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The president refuses to abandon his description of the disease as the "China virus."
Amid mounting criticism, President Trump refuses to abandon his racially-charged name for COVID-19: "the China virus."
Trump again referred to the disease as such during a Thursday press conference, just as he has throughout the week. A photo of Trump's press conference notes showed "coronavirus" crossed out and "Chinese" written in Sharpie.
"It's not racist at all," Trump said on Wednesday in defense of his terminology. "[The disease] comes from China, that's why."
Many are decrying Trump's verbiage, saying it unnecessarily and unfairly blames all Chinese people for the deadly virus. Others say it's not only stigmatizing, but dangerous.
"[Trump's words are] fueling the xenophobia we're seeing all over our districts," New York State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou told NBC News.
Read other reactions to Trump's racism below.
\u201cDear @WhiteHouse: This virus has an official name, Covid-19 and an unofficial name, Coronavirus. Your language will cause more discrimination against Asian Americans.\n\nWhat would help is if you can get hospitals & first responders much more test kits & protective equipment.\u201d— Ted Lieu (@Ted Lieu) 1584567220
\u201cBy calling it the "Chinese Virus", the president is putting people in danger. Today, @CAPAC joined with @HispanicCaucus, @TheBlackCaucus, and @RepDebHaaland to call on Republicans to put public health above politics & xenophobia: https://t.co/ULJN6nAOZR\u201d— CAPAC (@CAPAC) 1584477655
\u201c.@realDonaldTrump, the virus may have originated in China, but your unique cocktail of hubris, stupidity, and inhumanity has given it the biggest boost it could have asked for. \n\nYou've finally won at something: enabling a deadly pandemic.\n\nhttps://t.co/3PMSclmXlI\n\n#MAGAVirus\u201d— John Pavlovitz (@John Pavlovitz) 1584643653
\u201cTrump's press conference:\n\n1) People are dying but the media is nicer to me\n2) China virus\n\nYou're the absolute worst, @realDonaldTrump. #coronavirus\u201d— Mike Larsen (@Mike Larsen) 1584632065
\u201c@realDonaldTrump @WhiteHouse It's *almost* like he's calling it the "China Virus" to distract from the fact that he fired every global health expert and shuttered their offices and declined the WHO tests and pretended it was a Democratic hoax and told people to go to work and blew his televised address and\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1584567442
None— Eric Garcia (@Eric Garcia) 1584639299
\u201c@realDonaldTrump He is going to keep calling the coronavirus the \u201cChinese Virus\u201d until it becomes an acceptable term for all Americans. When an Asian American schoolgirl sneezes because of an allergy, all the kids will bully her for having the Chinese Virus. We\u2019ll be subjected to hate crimes too.\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1584531993
\u201cThe real reason why @realDonaldTrump uses the term "China Virus" is because he can't pronounce #CoronaVirus Sometimes you just can't educate stupid.\u201d— WestSide 8345 (@WestSide 8345) 1584555569
\u201cAmerican deaths due to @realdonaldTrump's lies, incompetency and narcissism can now be referred to as "Trump death toll" since he's declared it's ok and accurate to refer to the coronavirus as the "Chinese virus" since the first known case was in China. #TrumpDeathToll\u201d— Cheri Jacobus (@Cheri Jacobus) 1584550563
