ABC News - In the course of a few weeks, President Donald Trump went from confidently assuring Americans his administration had the coronavirus outbreak “very well under control” to declaring a national emergency that has upended every facet of American life.
"It started out with really what can only be described as full-blown denial," said Brian Ott, a communication studies professor at Texas Tech University who has done extensive research on the president's social media rhetoric. "Then as the crisis spread and as it became a pandemic ... it just wasn't viable rhetoric anymore because it wasn't at all where the American public was at."