Harry Shannon
In a remarkable press briefing today, President Donald Trump told reporters that he had predicted the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
Trump had been widely ridiculed for a tweet he made on 31 May, 2017 just after midnight. It read: ‘Despite the constant negative press covfefe” and there was much speculation on what the word ‘covfefe’ meant.
In fact, Trump had tweeted a few hours later: ‘Who can figure out the true meaning of ‘covfefe’ ??? Enjoy!’ Today Trump told reporters that no one had figured out that it was not a word, but an abbreviation. It stood for: ‘COVID forecast early, forecast early.’
Trump added: ‘When you’re a genius like me, a very great genius, a genius among geniuses, you don’t realise that other people aren’t smart enough to keep up with my thinking. Obviously not the fake media or the Democrats, and not even Fox news or other Republicans. None of you could figure it out.’
When reporters pointed out that early in the pandemic Trump had called the virus a hoax, Trump replied: ‘I was being sarcastic. I was saying that if I had made my prediction clear back in May, all you fake news reporters would have told me it was a hoax. But you’re not smart enough to keep up with a very great genius.’