President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Friday, Feb. 21, 2020, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Last night at a rally in South Carolina, President Donald Trump called out the Democrats for politicizing the coronavirus, noting that so far the administration’s quick reaction has kept the cases of the virus low.

Trump quoted one of his people saying that the effort to politicize the virus is the new “hoax” effort following the failure of Russia and impeachment.

Here’s the video of what he said.

Dems and some MSM this morning are pretending @realDonaldTrump said the coronavirus is a hoax. What he ACTUALLY said is that Democrats' politicizing of the coronavirus is their new hoax.

Everyone repeating the lie that he called the coronavirus a hoax is proving his point: pic.twitter.com/1Hn1AHb5sq

— Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) February 29, 2020

From Daily Wire:

Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. Coronavirus. They’re politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs, you say, “How’s President Trump doing?” They go, “Oh, not good, not good.” They have no clue; they don’t have any clue. They can’t even count their votes in Iowa. They can’t count their votes!

One of my people came up to me and said, “Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia. That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything, they tried it over and over. They’ve been doing it since you got in. It’s all turning, they lost, it’s all turning. Think of it. And this is their new hoax.”

But you know, we did something that’s been pretty amazing. We have 15 people in this massive country, and because of the fact that we won early, we won early, we could’ve had a lot more than that. We’re doing great. Our country is doing so great. We are so unified. We are so unified.

He was referencing the Democrats lying about his response to addressing the virus, a fact that even the AP called out.

So how did media report Trump’s rally remarks?

Here’s the Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank.

Remember this moment: Trump, in South Carolina, just called the coronavirus a "hoax."

— Dana Milbank (@Milbank) February 29, 2020

Nan Cook of Politico:

ICYMI: Trump urged his supporters at a rally tonight in South Carolina to treat the coronavirus like a "hoax."

By the time he'd landed back in D.C., health officials had announced a new case in the U.S. — this time, in Oregon:https://t.co/SYseKhHaqy

— Nancy Cook (@nancook) February 29, 2020

https://twitter.com/alx/status/1233749364520124417

NBC was no better, publishing a headline that read: “Trump calls coronavirus Democrats’ ‘new hoax.’” The outlet’s lede also claimed Trump said “the outbreak is ‘their new hoax,’” even though that is not what he said. CNBC followed suit with a similar headline: “Trump says the coronavirus is the Democrats’ ‘new hoax.’”

Listening more to the speech, it is even clearer that’s not what he was saying. Gregory Ingersoll of the Daily Caller is quoting part of the transcript of the speech, which notes Trump reassuring people that “we have to take it seriously” and “we are prepared for the worst,” but they have taken “agressive” action.

Wow, Ms. Cook and Mr. @matthewchoi2018, I’m actually stunned by how dishonest your @politico treatment is. Plenty to criticize Trump on, but this retelling of yours is a massive stretch based on transcripts. https://t.co/i4uVqHredB pic.twitter.com/EjrErKykIP

— Geoffrey Ingersoll (@GPIngersoll) February 29, 2020

So basically, be reassured, we are doing the right things and taking care of business. Trump cut off travel from the infected areas a month ago and formed a task force at the time.

.@nancook and @matthewchoi2018 I’m legitimately curious how the quote “we need to take it very seriously, we’re preparing for the worst” would not make it into your story? Like I said, plenty of things to ding the president on, but this is … stretch would put it lightly.

— Geoffrey Ingersoll (@GPIngersoll) February 29, 2020

Then media completely twists what he says and blows it up. Thousands if not millions will then be sucked in, believing he actually said that, despite it making no logical sense with his prior comments and actions on the matter.

Pretty much proving the point about “politicizing” it. Except Trump referred to Democrats. He should have included media as well.

This is what happens when too many in the media resist, instead of report. The President has said intemperate things – he did NOT do so here. Coronavirus coverage is too important for the press to get it wrong. MSM is proving Trump got this one right. https://t.co/9SDRVdd3xJ

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) February 29, 2020

The new hoax (the one that falsely claims Trump called Coronavirus a hoax) seems to mostly infect artists, especially writers. I haven't yet seen an engineer, scientist, or lawyer get infected. #Hoax8

— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) February 29, 2020