Recount assembled Trump's statements about coronavirus -- all downplaying it, some calling it an outright hoax -- and put them in a nice calendar so you can see the exact point where we were always at war with Eastasia.
Facts First: From January until last week, Trump consistently minimized the risk the coronavirus posed to the country. He claimed to have the virus under "control," that the number of US cases would go "down, not up," that the virus might "disappear" through a "miracle" or something of the sort, that the virus might well vanish by April with the warmer weather, that the media and Democrats were overhyping the situation, and that "this is their new hoax," leaving it unclear whether he was calling the virus itself a hoax.
The pundits who praise him after a single becalmed press event are worse than Trump. They know he'll immediately exit the stage to go back to ranting on Twitter or at one of his rallies. They know what they're doing, too, and why they're doing it: for access, prestige, professional advancement, and all the other perks of the courtier.