How fucking petty....

'It is what it is,' Trump says of rising coronavirus deaths as he insists outbreak is 'under control'

William Cummings and Courtney Subramanian

President Donald Trump said his administration has done an "incredible" job handling the coronavirus pandemic and that despite rising deaths the outbreak is "under control," in a wide-ranging and contentious interview that aired on HBO Monday night. 

Axios National Political Correspondent Jonathan Swan began the interview by asking Trump if his sometimes "wishful thinking" and "salesmanship" was suitable in a crisis that has killed more than 155,000 people in the U.S. 

"I think you have to have a positive outlook, otherwise you would have nothing," Trump said. As he frequently has done in defending his record on the pandemic, the president pointed to the travel restrictions he imposed on China and Europe, arguing hundreds of thousands – a number he later put in the "millions" – more would have died without those actions. He added that even one death was too many. 

"Those people that really understand it, that really understand it, they said it's incredible the job that we've done," Trump said. 

"Who says that?" Swan asked, but Trump continued to talk about the China travel ban. Swan pointed out that the virus was already in the U.S. by the time Trump issued the ban. 

Swan pressed Trump on whether his positive spin on outbreak – telling people the outbreak is under control and not to worry about wearing masks – could be putting people in danger by "giving them a false sense of security." 

"I've covered you for a long time. I've gone to your rallies. I've talked to your people. They love you. They listen to you," Swan said. "They don't listen to me, or the media or (Dr. Anthony) Fauci. They think we're fake news. They want to get their advice from you."

"Many of them are older people, Mr. President," Swan added. 

Trump responded to that criticism by saying he thinks the outbreak is "under control." Swan asked how he could say that as the average number of daily deaths had climbed back up to over 1,000. 

"They are dying, that's true. And it is what it is," Trump said. "But that doesn't mean we aren't doing everything we can. It's under control, as much as you can control it." 

Trump on John Lewis' legacy: 'He didn't come to my inauguration'

Later in the interview, Trump declined to praise the late civil rights icon John Lewis, who died last month from pancreatic cancer, as his three predecessors did at the Democratic congressman's funeral.

Swan asked Trump how he thought history will remember Lewis, a leading member of the civil rights movement who was jailed and endured police beatings, spoke at the historic March on Washington and was a member of the original Freedom Riders.

"I don't know. I don't know John Lewis. He chose not to come to my inauguration," Trump said. "I never met John Lewis, actually, I don't believe."

Lewis skipped Trump's inauguration in 2017, arguing that he didn't see him as a "legitimate" president because of Russian interference in the 2016 election. He also refused to attend events with Trump including the dedication of a civil rights museum in Mississippi.

The interview took place last week while Lewis was lying in state at the Capitol, where Republicans and Democrats alike paid tribute to the congressman's three decades of service and his fight against discrimination and segregation of Black Americans. Former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama delivered remarks at his funeral in Atlanta. Trump did not pay his respects at the Capitol nor did he attend Lewis's funeral.

The president shrugged off the civil rights icon's record when asked if he found him impressive.

"I can't say one way or the other. I find a lot of people impressive. I find many people not impressive, but no, he didn't come to my inauguration," he said. "He should've come. I think he made a big mistake."

When pressed to put the pair's strained relationship aside and offer his thoughts on Lewis' legacy, Trump relented: "He was a person that devoted a lot of time and a lot of heart to the civil rights. But there were many others, also."

Trump again claimed during the interview that he's done more for Black Americans than any president, including Lyndon B. Johnson, who passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

The president, however, said he had "no objection" to a call to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where Lewis marched with voting rights activist in 1965, after the Georgia congressman.