CORONAVIRUS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: [Greta Van Susteren: “Mr. President, last February it was reported that you said that you had downplayed the coronavirus. And then recently you said that you have up-played it. So downplayed or up-played?”]
“It’s totally a mischaracterization, and it just keeps going on and on and on and nothing. I don’t want people to panic. So I’m not going to stand out there and say, ‘Oh, everyone’s going to die. Everyone’s going to die.’ I’m the leader of a country, it’s so ridiculous.
Winston Churchill, when he stood in buildings, he was saying how wonderful everything was and be brave and fight and be smart and don’t panic. In the meantime, bombs were being dropped down on London. So what I said was exactly perfect.”
-Donald Trump as quoted by Factbase, “Interview: Greta Van Susteren Interviews Donald Trump at The White House – September 16, 2020,” fact.se, Sep. 16, 2020