The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued a press release yesterday, touting the “accomplishments” Donald Trump and his team have delivered over the last four years. “The highlights in this report represent just a fraction of the achievements made by the Trump Administration on behalf of the American people,” Kelvin Droegemeier, who heads the office, said in a statement.

Politico took note, however, of one of the more provocative “achievements” included on the list.

The White House’s science policy office on Tuesday ranked “ending the Covid-19 pandemic” atop the list of President Donald Trump’s top first-term accomplishments, even as the country registers record amounts of infections and hospitals fill up again.

In case this isn’t painfully obvious, the pandemic hasn’t “ended,” making it an unfortunate thing for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to brag about.

Hogan Gidley, the Trump campaign press secretary, was asked about this on CNN this morning, pressed on whether the White House has actually “ended” the pandemic. He responded, “Well, we’re moving in the right direction.”

In reality, we’re really not. The United States is currently experiencing a brutal third peak — including the highest daily infection totals to date — which coincides with increased fatalities and hospitalization numbers.

Pressed specifically on the White House’s written press statement, crediting the president with “ending” the pandemic, Gidley added, “I’m not going to quibble over semantics.”

Ah, yes. Reality says there’s intensifying public-health crisis; the White House says the crisis is “ending.” In Trumpspeak, there’s only a “semantic” difference between the two.

Update: The White House’s Alyssa Farah conceded this morning that yesterday’s press release was “poorly worded.”