Promises Made, Promises Broken: 4 Trump Doozies On COVID-19 Response

By Wednesday of this week, more than 1 million Americans had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus , and nearly 60,000 had died more than the U.S. death toll during the 20-year Vietnam War. The number of people who applied for unemployment surpassed 26 million, and a resumption of normal activity was still months away for much of the country.

But in President Donald Trumps alternate universe, all was well. During an appearance that morning with Trumps allies at Fox & Friends, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner declared victory over the pandemic.

The federal government rose to the challenge, Kushner said on the White House lawn. This is a great success story.

The claim was as absurd as it was out of touch, the latest in the Trump administrations weekslong effort to first downplay the pandemic and later deflect blame and weave a tale of revisionist history. Along the way, the president and his team have told a slew of lies and made sweeping promises that it has proven unable to keep.

Heres a look at some of Trumps biggest whoppers:

Maximum Of 60,000 Deaths

A month ago, as the pandemic swept the nation, Trump cited worst-case death toll projections in a clear attempt to set himself up for success. During a White House briefing March 29 in the Rose Garden, he referenced modeling that found there could be between 1.6 million and 2.2 million fatalities in the U.S. if no containment measures were taken.

If we could hold that down, as were saying, to 100,000 its a horrible number, maybe even less but to 100,000, so we have between 100 and 200,000, we all together have done a very good job, he said

Then last week, with the U.S. death toll at 42,000, Trump moved the target again, predicting a maximum of 60,000 Americans would fall victim to the disease and making clear he wants credit.

We did the right thing, because if we didnt do it you would have had a million people, a million and a half people, maybe 2 million people dead, Trump said April 20. Now, were going toward 50, Im hearing, or 60,000 people.

The U.S. death toll now stands at 63,019, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. A model the White House often cites projects U.S. deaths from COVID-19 could top 74,000 by August .

\"If we lose 65,000 people\" -- Trump has moved the goalposts from no deaths to fewer deaths than the Swine Flu to 60,000 deaths & now to 65,000 or 70,000 deaths.

He's positioned himself to proclaim any death toll smaller than 2 million Americans as a reflection of his good work. pic.twitter.com/y0pOhf3iEE

Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 29, 2020","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Aaron Rupar","author_url":"https://twitter.com/atrupar","cache_age":86400,"description":"\"If we lose 65,000 people\" -- Trump has moved the goalposts from no deaths to fewer deaths than the Swine Flu to 60,000 deaths & now to 65,000 or 70,000 deaths. 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"If we lose 65,000 people" -- Trump has moved the goalposts from no deaths to fewer deaths than the Swine Flu to 60,000 deaths & now to 65,000 or 70,000 deaths.

He's positioned himself to proclaim any death toll smaller than 2 million Americans as a reflection of his good work. pic.twitter.com/y0pOhf3iEE
Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 29, 2020

As a sign of how much Trump has moved the goalposts, all of those ridiculous claims still pale in comparison to his assessment of the coronavirus outbreak two months ago.

When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, thats a pretty good job weve done, he said at a White House press conference Feb. 26. Zero is quite a bit lower than 60,000 or 2.2 million. That didnt stop Trump from repeatedly restating his wildly false assertion that the virus would soon magically go away, most recently on Tuesday .

Weve Tested More Than Every Country Combined.

A shortage of COVID-19 tests has plagued the Trump administrations response to the pandemic, ultimately costing the health care system precious time.

In early March, as stories of people being denied tests mounted, Trump declared that anybody that needs a test gets a test. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White Houses coronavirus task force, contradicted the president during a congressional hearing days later, describing the lack of available tests as an ongoing failure.

Trump also promised Americans that drive-through testing would be widespread at Walmart, CVS and other major retailers. The goal is for individuals to be able to drive up and be swabbed without having to leave your car, Trump said at a March 13 press conference .

He added that Google was very quickly developing a website for checking symptoms and locating testing sites. Verily, a subsidiary of Googles parent Alphabet, poured cold water on Trumps claim, issuing a statement that said the website was in early development and would be initially tested in the San Francisco Bay area with the hope of expanding more broadly over time.

Verily did launch a website, but screenings remain limited to people in select cities in nine states. Meanwhile, the retailers Trump mentioned during his March 13 address have been slow to get drive-through testing up and running. As of Monday, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, Rite Aid and Target were operating a total of approximately 100 testing sites around the country, CNBC reported . And companies have warned that the ability to ramp up testing is dependent on the availability of supplies and labs to process tests.

Without widespread testing, it is impossible to know how the virus is moving throughout the country and where to prioritize resources to slow the spread.

We had a chance to contain this outbreak, but we didnt, Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told ABC News. And as a result of that testing failure, over 60,000 Americans are dead and our economy has been shut down. It didnt have to be this way.