As the coronavirus pandemic first loomed over and then raged through the U.S., President Donald Trump gave the public a heavy dose of happy talk to sweep away any worries.

We have it very much under control in this country. Its going to be just fine. Its one person coming in from China. [W]ere doing a great job with it. [I]ts going to have a very good ending for us. Were in great shape. We have 12 cases 11 cases, and many of them are in good shape now. Just stay calm. It will go away. And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero. Its going to disappear. One day its like a miracleit will disappear.

Trumps sunny statements as the pandemic accelerated its spread in the nation have been criticized as another example of his rampant lying or the result of his vast ignorance and inability to understand the concept of public health . Theres an additional explanation for these statements: Trump is a lifelong student and proponent of the power of positive thinking.

That type of thinking can be dangerous, as it proved to be in this health crisis. Had Trump acted sooner, rather than try to actualize the virus away, he could have actually saved lives. But its a philosophy thats been drilled into Trumps head since childhood one he turned into part of his own personal brand. And not even a global pandemic thats killed tens of thousands of Americans on his watch will make him abandon it.

As a child, Trump attended the midtown Manhattan Marble Collegiate Church where the famous pastor and self-help guru Norman Vincent Peale preached a doctrine of positivity. Peale blended evangelism, free-market capitalism, psychology and snake-oil salesmanship in his 1952 best-seller The Power of Positive Thinking.

His three-step program to Prayerize, then Picturize, and then, Actualize, could turn people whose lives were very bad into very good people. He also offered mantras and strategies of self-hypnosis designed to help the reader pull themselves up by their self-esteem. Business elites flocked to buy his book and attend his church, including real estate tycoon Fred Trump and his middle son.

Peale was, the greatest speaker I think Ive ever witnessed, Donald Trump told the Christian Broadcasting Network in 2015. Trumps affinity for Peale has been noted by many publications including The New York Times , Politico and The New Republic .

Donald would demonstrate positive thinking throughout his life, as it became a true habit of his heart, Michael DAntonio wrote in his 2015 Trump biography Never Enough. His projects and creations would always be, in his words, the best and the greatest, and when reminded of failures or inconsistencies in his claims, he would respond with phrases like, Yeah, whatever and race on to describe another of his achievements. Positive thinking all the way.