COVID Takes Center Stage at Trump Town Hall

Former President Donald Trump offered his take on the history of the COVID-19 pandemic — ranging from its origins, to lockdowns, to his relationship with Anthony Fauci, MD — during a town hall event in Iowa that also touched on Medicare solvency and abortion.

During the Wednesday-night event, which was hosted by Fox News and moderated by Martha MacCallum, Trump launched unprompted into his explanation for COVID’s origins, charging that the virus sprung from a Wuhan lab, though not purposely.

“I think it was done out of incompetence,” he said. “I believe that a scientist went out, said ‘hello’ to his girlfriend, and that was the end of that. She died, and then people started dying all over the place. But who knows.”

Scientists hold clashing views of the “lab leak” hypothesis.

On a different pandemic issue, this time prompted by an audience question about the potential of a COVID lockdown in the future, Trump said, “I didn’t actually have a shutdown, despite the fact that some people wanted to and some people didn’t want to.” (In March 2020, the Trump administration unveiled its “Slow the Spread” guidelines that included avoiding travel, large social gatherings, and visiting people in hospitals or nursing homes.)

Trump stressed that he “let the governors make their decisions.” Some states like Tennessee, North Dakota, and South Carolina did not shut down at all, he said (partially true, in that North Dakota did not shut down). And he said his Republican primary rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), shut down his state “very violently.”

“The governors that did the best job were Republican governors, and they were the ones that didn’t shut down,” Trump said. (Some studies have suggested the opposite in terms of death toll.)

Asked how he would respond to those who felt that Fauci, the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, held too much influence over the former administration’s actions during the pandemic, Trump claimed DeSantis was “the biggest fan” of Fauci. “He said … ‘I go by what Dr. Fauci said,'” until that position was no longer popular, said Trump.

More recently, DeSantis pledged on X (formerly Twitter) that if elected he would “bring a reckoning for what tyrants like Fauci did to our country during COVID.”

During his own administration, Trump said, “Dr. Fauci was not a huge factor…. He became a much bigger factor in Biden’s administration.”

In speaking of healthcare topics outside the pandemic, Trump claimed that DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — another rival in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination — want to cut Medicare.

“Nikki Haley wanted to raise the age [of Medicare eligibility] from 65 to 74, 75,” he said.

And while moderator MacCallum interjected that Haley’s policy changes would only impact “young people in their 20s,” Trump was skeptical.

“That’s what they say when it starts. … ‘It’s only for young people.’ And then it doesn’t work for young people, and they end up getting up to people that are of the age where it matters,” he said.

On the issue of abortion, Trump attempted to walk a fine line when asked by an audience member to reassure her “that you can protect all life, every person’s right to life without compromise.”

Trump told the voter she would not even be asking the question if he hadn’t helped to end Roe v. Wade. Trump is credited with choosing three key members of the Supreme Court — Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett — who voted to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision, eliminating federal abortion protections.

“We did it. We did something that was a miracle,” he said. Trump clarified, however, that like former President Ronald Reagan, he supports exceptions for the life of the mother, rape, and incest.

“But I will say this. You have to win elections,” he continued. “Otherwise, you’re going to be back where you were, and you can’t let that happen again.”

Trump also took aim at 6-week abortion bans, which he has publicly criticized previously.

“A lot of women don’t know if they’re pregnant in 5 or 6 weeks,” he said. “We’re going to come up with something that people want and people like.”