President Trump is the narrator of the Lincoln Project's latest ad against him.
Titled "Failure," it presents a brutal timeline of his response to the coronavirus crisis, beginning with Trump stating on Jan. 22, "We have it totally under control. One person coming in from China. It's going to be just fine." From there, the messages are similarly nonchalant, with Trump saying on Feb. 25 the country is "very close to a vaccine" and declaring on Feb. 27, "One day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear."
As the ad continues, and Trump calls the coronavirus a "new hoax" (Feb. 28) and asks if injecting disinfectant could get rid of it (April 23), a tally appears, showing the U.S. death toll from the virus. It goes up steadily, and reaches 113,000 around June 20, when Trump is shown telling supporters in Tulsa that he has done "a phenomenal job" leading the country through the pandemic.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The ad ends on July 21, with a clip of Trump standing in front of reporters during his first coronavirus briefing in months. The pandemic, he says, will "probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better. That's the way it is." In a comment under the video on YouTube, the Lincoln Project refers to the coronavirus as #TrumpVirus, and says, "We could have won, but our 'wartime' president surrendered." Watch the ad below. Catherine Garcia
-
What to know before turning to AI for financial advicethe explainer It can help you crunch the numbers — but it might also pocket your data
-
Book reviews: 'The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Affliction—and a Search for Relief' and 'Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run'Feature The search for a headache cure and revisiting Springsteen's 'Born to Run' album on its 50th anniversary
-
Keith McNally' 6 favorite books that have ambitious charactersFeature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
-
Trump expands National Guard role in policingSpeed Read The president wants the Guard to take on a larger role in domestic law enforcement
-
Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa CookSpeed Read The move is likely part of Trump's push to get the central bank to cut interest rates
-
Abrego released from jail, faces Uganda deportationSpeed Read The wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego García is expected to be detained at an ICE check-in and deported to Uganda
-
Trump arms National Guard in DC, threatens other citiesspeed read His next targets are Chicago, New York and Baltimore
-
Judge: Trump's US attorney in NJ serving unlawfullySpeed Read The appointment of Trump's former personal defense lawyer, Alina Habba, as acting US attorney in New Jersey was ruled 'unlawful'
-
Third judge rejects DOJ's Epstein records requestSpeed Read Judge Richard Berman was the third and final federal judge to reject DOJ petitions to unseal Epstein-related grand jury material
-
Texas OKs gerrymander sought by TrumpSpeed Read The House approved a new congressional map aimed at flipping Democratic-held seats to Republican control
-
Israel starts Gaza assault, approves West Bank planSpeed Read Israel forces pushed into the outskirts of Gaza City and Netanyahu's government gave approval for a settlement to cut the occupied Palestinian territory in two
