Trump news: White House claims world sees US as a leader on coronavirus as row with Nascar driver Bubba Wallace escalates
Donald Trump’s White House has claimed the rest of the world views the US as a “leader” in the coronavirus pandemic despite leading with record-level Covid-19 cases and
In a social media livestream on Monday, the nation's leading infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said the latest spike should not be "considered a wave".
"It was a surge, or a resurgence of infections superimposed upon a baseline that really never got down to where we wanted to go," he said.
But the president has insisted that "Lamestream Fake News Media" refuses to show that Covid-19-linked deaths have declined, and that "we now have the lowest Fatality (Mortality) Rate in the World" and are "doing so well".
The US mortality rate isn't anywhere near the bottom – deaths per 100 confirmed cases are at 4.5 per cent, and deaths per 100,000 capita are at nearly 40, according to Johns Hopkins University.
More than 130,000 Americans have died, far more than any country. The death toll is more than double that of Brazil, the second deadliest country.
Mr Trump began his week by lashing out at Nascar driver Bubba Wallace, statue protesters and China after being criticised for his divisive Mount Rushmore address on Friday, in which he attacked left-wing activists and defended Confederate generals, with senator Tammy Duckworth denouncing him for ignoring the country’s 130,000 coronavirus fatalities.
Mr Wallace – from whom the president demanded an apology after claiming that an incident in which a noose appeared on his garage was a "hoax" – offered his rebuke: "Love over hate every day. Love should come naturally as people are TAUGHT to hate. Even when it's HATE from the POTUS."
The White House refused to answer why Mr Wallace should apologise.
Mr Trump has meanwhile claimed that crime rates are spiralling in New York City and Chicago and offered federal assistance to curtail it while again attacking Fox News for broadcasting “phoney suppression polls” showing him trailing Joe Biden in the election race.
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