According to President Donald Trump, the spike in cases of coronavirus being seen in at least 40 states has nothing to do with his administration’s failure to deal with the disease months ago or the fact that many states opened up too early (at his urging), and can instead be blamed on Black Lives Matter protesters, Mexicans, and young people drinking in bars.

At the Wednesday edition of his newly resurrected coronavirus press briefing on Wednesday, the president asserted that the reason California, Florida, and Texas are seeing 10,000 new COVID-19 cases each day is first and foremost the fault of protesters, even though he provided no evidence of his specious claim:

“Cases started to rise in young Americans shortly after demonstrations, which you know very well about, which presumably triggered a broader relaxation of mitigation efforts nationwide, and a substantial increase in travel.”

However, a quick look back at videos of protesters after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 shows that the vast majority of those who took to the streets to call for racial justice wore protective masks, which stands in stark contrast to the president, who only recently began calling on Americans to wear a face covering.

The president then turned to Americans who had gathered on Memorial Day at bars and beaches to celebrate, suggesting they had also played a role in exacerbating spread of the virus:

“Increased travel on holidays such as Memorial Day … Young people closely congregating at bars, and probably other places. Maybe beaches, four or five different listed places.”

Of course, Trump conveniently neglected to mention the Independence Day events he held at Mount Rushmore and the White House, both of which hosted thousands of MAGA faithful, most of whom didn’t wear masks or practice social distancing.

And then the president resorted to one of his favorite tropes: Blaming Mexico:

“We’re also sharing a 2000 miles border with Mexico as we know very well and cases are surging in Mexico, and all across the rest of the Western Hemisphere.”

Actually, cases of coronavirus are trending downward in both Mexico and the Western Hemisphere. The lone standout among Western nations is the United States, which has just surpassed 146,000 deaths from COVID-19.

The blame for how COVID-19 has decimated the United States lies solely with Donald Trump and his administration. But to hear him tell it, everyone else has caused the crisis. As usual, the thin-skinned Narcissist-in-Chief is trying to pass the buck instead of accepting his own failure to protect the country.

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