Rep. Matt Gaetz(R-Fla.) lavished appreciation on Donald Trump‘s (extensively panned) handling of the coronavirus pandemic on Friday, stating him to be the “greatest testing President God has actually ever produced” in an awkward tweet.
The GOP legislator’s outlandish claim was made in defense of Trump, who is receiving continuous criticism over the absence of adequate screening in the U.S. for the virus that has actually eliminated more than 37,00 0 across the country. Public health experts state a large boost in testing is vital to slowing its spread.
The United States has evaluated more than anybody worldwide without a doubt. @realDonaldTrump is the best testing President God has actually ever created.
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) April 17, 2020
Gaetz, whose Twitter bio features a positive comment that Trump once said about him, drew stinging criticism in March for minimizing and mocking the risk of the infection (in lockstep with the president) by using a gas mask on the Home floor
He provoked similar ire with this tweet.
Some critics accused Gaetz of misrepresenting the stats.
While it is factually precise to state the U.S. “has actually tested more than anybody in the world by far” (3.5 million, since Saturday early morning), the country is actually lagging in around 40 th position worldwide when it comes to per capita testing (around 10,800 per 1 million of the population):
More gaslighting from a Trump sycophant. pic.twitter.com/j1hyrTbDo9
— Svea Elske (@SveaElske) April 18, 2020
We rank 44 th per capita, which is the metric that matters …
— Mike Gilchrist (@mgcanmore) April 17, 2020
Here’s your regular pointer that the variety of test carried out is a meaningless data point without population data. https://t.co/Iab00 HSxl7 pic.twitter.com/d4jlHBnVNr
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) April 17, 2020
Other commenters concurred with Gaetz’s unintended declaration that Trump is “testing.” And, due to Gaetz’s