On Thursday, NBC's Chuck Todd called in to Boston Public Radio to comment on the U.S.’ handling of coronavirus and President Trump's evolving public stance on the severity of the outbreak.
"It’s clear [the president] views this as a re-election problem, pure and simple,” Todd said.
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In a Wednesday night address, Trump sought to reassure the U.S. that the situation was under control, saying that “no nation is more prepared or more resilient than the United States.”
The official number of coronavirus cases in the U.S., as of Thursday afternoon, was a little over 1,300. But testing has been limited, and Todd referred to the infection of actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson to express skepticism about the actual number of infected cases.
"Does anybody believe that only a thousand people in this country have it, and randomly two of the one thousand are Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson?” he asked.