Trump Town Hall: US President calls COVID lockdown 'politically motivated'

On October 15, US President Trump in a town hall address called the coronavirus lockdowns “unconstitutional”. In an event held at Miami with Savannah Guthrie from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET that aired live on NBC, Trump said that the COVID-19 lockdown was done due to the political reasons and it was, in fact, unconstitutional to impose restrictions on businesses of that nature. “You cannot let this go on with the lockdowns,” Trump said in a live-streamed NBC Town Hall, adding, that the “cure cannot be worse than the problem itself.”

Trump’s stance on lockdown was pressed by NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, after he had initially pulled out from the Presidential debate in Miami, having tested positive for COVID-19 and President Trump objecting to the virtual format. On being questioned about handling COVID-19 for the nation and his own experience, Trump said his lungs were “a little bit, perhaps, infected,” and he had only “a little bit of a temperature”, all the while not inclining to the concept of herd immunity definitely as his strategy to handle the pandemic. However, on October 15 press briefing Trump criticized the “national lockdown” as the order took effect in San Francisco, where residents were asked to do movement only in case of essential needs. 

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Further, when asked about his mask policy as a means to curb infection, Trump said, "as a President, I cannot be locked in a room and do nothing. As the President, you have to be out there. I am all for it,” not making clear if the American people must take wearing the protective covering more diligently. Trump has consistently called out at his Democratic presidential rival, Joe Biden for donning the “largest mask ever” even when he is at a safe distance from the public.

Trump mudslings China

During his ABC town hall address, Trump had urged Biden to enforce a national mask mandate, sarcastically, even as the Democratic nominee had no authority to do so. Repeating Biden’s calls, Trump said, “We’re going to do a national mandate on masks, but he didn't do it, I mean, he never did it.” Further downplaying the role of national lockdowns and shifting the blame of the pandemic on China, Trump said, “We were expected to lose 2 million people and maybe more than that. We are at 210,000 (deaths) people —one person is too much. It should have never happened. It happened because of China and you have to get,” in a live-streamed address. 

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