Eric Trump, son of the president and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, spewed a series of conspiratorial claims in a Fox News appearance on Saturday night, claiming that the coronavirus will “magically all of a sudden go away” once Democrats can no longer use it to their political advantage. In an interview with host Jeanine Pirro, per Fox News, Trump suggested that coronavirus-imposed restrictions like stay-at-home orders are part of a “cognizant strategy” to hurt his father’s campaign and that the Democrats “are trying to milk this for everything they can” to get an advantage in the upcoming election.
When asked how the lockdown will impact the elections, he said Democrats “think they’re taking away Donald Trump’s greatest tool, which is being able to go into an arena and fill it with 50,000 people every single time,” something his father’s political opponents will continue to “deprive him of” until the election. “They’ll milk it every single day between now and November 3rd, and then guess what? After November 3rd, coronavirus will magically all of a sudden go away and disappear and everybody will be able to reopen.”
Trump claimed that the lockdown is something “Biden loves” given that he “can’t go on stage without making some horrible blunder,” adding that “even from his basement, he’s making awful gaffes every day. So his campaign is thrilled that he’s not going out there.”
Eric’s brother, Donald Trump Jr., also made wild claims about the former vice president on Saturday in a social media post suggesting Biden to be a pedophile. The president’s son posted a picture on Instagram that said “see you later, alligator” alongside an image of an alligator replying “in a while, pedophile,” which the New York Times notes to be an attack “that illustrates the tactics the president is turning to as he attempts to erase Mr. Biden’s early advantage in key state polls.” Don Jr. later defended his post as a joke when a journalist called attention to it on Twitter, though he added that “if the media doesn’t want people mocking and making jokes about how creepy Joe is, then maybe he should stop the unwanted touching and keep his hands to himself.”
In an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, host Jake Tapper asked Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar about Eric’s remarks, which Azar refused to directly address. “I know you know that’s not true,” Tapper told Azar, referencing Trump’s claims that the virus will disappear after the election. As the Daily Beast reports, Azar took a “both-sides approach” to Eric Trump’s statements, telling Tapper that he thinks “hyperbolic rhetoric on any side is not appropriate” as “these aren’t partisan issues. This is just health and economic welfare for our citizens.” Tapper pressed Azar for a more direct refutation of the conspiracy theorizing: “But you would agree that governors did not take these steps to shut down their states because they were trying to hurt President Trump,” Tapper asked. “They were trying to protect the lives of their citizens.” Azar again avoided directly responding to Eric Trump’s claims, telling Tapper “I find that it’s better not to try to impugn individuals’ motives” and praised the “superb working relationships with governors across the country” that he, the president, and the vice president have had, “whether red state or blue state.”
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