President Trump said at a town-hall meeting Thursday night that Americans must “be calm” about the coronavirus but acknowledged the outbreak could hurt the U.S. economy in his re-election campaign year.
“Everybody has to be calm,” the president said at his first televised town-hall of the year in Scranton, Pennsylvania. “We have plans for every single possibility. We hope it doesn’t last too long.”
He noted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered another steep decline on Thursday and said of the outbreak, “It certainly might have an impact” on the economy.
The event hosted by Fox News took place in the hometown of Democratic frontrunner Joseph R. Biden in a state that Mr. Trump narrowly won in 2016 and needs to win again.
Asked whether he prefers Mr. Biden or Sen. Bernard Sanders as his opponent in November, the president said he had been preparing for Mr. Sanders, the Vermont socialist who won early primary states.
“I was all set to take on Bernie,” the president said. “Communist — I was all set. And then we have this crazy thing that happened on [Super] Tuesday, which [Mr. Biden] thought was Thursday. So all of a sudden it’s a whole different deal, two very different people. I think in a certain way, Bernie would be tougher. I think it’s going to be very hard for him to come back.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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