Snopes Is Claiming Trump Never Called Coronavirus a Hoax

[erpowers]

During a Feb. 28, 2020, campaign rally in South Carolina, President Donald Trump likened the Democrats' criticism of his administration's response to the new coronavirus outbreak to their efforts to impeach him, saying "this is their new hoax." During the speech he also seemed to downplay the severity of the outbreak, comparing it to the common flu.

Snip

Trump held the rally on Feb. 28 on the eve of the South Carolina Democratic primary, which former Vice President Joe Biden ultimately won. During his roughly one-hour, 20-minute commentary, Trump hit back at his political opponents in the Democratic Party for their critiques of his administration’s handling of a potential pandemic.

Snip

In context, Trump did not say in the passage above that the virus itself was a hoax. He instead said that Democrats’ criticism of his administration’s response to it was a hoax. He muddied the waters a few minutes later, however, by comparing the number of coronavirus fatalities in the U.S. (none, at that point in time) to the number of fatalities during an average flu season, and accusing the press of being in “hysteria mode”:

Snip

Trump did however downplay the scale of the virus and the danger it posed to the public. At the time he made his remarks, the U.S. had 57 confirmed coronavirus cases, 40 of which came from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which experienced an outbreak of the virus. And health officials were warning that the spread of the virus domestically was “inevitable.”

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-coronavirus-rally-remark/

[LizBeth]

1. That is true, I recognized long ago. But was close enough in language, how his people picked

it up and has carried it for months without any correction from Trump, so I never had an issue with giving Trump the hoax thing. But language wise, snoop is right.

[Ms. Toad]

11. Agreed. n/t

[intrepidity]

14. Same for me

It bothered me until he didn't disavow that interpretation.

[LizBeth]

16. I want to stay honest so in conversation when I talk about Trump, this has never been one I use.

[TwilightZone]

18. Agreed.

There are enough legitimate things to criticize him for without perpetuating a poor interpretation of what he said.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. I Disagree With Their Interpretation

Last edited Fri Oct 2, 2020, 02:48 PM - Edit history (1)

There approacj requires applying nuance to a person for whom much of the appeal was an abject lack of same.
In fact(!) the words "hoax" & "coronavirus" were used in close proximity in the same sentence.
Snopes is parsing words without grasping connotation

[LizBeth]

22. I agree and that is why I never spoke up or argued with a person when they attributed it to Trump.

[Ms. Toad]

26. Same here. n/t

[kimbutgar]

2. My Qanon 23 year old nephew told me Snopes was a Democratic site and was deep state

When I pointed out some of the inaccuracies of MF45 and conspiracy theories.

Now this cracks me up.

Sorry Smopes MF45 said it numerous times the virus was a hoax.

[Codeine]

5. He actually never said that.

He definitely ran right up to the boundary of calling it that but always stopped short. He has a certain low cunning in that way.

[LenaBaby61]

7. "Sorry Snopes MF45 said it numerous times the virus was a hoax."

He surely did call it a Democrat hoax. Snopes is starting to make mistakes.

Trump calls coronavirus Democrats' 'new hoax'

Feb. 28, 2020, 6:10 PM PST / Updated Feb. 28, 2020, 7:24 PM PST
By Lauren Egan

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — President Donald Trump accused Democrats of “politicizing” the deadly coronavirus during a campaign rally here on Friday, claiming that the outbreak is “their new hoax” as he continued to downplay the risk in the U.S.

“Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus,” Trump said. “They have no clue, they can't even count their votes in Iowa.”

“This is their new hoax,” Trump continued, adding that attacking the White House’s response to the coronavirus had become the Democratic Party’s “single talking point.”

Trump has weaponized the word “hoax” throughout his presidency, using it to belittle and discredit former special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election interference as well as his impeachment trial. He also has a long history of distrusting experts, most notably his own intelligence community and government scientists.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-calls-coronavirus-democrats-new-hoax-n1145721

[Caliman73]

3. That is how Trump operates.

He is not a very intelligent person, but he is talented at obfuscating. He uses weasel words and turns of phrase which help him to technically avoid outright lying.

Snopes is correct. He did not say directly that the Coronavirus was a Hoax in that, it is not a real condition. His words were meant to imply that the situation was not serious, and that the Democrats were reacting just to try to hit him politically. He said it that way so that he could avoid direct scrutiny.

I think that there shouldn't be such a focus on him calling Coronavirus, a hoax. The focus should be on the many many ways that he failed the American people from that day to the present. In the 7 months since that rally, more than 210,000 Americans died because of his lack of leadership, and his active politicization of the pandemic. Whether he technically called the virus itself a hoax or not, is almost irrelevant. He treated the virus as if it were not serious, even when he knew it was. He failed to lead and hundreds of thousands of Americans are dead because of that.

[chriscan64]

31. Exactly, you may not find the precise words spoken by him on video.

The way he implies things leaves no doubt to the rally mob, or anyone else. Take the "20 names for the virus" meme for example. The spoken part was just that, the huge unspoken part is that the whole thing was slapped together by the left wing/media cabal, therefore not true. "Protesters are thugs" is another one. He never has to say "black people are thugs" to get that meaning across.

[Mad Lib]

4. And yet

Every single one of his maggots heard him say "hoax". Sometimes the intent and context of the words is more telling than the dictionary definition

[dutch777]

6. Sure must suck to get bit on the a** by a hoax!

I wouldn't want to be mean and say he's so deserving. But this does prove there can be Justice and there is a God!

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

8. And Al Gore never claimed to have invented the internet.... Oh well... nt

[Miguelito Loveless]

9. Snopes parses language very carefully

Technically, Trump never called Ted Cruz's wife "ugly", he just posted a picture of her and Melania and made a suggestive remark.

This is why we need to ALWAYS be precise in our language.

[lame54]

10. That's how I always took it

[Crunchy Frog]

12. He manipulated his language in such a way that people would think that's what he said.

It's absolutely what he wanted his cult to think they heard, and most of them did.

[ismnotwasm]

13. He didn't

I don’t know why people think he did.

He’s still an irresponsible sociopath

[SlogginThroughIt]

25. He has said it is THEIR NEW HOAX.

So yes he is saying it is a hoax.

[Lucinda]

28. Yep. I'm sure I saw it in a tweet

I seem to remember "Democratic Hoax"

[uponit7771]

15. "..**its** their new hoax.."

[JHB]

17. True, but in the very same technical sense where Bush never connected Saddam to 911

The both simply talked in ways where the audience would draw that conclusion. Followed by reinforcement by supporting pundits who felt free to say it directly.

It's a difference without meaning, a lie told in the parsing.

[crickets]

29. This. It's propaganda by implication - expertly directed, but

all the more powerful itself for being nebulous and imprecise. Intentional vagueness leaves an out for later: "No, you misunderstood! I didn't actually say that." Maybe not, but everyone knew that's what you meant. It's insidious and trump is lamentably good at it.

[matt819]

20. I didn't realize this

If they're right, fine. A little too nuanced an interpretation for me, but if that's the way they characterize it, okay.

Here's the next question. Who in the WH or Congress has called it a hoax. Or was that our imagination?

[ffr]

21. Don't believe your eyes and ears.

[crickets]

30. 00:26 - "This is their new hoax."

He frames it very carefully, although unfortunately there is an audio cut there. Still. It's the seed that grew later and I think he knew exactly what he was doing when he said it.

[Midnight Writer]

23. As Frank Luntz says "It's not what you say that counts, it's what people hear".

[Bad Thoughts]

24. He compared it to the "impeachment hoax" ...

... which he equally said was not there and not important. He was definitely signaling that the danger was less present than it really was.

[cry baby]

27. That interpretation is generous to trump. nt

[rusty fender]

32. A distinction without a difference

And Sarah Palin never said that she could see Russia from her house, but most people believe she said it. It is what it is

[Towlie]

33. Interesting.

Snopes says "Despite creating some confusion with his remarks, Trump did not call the coronavirus itself a hoax. "

A claim that someone said something is provable as long as evidence exists, but a claim that someone never said something is almost always impossible to prove, so it's surprising that Snopes said that.

Snopes isn't what it used to be.

Mikkelson has stressed the reference portion of the [original] name Urban Legends Reference Pages, indicating that their intention is not merely to dismiss or confirm misconceptions and rumors but to provide evidence for such debunkings and confirmation as well. Where appropriate, pages are generally marked "undetermined" or "unverifiable" when there is not enough evidence to either support or disprove a given claim.

[kcr]

34. I sometimes get shit when I denounce Snopes, but this is exactly why I do

They are sloppy at best.