Joking Or Not, Trump’s ‘Slow The Testing Down’ Statement Stands Out From Tulsa Rally

The Associated Press: Trump Suggests US Slow Virus Testing To Avoid Bad Statistics
President Donald Trump said Saturday he’s asked his administration to slow down coronavirus testing because robust testing turns up too many cases of COVID-19. Trump told supporters at his campaign rally that the U.S. has tested 25 million people, far more than any other country. The “bad part,” Trump said, is that widespread testing leads to logging more cases of the virus. “When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases,” Trump said. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’ They test and they test.” (Freking, 6/21)

CNN: White House Officials On The Defensive After Trump Says He Wanted Testing Slowed Down 
"You know testing is a double-edged sword," Trump said while complaining about press coverage of his handling of the virus. Claiming the US has now tested some 25 million people, he added: "Here's the bad part ... when you do testing to that extent, you're going to find more people; you're going to find more cases. So I said to my people, slow the testing down please." It was a stunning revelation given that nearly 120,000 people have died in the United States from the coronavirus and medical experts have long said that testing is critical to identifying cases, tracing them and stopping the spread of the virus. (Reston, 6/21)

NBC News: Trump Officials Defend Coronavirus Testing Comments, Rally Turnout
Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," top White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Trump's comment "was tongue-in-cheek." "Come on now. Come on now. That was tongue-in-cheek. Please," Navarro said. "I know it was tongue-in-cheek. That's news for you, tongue-in-cheek."Navarro later called the comment "a light moment" for Trump "in a rally." (Smith, 6/21)

The Hill: Trump Quips That He Told Aides To 'Slow The Testing Down' For Coronavirus
The president's remark appeared to be in jest and came during a lengthy riff on the coronavirus. But he has previously made similar remarks indicating he believes widespread testing, which is recommended by public health experts, can be problematic because it leads to higher case counts. (Samuels, 6/20)

Reuters: Trump Urges Slowdown In COVID-19 Testing, Calling It A 'Double-Edge Sword'
Trump said his actions in blocking travelers from China and Europe had helped save “hundreds of thousands of lives.” But he said the “radical fake news” media had not given him credit for doing what he called “a phenomenal job” responding to the outbreak. (6/21)

The Washington Post: With ‘Kung Flu,’ ‘Thugs,’ And ‘Our Heritage,’ Trump Leans On Racial Grievance As He Reaches For A Campaign Reset 
He referred to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus as the “kung flu.” He called racial justice demonstrators “thugs.” He attacked efforts to take down Confederate statues as an assault on “our heritage.” And in an ominous hypothetical, he described a “very tough hombre” breaking into a young woman’s home while her husband is away. President Trump has long used his raucous rallies to road test potential campaign themes and attack lines. And while much attention on his Saturday night appearance in Tulsa focused on the sparse turnout for his first rally since the pandemic ended mass gatherings, Trump’s litany of racially offensive stereotypes sent a clear signal about how he plans to try to revive his flagging reelection effort. (Del Real, 6/21)

The New York Times: The President’s Shock At The Rows Of Empty Seats In Tulsa
The president, who had been warned aboard Air Force One that the crowds at the arena were smaller than expected, was stunned, and he yelled at aides backstage while looking at the endless rows of empty blue seats in the upper bowl of the stadium, according to four people familiar with what took place. ... Exactly what went wrong was still being dissected on Sunday. But a broad group of advisers and associates acknowledged to one another that Mr. Trump had not been able to will public opinion away from fears about the spread of the coronavirus in an indoor space. (Haberman and Karni, 6/21)

The Hill: Pelosi On Trump Testing Remarks: 'The American People Are Owed Answers'
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday that Americans are owed answers about President Trump's claim during his rally on Saturday that he asked aides to “slow the testing down.” Pelosi called for answers from the White House coronavirus task force members who are expected to testify in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday. “The American people are owed answers about why President Trump wants less testing when experts say much more is needed,” she said in a statement. (Coleman, 6/21)

The Washington Post: Democrats, Public Health Experts Decry Trump For Saying He Asked Officials To Slow Down Coronavirus Testing
President Trump’s Saturday night remark that he asked officials to “slow the [coronavirus] testing down" sparked harsh rebukes from experts and frustration from his own staffers, who say it undercuts their efforts to reassure Americans as the disease surges around the country. The president’s comment, which came on the same day that eight states reported their highest-ever single-day case counts, drew a chorus of criticism from congressional Democrats and public health officials, who worry the president is more concerned with saving face than combating the pandemic. (Abutaleb, Telford and Dawsey, 6/21)

Politico: Trump Trade Adviser: Rally Comment On Reducing Covid Testing Was Just A Joke
Trump has made similar remarks in the past, but never as explicitly and from as large a platform as on Saturday night. The White House has since said multiple times that the president was joking. "Come on. It was a light moment," Navarro said. There have been more than 2 million cases of coronavirus diagnosed in the United States, causing more than 120,000 deaths. (Choi, 6/21)

The New York Times Fact Check: Trump’s Tulsa Rally: Covid-19, Protesters And Biden
In his first mass rally in months, President Trump touched on everything from the coronavirus pandemic to military spending to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the presumptive Democratic nominee. Here’s a fact-check. (Qiu and Epstein, 6/20)

ABC News: The Note: 'Testing' Line Haunts Trump More Than Crowd Size
President Donald Trump is focused on optics -- and on grievances. The realities of rally attendance sting inside a campaign focused on making the candidate proud. But Trump's heralded return to the campaign trail could be remembered for something the president said rather than how many people showed up. Trump said Saturday night in Tulsa that he has done a "phenomenal job" controlling COVID-19 -- which he at one point called by the racist term "Kung Flu" -- and complained that testing was making him look bad. (Klein and Parks, 6/22)

In other news on the White House's pandemic response efforts —

Stat: Trump’s Dismissiveness Could Prolong Covid-19 Pandemic, Experts Warn
The White House is taking a new position on the coronavirus pandemic: a daily count of 750 deaths is a testament to the federal government’s successful pandemic response. On Wednesday, when U.S. health officials reported nearly 27,000 new Covid-19 cases, President Trump said in a television interview that the virus was “dying out.” He brushed off concerns about an upcoming rally in Tulsa, Okla., because the number of cases there is “very miniscule,” despite the state’s surging infection rate. In a Wall Street Journal interview Wednesday, Trump argued coronavirus testing was “overrated” because it reveals large numbers of new Covid-19 cases, which in turn “makes us look bad,” and suggested that some Americans who wear masks do so not only to guard against the virus, but perhaps to display their anti-Trump animus. (Facher and Joseph, 6/18)

NBC News: DHS Secretary Says U.S. Is 'Doing A Great Job' At Reopening Despite Spikes
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said Sunday that the U.S. is doing a "great job" at reopening during the coronavirus pandemic, even as rising caseloads across the country have prompted concern from public health officials. In an interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press," Wolf praised the "dramatic steps" he said President Donald Trump took to slow the spread of the virus. And he said guidance from the White House coronavirus task force is helping put states in positions to open "in a safe and reasonable way." (Kamisar, 6/21)

Politico: Acting Homeland Security Leader Defends White House Response To Coronavirus
Despite rising numbers of coronavirus infections, acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf said Sunday that states are reopening in “a safe and reasonable way. ”Wolf said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the White House task force worked day and night to issue guidance for a careful economic reopening: “And I think that’s what we’re seeing.” (Dugyala, 6/21)

WBUR: As The Culture Wars Shift, President Trump Struggles To Adapt
Culture wars have been part of American politics for decades. Hot-button issues like immigration, family values and respect for the American flag can get a more powerful reaction from voters than dry debates over taxes or Medicare. But at a time when the country continues to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, an economic recession and, above all, heightened levels of racial unrest, the culture wars are changing, and Trump, who has always relished a fight over white identity and culture is struggling to adjust. (Liasson, 6/20)

ABC News: Approval Of Trump's Coronavirus Response Underwater, As He Returns To Campaign Trail: POLL 
A solid majority of Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus, even as he returned to the campaign trail with a rally Saturday night that marked his first major event since the pandemic began, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday finds. His approval now stands at 41%, similar to the 39% approval rating he received the last time the question was asked in a poll two weeks ago. Trump's disapproval now stands at 58%, compared to 60% last time. (Karson, 6/21)