The RNC is presenting a revisionist history of Trump's coronavirus response

Nurse Amy Johnson Ford.
(Image credit: Courtesy of the Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 Republican National Committee via Getty Images)

The Republican National Convention is painting a rosy picture of President Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic, praising his leadership despite the United States leading the world with more than 5.7 million confirmed cases and at least 177,176 deaths.

Amy Johnson Ford, a nurse from West Virginia, said that telehealth has been "essential" during the pandemic, since it allows people to stay home and not have to go into a doctor's office. She stated that Trump "recognized the threat this virus presented for all Americans early on, and made rapid policy changes. And as a result, telehealth services are now accessible to more than 71 million Americans, including 35 million children." The Washington Post notes that this figure is "a theoretical maximum" which "depends on all states taking up a series of recommendations from the Trump administration. The numbers simply reflect total enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP programs jointly run by states and the federal government."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.