White House Defends Trump's Use Of Racist Term To Describe Coronavirus
The White House on Monday denied any malicious intent behind President Trump's use of the racist term "kung flu" this weekend to describe the deadly coronavirus pandemic, saying that the president had no "regrets putting the onus back on China" for the deadly virus.
Trump invoked the racist phrase at a Saturday campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., where — to cheers from the audience — the president maligned the different terms used to describe the coronavirus and the disease, COVID-19, that it causes.
In March, when questioned whether the phrase was being used among White House staffers, one of Trump's own advisers, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, rejected the term as "wrong" and "highly offensive."
Trump's racist description of the virus marks the most recent in a years-long history of offensive terminology aimed at racial minorities.
As president, Trump has previously referred to African nations as "s***hole countries," defended white supremacists and referred to immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" and criminals.
