On Monday, the death toll from the coronavirus topped 1,018, with World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warning that recent cases of infected patients who had never visited China could likely be the “tip of the iceberg.” (An estimated 60 cases have been confirmed on a cruise ship docked in Japan, with at least 13 confirmed cases in Arizona, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington, and Wisconsin.) At times like these, one looks for a calm, steady leader who understands the gravity of the situation while taking care not to be an alarmist and who, above all, values scientific data and gives the experts the resources they need to tackle the issue. At a minimum, it would be great if said leader had two brain cells to rub together. In the U.S., at present, this is obviously too much to ask for.

After remaining relatively mum on the coronavirus thus far, Donald Trump told supporters at a rally in New Hampshire Monday night that the virus will be gone by April, claiming that when temperatures rise, “the virus” will “miraculously” go away. Unsurprisingly, he offered no scientific or medical explanation to support his theory. Nor was that the first time he’d floated the theory; earlier in the day, during a meeting with the nation’s governors, the president, a noted germaphobe, predicted that the whole thing will be wrapped up around Easter through divine intervention via the weather. “The virus that we’re talking about having to do, a lot of people think that goes away in April, with the heat, as the heat comes in, typically that will go away in April,” he said. Referring to the United States, he added: “We’re in great shape, though. We have 12 cases, 11 cases, and many of them are in good shape now.”

Where did Trump get his prognosis? While pulling facts directly from his ass is kind of this guy’s thing, in this case, his information has apparently come from Chinese president Xi Jinping, whose government’s early handling of the epidemic allowed it to spread, as the party prioritized secrecy instead of confronting the crisis head-on. “I had a long talk with President Xi two nights ago,” Trump said. “He feels very confident. He feels that again, as I mentioned, by April or during the month of April, the heat generally speaking kills this kind of virus. So that would be a good thing.”

While Xi might feel “very confident” that the virus will have run its course by April, not everyone is as willing as Trump is to take his word for it:

Public health experts questioned the speculative nature of [Trump’s] comments. “I think there is a lot we still don’t know about this virus, and I’m not sure we can say definitively that it will dissipate with warmer weather,” said Dr. Rebecca Katz, director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University. “Relying on the fact that it’s going to warm up in April as reassurance that the virus will be controlled by then I think is arguable,” added Dr. James M. Hughes, a professor emeritus of medicine at Emory University.

In a sign of just how ridiculous Trump’s statement re: the weather is, even White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien has suggested that the president has no idea what he’s talking about.

Of course, you can understand why Trump would like to put such stock in the weather taking care of things; his proposed budget, unveiled on Monday, cuts funding for the Health and Human Services Department by 9%.

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