorance and indifference, because of his constant lies, many Americans are going to die and those deaths would have been preventable. Many Americans are going to die for one reason only: Trump was afraid of looking as if he did not know everything.

Trump is convinced he's the smartest guy in the world, on any subject, yet he proves every day that he is frighteningly out of his depth regarding all aspects of his job.

In July 2019, Trump could not even sit in a chair for a few minutes and pretend to care as Nadia Murad, a Yazidi women, told of being forced into sexual slavery. When she told Trump her mother and six brothers had been murdered, Trump actually replied: "Where are they now?"

Roger Cohen, a columnist for the New York Times, wrote that when Murad spoke at the White House:

[Trump sat his desk,] an uncomprehending, unsympathetic, uninterested cardboard dummy. He looks straight ahead for much of the time, not at her, his chin jutting in his best effort at a Mussolini pose. He cannot heave his bulk from the chair for this brave young woman. He cannot look at her.

Every now and again, in a disdainful manner, he swivels his head toward her and other survivors of religious persecution. ...

Toward the end of the exchange, Trump asks Murad about her Nobel Prize. "That's incredible," he says. "They gave it to you for what reason?"

"For what reason?" Murad asks, suppressing with difficulty her incredulity that nobody has briefed the president. Nobody can brief this president. It's pointless. He knows everything. "I made it clear to everyone that ISIS raped thousands of Yazidi women," she says.

"Oh really?" says Trump. "Is that right?" ...

I have watched the Murad-Trump exchange several times. It is scary. This president is inhuman. Something is missing. In his boundless self-absorption, he is capable of anything.

Yes. Trump is capable of anything ... except caring for anyone other than himself. He is devoid of humanity and incapable of empathy. The concept of considering the needs of another person - not actually doing anything to alleviate pain or suffering, but merely considering what someone else is going through - is utterly foreign to him. Affection for another person is likewise something he has never felt.

He has no class, no wisdom, no sensitivity. He possesses neither charm nor humility nor self-awareness. Nothing witty or even mildly amusing has ever passed his lips. A joke to him is a crass comment, demeaning insult, or random act of cruelty. He does not laugh; rather, he jeers and mocks. His self-worth is shackled to his addiction to bully everyone around him. And it is the vulnerable and voiceless whom he most enjoys humiliating.

These are the traits that cause people to put Trump in the same category alongside history's other sociopaths. While Trump's crimes may not yet match the atrocities of other evil men, his callousness most certainly does. He has shown beyond all question that he could - and he would - match their heinous acts if only given the chance.