Donald Trump Says America’s Risingbr COVID-19 Death Toll ‘Is What It Is’ President Donald Trump recently satbr down for an interview with Axios’ Jonathan Swanbr to talk about the COVID-19 pandemic. During the interview, Trump appeared tobr grow defensive and frustrated when questionedbr about the United States’ growing death toll. After claiming that thebr pandemic was “under control,”br Trump spoke about those dying,br saying “it is what it is.” Donald Trump,br via CNN When pressed further about America’s deathbr toll, Trump refused to acknowledge COVID-19br deaths as a “proportion of population.” Instead, Trump repeatedly acknowledged thebr deaths as a “proportion of cases,” effectively downplaying the devastating statistic. Donald Trump,br via CNN The U.S. currently accounts forbr 26 percent of the world's confirmedbr COVID-19 cases, but only around 4.5br percent of the world's population.