Trump ridiculed for 'desperate' claim that he ended the coronavirus pandemic

According to the White House, president Trump ended the coronavirus pandemic.

The one that's still going on. And is affecting up to 83,000 more Americans every day.

A press release seen by Politico and other news outlets lists "ending the Covid-19 pandemic" as one of Trump's greatest scientific achievements from his first term in office. The briefing, which was released by the White House Office of Science and Technology, goes on to claim:

From the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Administration has taken decisive actions to engage scientists and health professionals in academia, industry and government to understand, treat, and defeat the disease.

Trump and his administration have repeatedly spread disinformation about coronavirus.

At the outset, Trump described it as a "Democrat hoax" and claimed it would be "gone" when the "weather starts to warm". He later said that it affects "virtually nobody" and recommended drinking bleach as a cure.

The US has recorded more than 8.5 million cases of coronavirus, more than anywhere else in the world. Cases are rising as Trump continues to campaign for re-election, often at crowded rallies and often without wearing a mask.

So no, Trump didn't end the coronavirus pandemic – in the US or elsewhere.

Other claims made in the press release are also dubious.

For instance, the government "has taken action to understand and protect our environment" in order to ensure "clean air, clean water and a resilient environment for generations to come". In fact, one of Trump's first acts as president was announcing that the United States would be withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, an initiative designed to take action on climate change.

Trump has also falsely claimed that the US has the "cleanest air and water" in the world, and suggested that poor forest management was solely to blame for California's wildfires.

It's ironic that the White House is trying to hail Trump as a staunch proponent of science, given that he has previously claimed that "science doesn't know" what's causing the effects of climate change and repeatedly undermined his scientific advisors when dispensing coronavirus guidance.

It also doesn't take rigorous scientific scrutiny to undermine the White House's claim that Trump "ended" the coronavirus pandemic, given the global upswing in cases and rising death toll.