President Donald Trump sought to calm the nation's growing economic panic Monday by blaming the media and Democrats for fanning the flames of coronavirus fears, while praising the massive drop in oil prices as "good for the consumer."
Trump applauded the near 30% dip in oil prices over the weekend, which contributed to a massive sell-off on Wall Street that at one point took more than 2,000 points from the market.
"Good for the consumer, gasoline prices coming down!" he wrote on Twitter.
He added, "Saudi Arabia and Russia are arguing over the price and flow of oil. That, and the Fake News, is the reason for the market drop!"
This followed Trump's earlier comments on coronavirus:
"The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant. Surgeon General, 'The risk is low to the average American.'"
The president also retweeted a video clip of Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who is in his mid-40s, in which he said the 73-year-old Trump "sleeps less than I do and he's healthier than what I am."
Trump later added, "Great job being done by the @VP and the CoronaVirus Task Force. Thank you!"
"The BEST decision made was the toughest of them all - which saved many lives. Our VERY early decision to stop travel to and from certain parts of the world!" he said in another tweet.
The coronavirus strain COVID-19 has infected more than 111,000 people worldwide and has killed nearly 4,000. The U.S. had 566 cases as of Monday morning, and 22 Americans have died of the virus that started in Wuhan, China.
Trump said that the flu is much more deadly than the coronavirus, and yet "life & the economy go on."
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