WASHINGTON (AP) — President Trump has not proved to be the bearer of reliable information when calamity threatens and people want straight answers about it. That's happening again as he addresses the prospect of a coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.
With numbers still low, but the first two deaths in the U.S. reported, the infectious disease endangers not only public health but the economy he holds up to voters for his reelection. To date, his comments have largely seemed intended to put a positive spin on hard information from the scientists, as if he were wishing the problem away.
Trump has a record of unreliability on this front. In one hurricane episode, he displayed a map doctored to reflect his personal and ill-founded theory that Alabama would take it on the chin. In another, he dismissed the Puerto Rico death toll as a concoction by Democrats.
Meanwhile, leading the Democratic primary race and heading into Super Tuesday contests, Bernie Sanders misrepresented his past stance on how many delegates a candidate must amass before clinching the party's presidential nomination.
Here are the facts behind some of the recent political rhetoric:
Democratic primaries
SANDERS: "If I, or anybody else, goes into the Democratic convention with a substantial plurality, I believe that individual, me or anybody else, should be the candidate of the Democratic Party." — CNN town hall on Feb. 24
JOE BIDEN, saying Sanders flipped his position from 2016: "There's not a lot of consistency coming out of some of these campaigns." — interview Sunday on ABC's "This Week"
SANDERS: "I'm not being inconsistent with what I said in 2016. ... If we go into Milwaukee, into the Democratic Convention with a lead, having won many, many states, having won the people's vote, and that is reversed at the convention, how do you think people all over this country are going to feel?" — interview Sunday on ABC
THE FACTS: Biden is right. Sanders’ position has shifted since 2016, when he said superdelegates should consider backing him even though he trailed Hillary Clinton in the number of pledged delegates because he had other strengths, such as the ability to beat Trump. Late into the 2016 primary season, Sanders publicly urged a "contested convention," saying democracy is "messy" and requires vigorous debate.
At one point in May 2016, after falling behind Clinton by more than 300 pledged delegates and millions in primary votes, Sanders called on superdelegates — members of Congress and other party leaders who can support the candidate of their choice — to side with him.
"The responsibility that superdelegates have is to decide what is best for the country and what is best for the Democratic Party," he said at the time.
His top strategist then, Tad Devine, said that a plurality of pledged delegates should be only one factor in picking a nominee, along with a candidate's momentum over the course of the primary season, such as winning the California primary then held in June.
Clinton prevailed in the California primary, and Sanders conceded the nomination after superdelegates showed no signs of switching their support from her.
Under new DNC rules, if no candidate receives support from a majority of pledged delegates on the first ballot at the convention, about 770 superdelegates would be allowed to vote on a second ballot.
Those rules changes came about after the 2016 election because Sanders and top advisers insisted on diminishing the influence of superdelegates at the convention.