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Both he and Robert Kennedy Jr. denied that staffing cuts in any way slowed the CDC response to the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship. Kennedy said CDC had teams on the case “on Day One.”
To a last question about health care, the president, only a month away from turning 80, described himself, saying, “I’m one of the young ones…I feel the same way I did 50 years ago.’ He added, “It’s not because I eat the best foods… Maybe junk food is the best food.” He then mused about how he has friends who assiduously watch their diets and exercise and find themselves feeling less well than he does.
Before he took questions, he sat at his desk and read an announcement about what he called a fertility benefit option. “It’s a big deal,” he said, likening the new program to vision or dental benefits. He joked, “I became the father of fertility” by paying attention to the issue in the campaign. Alabama Sen. Katie Britt interjected, “You stepped in and saved the day.” The president said the new program will be “a major help to millions of American moms.”
He complained that “the fake news” does not talk enough about this or about the help his administration is providing mothers or about his TrumpRX website. He then asked Dr. Oz to confirm that it was not the president who named the site. Still, he said, “The fake news doesn’t write about it.”
Oz who talked about a new website Britt and Kennedy were among the 12 people arrayed behind the president.
The president also spoke about winning 80 percent in rural areas and complained about his critics suffering from Trump derangement syndrome. He said he will start asking for the opposite of what he wants to trick those with TDS into supporting him. “I’m going to propose something the opposite of what I want.. I do not want to build a wall.” He added that “TDS is actually a disease.”
Initially when those behind him spoke, the president frequently shut his eyes but then would react to what was said and often engaged vigorously with the others.
At one point, talking about his first term, he said “I was the hunted then… by some very bad people. Now, I am the hunter.” He then said he refers to Democrats as “Dumbocrats.” “They are dumb. They are dumb people.” He also expressed his concern about a growth in cases of autism. Without some changes, he said, “every person around is going to have autism… it has spiked so much over the last ten years.”
George Condon
Mon. May 11, 1:02 PM
https://x.com/WHPressPool/status/2053884521758495046

White House Press Pool Reports @WHPressPool - in-town pool report #3 lunch lid
Lunch lid unti 1:30 pm
Quotes coming
George Condon