Late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel joked that President Trump wouldn’t have a problem with guidance from United States health officials urging Americans to stay home if the coronavirus was named “Vietnam.”
“The president again said he hopes to get everyone back to work by Easter,” Kimmel said Wednesday night. “Even though a lot of people, including our governor here in California, Gavin Newsom, says the president’s timeline is sooner than any of his experts believe is possible.”
Kimmel, like millions of Americans, has been working from home since health officials issued guidance saying people should avoid large groups of others and nonessential travel outside the home.
The virtual national lockdown has rocked the economy, with weekly jobless rates hitting record figures.
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Members of the White House coronavirus task force say Trump’s Easter timeline for reopening the economy by April 12 is “flexible.” Governors in states where the coronavirus outbreak is the strongest say it will be months, not weeks, before restaurants, bars, and other nonessential businesses are allowed to reopen.
“We’re at war, in a true sense we’re at war, and we are fighting an invisible enemy,” Trump said. “We’re enduring a great national trial, and we will prove that we can meet the moment.”
Kimmel responded: “He keeps calling himself a ‘wartime president,’ which I don’t know. OK, maybe if we call the coronavirus ‘Vietnam,’ Trump would be OK with people staying home for it.”
Trump avoided the draft to serve in the Vietnam War five times — four times for college and once for bone spurs that rendered him ineligible.
