Communication of the Trump administration during the COVID-19 pandemic
The Donald Trump administration communicated in various ways during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, including via social media, interviews, and press conferences with the White House Coronavirus Task Force.[1][2][3] Opinion polling conducted in mid-April 2020 indicated that less than half of Americans trusted health information provided by Trump and that they were more inclined to trust local government officials, state government officials, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci.[4][5][6]
President Trump was publicly optimistic through much of the pandemic;[7] at times his optimistic messaging diverged from that of his administration's public health officials.[8] From January to mid-March 2020, Trump downplayed the threat posed by COVID-19 to the United States, as well as the severity of the outbreak.[9][10][11][12] Trump did, however, place restrictions on travel from China on January 31.[13] From February to May, Trump continually asserted that COVID-19 would "go away".[14][15] The CDC waited until February 25 to first warn the American public to prepare for a local outbreak of the virus.[16] In March 2020, the administration began conducting daily press briefings at the White House,[17] where Trump was the dominant speaker.[18]
Trump repeatedly made false statements regarding the pandemic.[19] He took messaging advice from Fox News hosts like Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs, both of whom he dialed into Oval Office meetings.[20] Trump exaggerated the impact of measures taken by his government and the private sector,[10] understated the projected time to produce a vaccine, recommended uncontrolled transmission in pursuit of herd immunity until a vaccine was developed,[21][22] and promoted unapproved treatments such as hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine.[10] In such instances, scientists including Anthony Fauci,[23][24] Michael Osterholm,[25][26] and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (director-general of the World Health Organization)[27] publicly countered his message with correct information.[28] Trump also frequently reversed his stances in his communication, leading to mixed or contradictory messaging.[29] He sometimes denied his own public statements.[30][31]
Trump repeatedly blamed others for the severity of the outbreak.[32] The most frequent targets of his criticism were Democrats, followed by the media, state governors, and China (where the virus originated).[18] Trump went from praising China in January regarding their transparency in response to the Chinese outbreak, to criticizing China in March for a lack of transparency, to criticizing the World Health Organization in April for praising China's transparency.[33][34]
In October 2020, Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19. The outbreak affected many people affiliated with the White House, including his wife Melania Trump, former Presidential Counselor Kellyanne Conway, and Presidential Counselor Hope Hicks.
Mitigation measures and policies[edit]
Implementing restrictions[edit]
In his first comment on COVID-19 in a major address, Trump in his February 4 State of the Union pledged that his "administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat".[132] On February 28, Trump stated that "we are doing everything in our power to keep the infection and those carrying the infection from entering the country. We have no choice."[133]
On March 11, 2020, after the WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, President Trump delivered an Oval Office address. In his speech, Trump stated that his administration was "marshaling the full power of the federal government and the private sector to protect the American people". He announced that the United States was "suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days", except travel from the United Kingdom, and including "the tremendous amount of trade and cargo". Trump also listed several economic policy proposals designed to provide tax relief for workers, aid small businesses, and fight the spread of the virus. Trump declared that insurance companies "have agreed to waive all co-payments for coronavirus treatments". After the speech, America's Health Insurance Plans clarified the waivers were only for tests, not for treatments, but by March 10 treatment was also covered. Trump also clarified that said trade was still approved under the travel restrictions, and administration officials clarified that American citizens or legal permanent residents or their families were not affected.[134] Trump praised his administration's response to the "foreign" virus while stating that "a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travelers from Europe." He closed the speech by calling for less partisanship during the pandemic and praising Americans' response to adversity.[135][136]
On March 16, President Trump and the Coronavirus Task Force released new recommendations based on CDC guidelines for Americans, titled "15 Days to Slow the Spread". These recommendations included physical distancing and hygienic instructions, as well as directions to the states in dealing with school closures, nursing homes, and common public venues.[137][138]
On March 28, Trump raised the possibility of placing a two-week enforceable quarantine on New York, New Jersey, and "certain parts of Connecticut" to prevent travel from those places to Florida.[139] The federal quarantine power is limited to preventing people reasonably believed to be infected with a communicable disease from entering the country or crossing state lines.[140] Later that day, following criticism from the three governors, Trump withdrew the quarantine proposal. Instead, the CDC issued a travel advisory advising residents of the three states to "refrain from non-essential domestic travel for 14 days effective immediately".[141]
On April 1, Trump falsely asserted that Americans were being tested for COVID-19 as they got on and off planes and trains.[142][143]
On April 2, Anthony Fauci stated: "I don't understand why" some states still had yet to implement stay-at-home orders. By April 3, the states of Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota had not implemented any such orders, while the states of Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming had implemented stay-at-home orders in some regions of the states, but not state-wide.[144]
On September 16, Attorney General Bill Barr characterized lockdowns as a serious civil rights violation: "Other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history." House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn criticized the comparison, stating that it was "the most ridiculous, tone-deaf, God-awful thing I've ever heard."[145]
Before Thanksgiving, Deborah Birx advised Americans to limit holiday gatherings to "your immediate household." She did not follow this advice herself; the day after Thanksgiving, she traveled to a vacation property where she spent time with her daughter's family.[146]
Lifting restrictions[edit]
On March 22, Trump indicated a desire to scale back physical distancing measures: "We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself." A day later, he argued that economic problems arising from physical distancing measures will cause "suicides by the thousands" and "probably more death" than COVID-19 itself. He declared that the United States would "soon, be open for business", in a matter of weeks.[147][148] During a virtual Fox News town hall on March 24, Trump stated restrictions had been "very painful for our country and very destabilizing. He expressed a desire to have the country "opened" within two weeks, anticipating "beautiful" and "packed" church services for Easter (April 12).[149][150]
A survey of prominent economists by the University of Chicago indicated that abandoning a lockdown prematurely would do more economic damage than maintaining it.[151] Law and economics scholars argued that the lockdowns were justified based on a cost-benefit analysis.[152][153] On the March 26 episode of Hannity, Trump stated that there were plans to classify states by COVID-19 risks, possibly allowing for measures to be lifted on a regional basis.[154]
Despite stating in a previous briefing that he preferred to have mitigation measures be controlled by individual states because it was compatible with the Constitution, Trump claimed at the April 13 briefing that he had the ultimate authority to order the end of restrictions, saying "the president of the United States has the authority to do what the president has the authority to do, which is very powerful. The president of the United States calls the shots."[155] Three days later, Trump backtracked on his assertions, and assured governors that they would be able to "call [their] own shots."[156]
On April 17, Trump made posts on Twitter reading "LIBERATE MICHIGAN", "LIBERATE VIRGINIA" and "LIBERATE MINNESOTA", in support of protests over responses and stay-at-home orders issued by the Democratic governors of these states (including the Lansing, Michigan protest). The posts were made after Fox News's America's Newsroom aired a segment that covered these protests, implicating that he was reacting to it in real-time (as he has with other Fox News programs, such as Fox & Friends).[157][158] Later that day, a reporter asked whether he thought those states should end their stay-at-home orders. He replied, "No, but elements of what they've done are too much." When Trump was asked if he was worried that protester gatherings would inadvertently spread the coronavirus, he replied that the protesters "seem to be very responsible people".[159] A day earlier, Trump commented: "They seem to be protesters that like me and respect this opinion, and my opinion is the same as just about all of the governors. They all want to open. Nobody wants to stay shut, but they want to open safely. So do I."[160]
On April 17, the White House released their "Opening Up America Again" blueprint. Later on May 13, the Associated Press reported that the CDC had also written guidance on lifting restrictions, which was not released to the public. The CDC's recommendations were more specific and more restrictive than the White House's recommendations. The White House plan recommended that "non-essential travel can resume" after 28 continuous days of decreasing COVID-19 cases, whereas the CDC plan stated that resuming non-essential travel will only be under "consideration" after 42 consecutive days of decreasing COVID-19 cases. The CDC plan recognized that COVID-19 cases would likely surge when restrictions are lifted, and local authorities would need to stringently monitor their communities, but the White House plan did not. The White House plan offered non-specific recommendations to protect "workers in critical industries" and "the most vulnerable", whereas the CDC plan recommended using demographic information to find out where COVID-19 cases are more likely to increase faster.[161]
On April 20, Fauci warned that the protests against stay-at-home orders could "backfire" if a spike in cases followed an early lifting of restrictions. Fauci argued against the protests, stating that "unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery, economically, is not gonna happen."[162] On May 1, Trump described Michigan protesters against stay-at-home orders as "very good people" who are "angry". Some of those protesters had brought rifles into the Michigan State Capitol. Trump called on Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer to "make a deal" with the protesters.[163] On May 3, White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx stated that it was "devastatingly worrisome" that some protesters across the U.S. were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing. She warned that these protesters may "go home and they infect their grandmother or grandfather who has a comorbid condition".[164]
The CDC developed more than 60 pages of step-by-step guidelines for reopening businesses, including "decision trees" to help business owners decide whether it was safe to reopen. It sought White House approval to publish the guidelines, anticipating a publication date of May 1. The document was called the "Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework." However, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) told the CDC they could not publish it. The White House asked for the document to state more directly "when" to reopen and "how" to safeguard health; they did not want the decision trees that addressed whether to reopen. Part of the CDC's document (17 pages)[165] was leaked on May 7, and the rest was identified on May 8.[166][167]
After Anthony Fauci warned against reopening schools too fast, President Trump responded on May 13 that he was "surprised" by Fauci's comments, stating that "it's not an acceptable answer". He accused Fauci of wanting "to play all sides of the equation". Trump declared that "schools are going to be open", while "the only thing that would be acceptable" is to delay the return of older educators for a few weeks. Trump declared that students were "in great shape" and the statistics for them regarding COVID-19 were "pretty amazing". Trump acknowledged that "something" may happen to students, but asserted that: "You can be driving to school and some bad things can happen too."[168][169]
On July 8, Trump declared an intent to pressure state governors into ensuring that schools would be open to in-person classes for the next semester and "cut off funding" if they didn't, alleging that Democrats wanted to keep schools closed for political reasons going into the election. Trump also criticized the CDC's guidelines for schools as being "very tough and expensive". During the day's briefing, Mike Pence subsequently announced that the CDC would "[issue] a new set of tools, five different documents that will be giving even more clarity on the guidance going forward." The next day, CDC director Robert Redfield stated that these documents would be supplemental to its existing guidelines, denying accusations that they were to be modified outright due to pressure from Trump.[170][171][172]
In August, Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist from the Hoover Institution, became a White House pandemic adviser. He supported lifting restrictions and letting the coronavirus spread, while continuing to protect some vulnerable people (for example, those who live in nursing homes), so that most of the population would develop "herd immunity."[173]
Medical supplies[edit]
Around late February, Stephen Hahn, the head of the FDA, warned of national medical supplies being disrupted due to the outbreak.[3]
On March 16, Trump told state governors that for medical equipment including respirators and ventilators, "We will be backing you, but try getting it yourselves."[286] On March 24, Trump said state governors who wanted help from the federal government "have to treat us well, also", because "it's a two-way street"; he warned against governors arguing "we should get this, we should get that."[287] Trump said the Governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, "shouldn't be relying on the federal government"; Inslee replied that the President should enact a "national mobilization of the industrial base in this country" to produce medical supplies.[288]
On March 27, Trump said governors should be "appreciative" of himself, his administration, the Vice President, FEMA, the Army Corps, and several other agencies. Trump said "These people are incredible. They're working 24 hours a day. Mike Pence—I mean, Mike Pence, I don't think he sleeps anymore." Trump said he had advised Vice President Mike Pence, "If they don't treat you right, I don't call," adding "Mike, don't call the governor of Washington. You're wasting your time with him. Don't call the woman in Michigan. All—it doesn't make any difference what happens." Trump added that Pence would call them anyway.[289] Governor Whitmer of Michigan, who had previously argued that "the federal government did not take this seriously early enough," responded that her state still needed personal protective equipment, ventilators, masks and test kits.[290] On March 29, Trump denied that he had told Pence not to call certain governors: "I don't stop Pence," he said.[30]
On the prevalence of medical supplies, Trump made unsubstantiated claims that "many of the states are stocked up," with certain hospitals "holding ventilators, they don't want to let 'em up."[291] Trump has also questioned the exponential increase in mask demand during the pandemic and suggested that the reason for the shortage was masks "going out the back door".[291][292] As evidence, the White House pointed to an early March call by Cuomo to investigate people who steal medical products.[293] While there have been reports of small-scale thefts of hand sanitizer, gloves and masks around the country, Cuomo and New York hospitals rejected Trump's claims.[293]
On April 3, Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser, stated regarding medical supplies that "what you have all over the country is a lot of people are asking for things that they don't necessarily need at the moment ... you have instances where in cities, [ventilators are] running out, but the state still has a stockpile [of ventilators]. And the notion of the federal stockpile was it's supposed to be our stockpile; it's not supposed to be state stockpiles that they then use."[294][295] At the time that Kushner made his remarks, they were contradicted by the Department of Health and Human Services website, whose description of the federal stockpile explicitly stated that "state, local, tribal, and territorial responders" could request federal assistance through the stockpile.[294][295] The website description was changed after journalists reported on the contradiction.[294][295]
In April and continuing into May,[209] Trump made multiple false claims that the Obama administration left him a "stockpile with a cupboard that was bare" or "empty". The Strategic National Stockpile for medical supplies was reported by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in 2016 to have around $7 billion worth of products, of which there were over 900 kinds. An NPR reporter, Nell Greenfieldboyce, visited a Strategic National Stockpile warehouse in June 2016, describing "shelves packed with stuff stand so tall that looking up makes me dizzy". In November 2019, the director of the stockpile at the time, Greg Burel, stated that the stockpile was worth $8 billion. After his retirement in January 2020, Burel stated that the stockpile "didn't receive funds to replace those masks, protective gear and the anti-virals" used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic in the United States. Due to limited funds, Burel said that the stockpile instead chose to "invest in those lifesaving drugs that would not be available from any other source, in the quantity needed, and in time". The Trump administration itself "largely waited until mid-March" 2020 to start buying large quantities of face masks, ventilators, and other medical equipment, reported the Associated Press.[208][296][297]
Also in early April, the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report describing that U.S. hospitals in late March reported that long patient stays due to long waits for tests results were putting a strain on other resources, such as hospital beds, personal protective equipment and staffing. There were "widespread shortages" of personal protective equipment, and "shortages of critical supplies, materials, and logistics", including intravenous therapy poles and food.[210][211]
On May 1, Trump bragged that his administration has "solved every problem ... quickly", including "the masks and all of the things", and "ensured a ventilator for every patient who needs one".[212] Making the case for his reelection at the Republican National Convention on August 27, he said, "Not a single American who has needed a ventilator has been denied a ventilator, which is a miracle."[298]
International matters[edit]
China and the World Health Organization[edit]
On January 22, Trump was asked by the media a question on regarding allegations of a lack of transparency regarding the outbreak in China: "Do you trust that we're going to know everything we need to know from China?" Trump answered: "I do. I do. I have a great relationship with President Xi."[33] On January 24, Trump wrote on Twitter: "China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!"[34]
On February 7, when Trump was asked by the media if he was "concerned that China is covering up the full extent of the coronavirus" outbreak in their country, Trump replied: "No, China's working very hard ... and I think they're doing a very professional job ... It's a tough situation. I think they're doing a very good job."[34][332] On February 13, when Trump was asked by the media, "Did the Chinese tell the truth about this?" He responded: "Well, you never know", then praised China for having "handled it professionally".[33]
On February 26, while Trump was visiting India, he stated: "China is working very, very hard."[34] On February 27, during a press conference, he stated that China's President Xi Jinping "is working very, very hard."[34]
On March 21, Trump spoke at a press conference, criticizing China for being "very, very secretive". When asked about his own comments on January 24 praising China's transparency, Trump answered that China was "transparent at that time", but "they could have been transparent much earlier than they were."[33]
On April 7, Trump declared that the United States was "going to put a very powerful hold on" funding to the World Health Organization. Less than 20 minutes later, when he was asked about his announced decision, he denied his statement: "I'm not saying I'm going to do it, but we're going to look at it".[29][30]
On April 14, Trump criticized the World Health Organization for failing to "call out China's lack of transparency", stating that the WHO "willingly took China's assurances to face value ... even praising China for its so-called transparency."[33][34] He made this criticism in spite of his own similar behavior in January and February 2020.[33][34]
On April 27, Trump lamented: "There has been so much unnecessary death in this country. It could have been stopped and it could have been stopped short, but somebody a long time ago, it seems, decided not to do it that way. And the whole world is suffering because of it. 184 countries, at least."[333]
International cooperation[edit]
In his February 4 State of the Union address, Trump stated that his administration was working together with the Chinese government on the outbreak in China.[132]
On March 26, President Trump spoke on the phone with China's President Xi Jinping, and they pledged to cooperate in fighting against the pandemic. It signaled a fresh détente between the two countries after weeks of rising tensions.[334] On the same day, after a video call summit with the other G20 leaders, Trump stated the United States was working with international allies to stop the spread of the coronavirus and to increase rapid information and data sharing.[335]
The G20 summit began on November 21 and was held virtually due to the pandemic. Trump attended the opening event but then left to play golf at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia while the G20 continued with presentations about pandemic preparedness and response.[336][337]
Terminology[edit]
On March 16, Trump began referring to COVID-19 as "the Chinese virus" and was criticized for creating a potential stigma. Trump disagreed with the criticism, saying "it comes from China" and that "China tried to say at one point—maybe they stopped—that it was caused by American soldiers. That can't happen."[338][339] On March 23, Trump indicated he would stop using the "Chinese virus" term, citing the possibility of "nasty language" towards Asian-Americans.[340][341] His subsequent communications reverted to the "China Virus" usage.[342]
On March 25, the foreign ministers from the countries of the Group of Seven held an online conference. The group could not come into agreement on releasing a joint statement on the global outbreak because U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted on calling COVID-19 the "Wuhan virus". The previous day, the finance ministers and central bankers of the G7 had released a joint statement that referred to COVID-19.[343] During press briefings and in a social media post in late-July 2020, Trump repeatedly used "China Virus" or "China Plague" to refer to COVID-19.[194][344][345]
COVID-19's origins[edit]
On April 30, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence stated that the U.S. intelligence community "concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified." It also stated that U.S. intelligence agencies were investigating whether the outbreak started from "contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan".[346]
On May 3, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed in an interview that there existed "a significant amount of evidence" that COVID-19 originated from a laboratory in Wuhan. After Pompeo also claimed that the "best experts so far seem to think [COVID-19] was man-made", the journalist informed Pompeo that he had contradicted the U.S. intelligence agencies' stance (as written above). Pompeo then changed his stance, stating that he had "no reason to disbelieve" the agencies.[347]
In an interview published on May 4, Anthony Fauci stated that the scientific evidence "is very, very strongly leaning toward" that the evolution of COVID-19 "could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated".[348]
Personal health[edit]
On May 21 in an interview on the South Lawn, Trump used confusing wording to describe the result of his most recent negative test for the virus, explaining that he had "tested very positively in another sense", as in "positively toward the negative".[349][350]
Trump eventually did contract the virus during an outbreak in the White House. On October 2, Trump announced he and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive. According to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in 2021 book, his first positive test was actually on September 26; this was three days before the first presidential debate. Meadows also said Trump had then tested negative from a different test shortly after the positive result. Trump denied this allegation.[351][352][353] Hours after tweeting this announcement, his oxygen levels dropped.[354] He was hospitalized for three days at Walter Reed Medical Center, during which time he was given Regeneron's experimental antibody cocktail (which fewer than 10 people had ever taken), the intravenous antiviral remdesivir, and the steroid dexamethasone.[355] On October 7, Trump posted a five-minute video to Twitter in which he said he considered the Regeneron drug not just "therapeutic" but a "cure" because he felt better after taking it, that he was pursuing emergency use authorization so that all Americans would have access to it, and that—as he repeated three times in the video—it would be "free."[356] Trump declared on television on October 11 that he was now "immune" to further infection.[357] When he tweeted a similar statement, Twitter placed a warning label on it, saying the information was "misleading and potentially harmful."[358]
Donald and Melania Trump were both vaccinated in January 2021, days before Donald Trump's presidency ended. He did not reveal that he had been vaccinated; rather, a former adviser to Trump revealed the information to the New York Times, which published the information on March 1.[234] In October, he disclosed that the vaccine he received was made by Pfizer.[359]
Suppressing mention of COVID-19[edit]
A June 22, 2020, internal memo from the National Marine Fisheries Service banned employees from mentioning "anything COVID-related" in official actions without executive approval, and recommended euphemisms like "in these extraordinary times" if reference to the pandemic was necessary.[387][388]
In April 2020, the White House released guidelines that omitted details provided by the CDC and FEMA. In July, CDC guidelines minimized risks and argued for reopening schools. In August, CDC guidelines said that asymptomatic people did not need to be tested (though the CDC revoked this recommendation a month later). In March 2021, the new CDC director, Rochelle Walensky, referred to these three instances, observing that the documents were evidently "not primarily authored" by CDC staff and promising not to allow this type of political influence in the future.[389]
Public response to communication[edit]
A poll conducted from March 11 to March 15 by the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that President Trump was trusted to provide reliable information on the coronavirus by 46% of Americans (19% among Democrats and 88% among Republicans). The CDC was trusted to provide reliable information on the coronavirus by 85% of Americans (85% among Democrats and 90% among Republicans). Trump had an overall lower trust regarding this topic compared to the news media, local government officials, state government officials, and the World Health Organization. The CDC had the highest overall trust.[4]
A poll conducted from April 16 to April 20 by the Associated Press and NORC at the University of Chicago estimated that President Trump was a source of information on the pandemic for 28% of Americans. In terms of trust in Trump for information on the outbreak, 23% have a high amount of trust, while 21% have a moderate amount of trust. Americans used state or local officials more as a source of information, and also trusted them more than Trump.[5][390]
A poll conducted from May 7 to May 10 by SRSS for CNN, concluded that only 36% of people in the U.S. trusted President Trump on information about the COVID-19 outbreak. 4% of Democrats trusted information from Trump, while around 80% to 81% of Democrats trusted information from Anthony Fauci or the CDC. 84% of Republicans trusted information from Trump; this was higher than their trust in information from the CDC (72%) or Fauci (61%).[6]
A poll conducted on May 20 and 21 by Yahoo News and YouGov found that a plurality of U.S. adults (33%) felt that the top source of misinformation about COVID-19 was the Trump administration. This was a higher figure than the following sources: the mainstream media, social media, local news, state officials, family and friends. 56% of Democrats stated that the Trump administration was top source of misinformation about COVID-19, while only 11% of Republicans agreed. Despite Trump downplaying the threat from COVID-19 over 40 times, 51% of Republicans believe that Trump had always viewed COVID-19 as a very serious threat, while 8% of Democrats agreed. Despite the U.S. intelligence agencies, public health experts, and Trump administration officials warning of the possibility that such a serious pandemic would happen, 52% of Republicans thought that such a pandemic was "something nobody thought could happen", as did 36% of Democrats.[391]
A poll conducted July 12–15 by The Washington Post and ABC News found that 38% of Americans approved of Trump's handling of the crisis. This had dropped from the 51% approval recorded in March.[392]
After the Trump administration[edit]
Trump left office on January 20, 2021. When New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman interviewed him in March 2021, he told her that business at his members-only club, Mar-a-Lago, had decreased during the pandemic. "COVID", he observed. "Turns out, not good."[393]